"Letting God govern": supernatural agency in the Venezuelan Pentecostal approach to social change

Sociology of Religion, Fall, 1998 by David A. Smilde

Religious action should be distinguished from two other types of action that commonly are part of religious practice. Religion-oriented action is ordinary secular action that, in some way, has the purpose of facilitating religious practice. Religiously-motivated action, on the other hand, is ordinary secular action that is inspired by religious beliefs. Both of these latter forms of action differ from religious action because while they take into account the existence of a supernatural order, they are conceived to effect results through mundane social causality, not supernatural agency.

The Venezuelan Pentecostal frame is one particular theistic religious frame. In it, the supernatural order of existence contains good and evil beings: on the one hand, God in the form of Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the angels under his command; and on the other, the Devil and his supporting demons. These supernatural beings have the ability to act within the present, observable universe, and life here on Earth corresponds to this division. One is either "in the way of the Lord" (en el camino del Senor) or "in the world" (en el mundo). Being "in the world" one lives "in the flesh," freely engaging in sin, and preoccupies oneself with "worldly concerns," that is, material and status interests, rather than spiritual concerns, resulting in alienation from God. Being "in the world" is supernaturally-relevant behavior. In the Venezuelan Pentecostal view, it results in a spiritual void where God should be that is promptly filled by Satan. "The Enemy" takes control of one's life and uses one to do evil, leading to conflict, suffering, and pain among others and (usually)(6) him or herself. In addition, those outside of God's path may be directly harmed by Satan, or subjected to God's wrath if He decides to "claim His proper place."

Being "in the way of the Lord," on the other hand, one lives "in the spirit," avoiding "sins" such as marital infidelity, smoking, gambling, conflict, cheating, and, most importantly, consumption of alcohol. Positively, one must congregate with other Christians to praise the Lord and read the Bible, bring the word to those who "don't know the Lord," and engage in activities that continually renew and maintain the connection to God, such as prayer, vigil,(7) and fasting. When the Christian does so, God protects him or her from the Devil, controls his or her life either directly or by communicating his will to the individual, and blesses him or her directly, resulting in well-being, peace, and happiness.

METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

The data used in this article come from ethnographic interviews carried out as part of fieldwork with Venezuelan Pentecostals in 1994. The questions were designed to get respondents to externalize aspects of the frame they use to conceptualize their own involvement in social change. I developed the interview guide on the basis of several months of participant observation with these same Pentecostals. Thus the questions were not developed de novo but rather after listening to and participating in many informal conversations on these issues. The questions attempt to use terms and concepts from the respondents' own sociocultural context.(8)