PNEUMA 36 (2014) 297–350
Book Reviews
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Miranda Klaver
This is My Desire: A Semiotic Perspective on Conversion in and Evangelical Seeker
Church and a Pentecostal Church in the Netherlands(Amsterdam, Netherlands:
Pallas Publications, Amsterdam University Press, 2011). 455 pp. $71.01 paperback.
In this substantial volume of theDissertation Seriespublished by the Faculty of Social Sciences of Amsterdam’s Vrijen Universiteit, Miranda Klaver offers an in- depth comparative study of two so-called “new paradigm churches” (17) within contemporary, non-denominational Dutch evangelicalism: a non-charismatic congregation representing the seeker-oriented model of the American Willow Creek Church movement and a neo-Pentecostal (charismatic) faith commu- nity known for being instrumental in facilitating the Dutch version of the “Toronto Blessing” revival in the mid-1990s. Reflecting on the notable dis- tinctives of the two congregations’ worship styles (depicted in chapter 4), Klaver refers to them throughout the text as the theater church and the power- house church. The qualitative method and comparative approach used by the author are cohesive with the parameters of a larger interdisciplinary project within which this volume finds its origins and immediate research purpose— Conversion Careers and Culture Politics in Global Pentecostalism: A Comparative Study in Four Continents—an inquiry focusing on the remarkable growth of Pentecostalism “as a global manifestation of new expressions of Christianity” (22).
While reflecting on the thriving success of the two independent religious communities amidst the continual decline of mainline (and other more ‘tradi- tional’) denominations in the Netherlands (including older Pentecostal chur- ches that struggle to attract newcomers in the post-Christian European con- text), Klaver turns toward investigating the conversion practices of the evan- gelical seeker-church and the neo-Pentecostal congregation, in order to trace their fundamental understanding of the very meaning of conversion. She pro- poses that such an understanding arises within the framework of “narrative
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2014 | doi: 10.1163/15700747-03602009
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dialogues”emergingbetweenthenewcomersand“allthatispresentedtothem” (29) by the host communities, and that while verbal language is an indis- pensable part of this dialogization, it would be intellectually irresponsible and shortsighted to ignore the implicit narrative significance of other participat- ing semiotic forms. Indeed, Klaver’s semiotic approach to the analysis of the conversion process constitutes one of the main contributions of this volume to the emerging field of Anthropology of Christianity. Highlighting the inade- quacies of existing conversion theories (e.g. Lewis Rambo’s seven stage model of conversion) amidst an increasing individualization and privatization of reli- gion, the author draws on the work of Charles Piers and Webb Keane in order to establish the dialogical nature of meaning and provide a more nuanced understanding of the material dimensions of conversion as a religious expe- rience. Inspired by Charles Taylor’s compelling concept of ‘social imaginaries’ and James K.A. Smith’s anthropological model of human beings as “fundamen- tally and primordially lovers” (98), Klaver insists that the study of religious practices has to escape its self-imposed enclosure within the realm of cogni- tion and develop a more sensorial, embodied approach that takes seriously the significance of the material and aesthetic dimensions of personal and commu- nal religious life. She outlines three particular semiotic domains that stand out in the analysis of the ‘life histories’ collected during her field research: sacred space (the material domain of worship), aesthetics (through a particular focus on worship music), and language ideology (100).
The comparative study of the two churches’ communal meaning-making and teaching on conversion within the intersections of these three semiotic domains constitutes the core of the volume (chapters 5, 6, and 7). The structure of the book stages the centrality of this research through a formal introduc- tion (describing and justifying methodological choices in chapter 1), historical overview of evangelicalism in the Netherlands (chapter 2), and a critical anal- ysis of existing conversion theories (chapter 3). The final chapters of the study offer a discussion on the utilization of the now globally popular Alpha course by the two communities in order to ‘teach’ conversion to newcomers (chap- ter 8), as well as a brief comparison of the congregations’ baptismal practices (chapter 9) in which the liturgical convergence of the cognitive and the cor- poreal ways of knowing generates “the power to make the ‘abstract’ real to the believer” (387).
No doubt, Klaver’s thorough research offers an insightful contribution to the study of European evangelicalism in relation to its historical particulari- ties within the Dutch context (establishing the preexistence of an evangelical undercurrent within mainline churches in the 1800s) as well as to the contem- porary diversity represented throughout the movement. It further broadens
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the discussion on the transformation of Protestantism on the European con- tinent marked by a notable shift from a more cognitive toward an experiential, embodied mode of Christianity, which according to Klaver could account for the relative success of the “new paradigm churches” in the Netherlands. Her constructive critique of existing theories of conversion (exposing their defi- ciency in addressing the idiosyncratic patterns of religious experiences articu- lated by the conversion narratives of contemporary believers) and the creative proposal for a methodological incorporation of semiotics towards the devel- opment of sensorial approaches to the study of religion offer further contri- butions to the field. However, it is questionable to what extent Klaver’s choice to limit her study of contemporary Dutch Pentecostalism to an independent charismatic church (that does not represent in its historical development and practice the ethos of Pentecostalism in the Netherlands) benefits the current research on the European Pentecostal movement. Nevertheless, laying aside some additional issues that may lead the reader to suspect the research’s objec- tivity due to the insider’s perspective of the author both as a believer (con- ducting a study on her tradition of origin—Pentecostalism) and present mem- ber of the non-charismatic seeker-church, this volume represents a helpful methodological and conceptual development in furthering the studies of the European evangelical Christianity. Its accessible language and clear argumen- tation extends the text’s interdisciplinary appeal to a larger audience beyond the boundaries of social and cultural anthropology, and transcends the nar- row parameters of research interests on the Dutch religious context by offering important insights to the broader study of religion in contemporary Europe.
Daniela C. Augustine
Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics, Lee University, Cleveland, Tennessee
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