Introduction: You Never Know. Prayer as Enchantment

Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book proposes the possibility of interpreting some acts of prayer as practices, defining 'practice' as a social activity habitually carried out by an individual or a group. It develops Marcel Mauss's work by showing how all forms of prayer, even those which are apparently 'private', are profoundly social. The book begins with evidence about the way in which individuals engage with the non-empirical 'other' through intimate conversations. It addresses the relationship and conflicts that are inherent in the negotiation between the two kinds of others in individual's religious lives. The book observes that praying has changed in the Swedish Pentecostal churches since the 1980s: a contrast has developed between the Sunday service, which progressively 'de-charasmatized', and the cell groups, which now appear as the more emotive and expressive sphere of Pentecostal religious life.

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