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Victory in the Time of c ovi n Defying a Pandemic at an Indian Megachurch
Social Sciences and Missions-Sciences Sociales Et Missions ; 35(3-4):237-273, 2022.
Article in English | Web of Science | ID: covidwho-2194430
ABSTRACT
The global COvID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021 required significant ritual adjustment in churches worldwide, particularly the larger ones. It has also provoked theological reflection on the origins on the virus, as well as on what God's Word had to say in response. This article investigates the adjustments and reflections at one Indian megachurch, Bangalore's Full Gospel Assembly of God (FGAG), with special reference to its utilization of a victory-oriented and defiant gospel of divine care, protection, and health. The question that animates this investigation is Can a gospel of victory and health survive a global pandemic? The answer, somewhat counterintuitively (but in another sense - for those familiar with prosperity theology - not at all) is that it not only survives, but thrives. The article attempts to account for this thriving with reference to two distinctive characteristics of the soft version of the prosperity gospel that are manifest in FGAG's victory gospel, both of which are inculcated through ritual repetition and performance 1) Its paradoxically simultaneous insistence that the faithful are, by God, already victorious, and that miraculous reversals await those who aren't, and 2) its boldly defiant response to evidence that all is not well..
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Full text: Available Collection: Databases of international organizations Database: Web of Science Language: English Journal: Social Sciences and Missions-Sciences Sociales Et Missions Year: 2022 Document Type: Article

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Full text: Available Collection: Databases of international organizations Database: Web of Science Language: English Journal: Social Sciences and Missions-Sciences Sociales Et Missions Year: 2022 Document Type: Article