Lexington Books
Pages: 190
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅛
978-1-4985-4663-8 • Hardback • September 2018 • $111.00 • (£85.00)
978-1-4985-4664-5 • eBook • September 2018 • $105.50 • (£82.00)
Don Swenson is professor emeritus of sociology at Mount Royal University.
Introduction: The Conceptual Framework, Historical Background, and Methodology
1. The Fundamental Dilemma: Alleluia and Its Secular Environment
2. The Dilemma of Mixed Motivation: A Case Study of the Elders of the Alleluia Community
3. The Symbolic Dilemma: Ritual Manifested in Alleluia
4. The Dilemma of Administrative Order: Gender Roles in Alleluia
5. The Dilemma of Delimitation: A Study of Ethics within the Alleluia Community
6. The Dilemma of Power: A Study of Conversion in Alleluia
7. The Interpretative Dilemma: An Investigation of Belief Systems in Alleluia
Conclusion
The Alleluia Community located in Augusta, Georgia, is an alternative charismatic community consisting of Christian families living together and sharing common resources as an expression of love and service. Don Swenson’s important study draws on O’Dea’s five dilemmas of the institutionalization of religion to probe how Alleluia navigates the tensions between the sacred and the secular, charisma and its routinization, and the prophets of renewal and renewal movements. Swenson discovers that the community has built safeguards that enable it to resist the forces of secularization. Interestingly, Swenson proposes a sixth dilemma—the interpretative dilemma, or order of belief—in which the human experience of the sacred is structured around myth, story, belief, ritual, experience, and community. This book is valuable for those interested in Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity, the sociology of religion, and theories of secularization.
— Peter Althouse, Southeastern University
In his best-selling and much discussed work The Benedict Option (2017), Rod Dreher points to Alleluia, an ecumenical charismatic covenant community in Georgia, as an example of a Christian community resisting the secularizing pressures of modernity. Swenson (Emeritus, Mount Royal University, Calgary) provides a thorough ethnographic study of this community. Swenson’s data includes in-depth interviews, field research, analysis of community documents, and surveys of community members. He analyzes the data using a framework drawn from Thomas O’Dea’s theory of the dilemmas of institutionalization of religion. Swenson investigates community leadership styles, prayer practices, gender roles, ethics, and beliefs. A key finding is the significance of social support for ongoing conversion. Swenson’s conclusion describes Alleluia as a sacred community that successfully resists secularization. Social scientists will appreciate the structured presentation of each chapter: a review of literature, qualitative and quantitative analysis of data, and helpful charts and tables followed by conclusions. General readers may wish for more narrative description but will not find the study inaccessible. Swenson’s study is highly recommended for schools with programs in sociology of religion, or having interests in charismatic movements or intentional Christian communities.
Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through practitioners.
— Choice Reviews, vol. 56 no. 10