Zofia Pazitná

"Experiencing the Closeness of God": Mediated Religious Experience and the Role of Authority in the Pentecostal Faith Church in Budapest Zofia Pazitná

Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity is shaking the world with emphasis on a vigorous community, missionary work, strong family and individual, personal relationship to God and not in the last place, accent on prosperous health and business. This book is an ethnographic study of a manifestation of this global movement in Hungary. The focus lies on a new type of religious experience that the Pentecostal/Charismatic religion offers to its followers in Faith Church in Budapest, with vivid understanding of the transcendental in the believer?s life and the experience of closeness of God, regarded as religious sensations. Considering religious sensations is an innovative approach in understanding religious experience, as it encompasses not only the feelings experienced during sensations, but also their mediation and induction. The role of narratives, bodily movements and the charismatic leadership of this church are analyzed with respect to the creation and mediation of religious experience.