Contents
Acknowledgments....................ix
Introduction The Anthropology of Christianity Fenella Cannell....................1
One The Eternal Return of Conversion Christianity as Contested Domain in Highland Bolivia Olivia Harris....................51
Two Renewable Icons Concepts of Religious Power in a Fishing Village in South India Cecilia Busby....................77
Three Possession and Confession Affliction and Sacred Power in Colonial and Contemporary Catholic South India David Mosse....................99
Four Reading as Gift and Writing as Theft Fenella Cannell....................134
Five Materializing the Self Words and Gifts in the Construction of Charismatic Protestant Identity Simon Coleman....................163
Six The Effectiveness of Ritual Christina Toren....................185
Seven Forgetting Conversion The Summer Institute of Linguistics Mission in the Piro Lived World Peter Gow....................211
Eight The Bible Meets the Idol Writing and Conversion in Biak, Irian Jaya, Indonesia Danilyn Rutherford....................240
Nine Scripture Study as Normal Science Seventh-Day Adventist Practice on the East Coast of Madagascar Eva Keller....................273
Ten Appropriated and Monolithic Christianity in Melanesia Harvey Whitehouse....................295
Epilogue Anxious Transcendence Webb Keane....................308
References....................325
Contributors....................353
Index....................355