Prosperity Gospel : at least 5 varieties

Who did not hear about Prosperity Gospel ? However, even if it's easy and simple to remember, the label misleading.

The more I read (for example, Blessed, from Kate Bowler, and Coleman, The Globalization of Charismatic Christianity) and the more I do field research (In France, Congo, Madagascar Burkina Faso etc), the more I come to realize that there is at least FIVE distinct theologies behind the "Prosperity Gospel" label. In a nutshell, let me share these varieties with you:

-A magico-religious variety

-A performative variety (Word of Faith)

- A gift /countergift version (Mauss)

-A contract variety (Covenant, Laws of the Kingdom)

-A postcolonial version

To be followed....

Pentecostal narratives, a techne designed to deal with rapid changes?

In a few days, a symposium on Pentecostalism and Transnationalism will be held at the University of Western Sydney. Far from old Europe and France? Not so far actually.

Annalisa Butticci's documentary on African Pentecostals is focused on Italy. And Mark Hutchinson's paper (University of Western Sydney) appears very stimulating to explain Pentecostal narratives in France and Europe. His point is that "internal stories of pentecostals are a source for understanding the movement as a form of ‘techne’ for dealing with rapidly changing contexts, in particular those associated with globalisation". Full program here (PDF).

French, Most Useful Second Language ?

Watching the French media, one of the many things that puzzles me during the current Arabic revolutions (from Tunisia to Egypt) is that in spite of the French decline, French language is still used by many (even by some in Lybia).

Why? Many strong historical reasons explain that. But there are also some more pragmatic reasons. I just found a quite well-documented article (published online in 2008) which explains pretty well why French language might remain "the most useful Second Language for English speakers".

Globish: not the only tongue after all

I recently wrote in my French-speaking blog that our president, Nicolas Sarkozy, should not ignore the fact that the worldwide language is now GLOBISH. Which means : global English.

I criticized the fact that our president thought it would be useless to broadcast a French TV satellite channel in English. I stand in my positions. However, there is another side of the debate.

Click to continue

WELCOME!

Hi! Welcome to this new blog.

First of all, this is an open window on French realities, but it is also a window on USA, UK and the Global Village through gallic lenses.

Click to continue