Ecstatic Religions and the Holiness Movement
I.M. Lewis studied ecstatic religions and came up with deprivation theory – the idea that ecstatic religions develop in economically and politically impoverished societies. This is certainly true of the Holiness Movement in West Virginia, where residents in former mining towns with very little money have formed small Pentecostalist churches, where they have developed an ecstatic religion.
Setting aside colloquial usage, “ecstasy” literally means to feel “out of place” or “out of body”. During the very unstructured church services, practitioners handle snakes and drink poison, believing God will protect them. They also enter a trance-like ecstatic state and speak in tongues and appear to spasm as the Holy Ghost enters their body.
The reason they handle snakes and drink poison fearlessly is the Bible passage Mark 16:18, “They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” While most Christian denominations do not take this passage literally, these groups in the Holiness Movement see it as a test of faith and a promise of protection by God.
The Holiness Movement, like neo-pagans, rejects modernity and mainstream Christianity. The Grand Narrative of church hierarchy is ignored by the Pentecostalists, who have formed a post-modern, individualist perspective of the Christianity. Their worship is egocentric in that they attempt to receive the Holy Ghost in themselves rather than pray to a distant image of salvation.
Like neo-pagans, their worship is pragmatic and reciprocal. They handle deadly snakes and drink strychnine as a testament of their faith to God, and in return God protects them. They enthusiastically pray to God and he rewards them by entering their bodies and allowing them to experience the divine. They expect that if they show enough devotion, God will cure them of their ills. This greatly contrasts the practices of mainstream Christians, who pray their whole lives towards a final salvation after death.
The egocentricity of Pentecostalist worship is also apparent in the way the congregation conducts its services; there is no pulpit or official minister, no one leads them in prayer. Their economically impoverished existence has led them to an egalitarian societal model, and they believe everyone is equal under the eyes of God. During the service, someone may call for the congregation to pray for a certain individual, but the worshipers may choose not to. They face in every direction and worry little about what the person next to them is doing; they are oblivious to everything but their own experience of receiving the Holy Ghost.
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