Conversion and the transformation of culture in the Finnish Pentecostal movement
Mantsinen, Teemu T. (2015)
Mantsinen, Teemu T.
The Donner Institute, Åbo Akademi
2015
Kuvaus
Teemu T. Mantsinen, University of Turku
Teemu T. Mantsinen (PhD) is a post-doctoral researcher in Comparative Religion at the University of Turku, Finland. His doctoral dissertation (2014) focused on social class and Pentecostalism. His research interests include Pentecostalism, culture, rational choice and religion, cultural transformation and transmission and religious language and discourses.
Teemu T. Mantsinen (PhD) is a post-doctoral researcher in Comparative Religion at the University of Turku, Finland. His doctoral dissertation (2014) focused on social class and Pentecostalism. His research interests include Pentecostalism, culture, rational choice and religion, cultural transformation and transmission and religious language and discourses.
Tiivistelmä
A religious community is composed of and by its members. It both transforms and reflects their styles. This article argues that a crucial aspect of cultural change is the process of identity-making through personal experience. In the development of any evangelical religious movement its second and third generations are especially important as they have a different experience of, and identification with, their religion than does the first generation. The Finnish Pentecostal movement has changed from being a radical to a more moderate movement because it has evolved in step with its members’ socialization. Based on my fieldwork and research I want to emphasise this difference between the experiences of the first and subsequent generations in explaining how a religious movement changes.