Practices of Mediation in Pentecostal Charismatic Churches - Vietnam and Abroad

Gertrud Hüwelmeier (Humboldt University Berlin)

The explosion of Pentecostal Christianity and spirit mediumship in Vietnam are part of a changing religious landscape. This paper explores the connections between these forms of religious practices by focussing on media and practices of mediation (Meyer& Moors 2006). The concept of religion as a practice of mediation contributes to an understanding of the creation and maintenance of links between believers on the one hand as well as between religious practitioners and the spiritual realm on the other hand. Instead of separating religion and technology into different domains, the focus on practices of mediation illustrates how ideas about the supernatural, the spiritual, or the transcendental are made accessible for believers, are reconfigured via media and are effective in the sense that religious entities and religious messages travel across borders.

In my paper, I argue that in Vietnamese Pentecostal underground churches mediatization, politics and mobility are intrinsically interwoven. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in underground churches in Vietnam and among Pentecostal Vietnamese migrants in Europe this paper focuses on a. the visual representation of healing sessions and trance mediums, b. the communication of sacred contents and the enhancement of the authoritative role of religious experts, c. the role of media and media teams, in particular with regard to the remembrance of flight, refuge, and migration.

Full paper available for download here !