The power of things in a Catholic charismatic movement at Lake Chambri, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

I analyze the power of things to direct the actions and shape the belief of members of a Catholic charismatic movement in Papua New Guinea. Things not only feature centrally in the movement’s ambitions, but play a vital role in its practices. Taking a relational ontology perspective, I argue that the material and immaterial dimensions of religion are not distinct fields of experience, knowledge, and practice but are co-constitutively intertwined in relational actions between humans, spirits, and things. Emanating from the premise that human and nonhumans assemble in historically and sensuously idiosyncratic ways, I study the ways that bodies, rosaries, and mobile phones have become part of Catholic charismatic practice and ethno-theology in a context significantly shaped by missionization and colonialization. I show that the Catholic charismatic encounter has opened up a space for the renegotiation of power relationships via relational actions between humans, spirits, and things.