My interests are both sociological and theological--the nexus of culture and faith, as it plays out in church, para-church, and the academy. Ethnography, practical theology and ecclesial practice are disciplinary fronts that I identify with and explore. I write academically and as a journalist.
This is not just the publication of my PhD. Chapters have been edited, two removed, and two new o... more This is not just the publication of my PhD. Chapters have been edited, two removed, and two new ones added, including a preface. My entire angle has also shifted to include an assessment of evangelical religion in Canada. Evangelicals have been scandalized by their association with Donald Trump, their megachurches summarily dismissed as “religious Walmarts.” In _The Subversive Evangelical_ I show how a growing group of “reflexive evangelicals” use irony to critique their own tradition and distinguish themselves from the stereotype of right-wing evangelicalism.
Entering the Meeting House - an Ontario-based Anabaptist megachurch - as a participant observer, I discover that the marketing is clever and the venue (a rented movie theatre) is attractive to the more than five thousand weekly attendees. But the heart of the church is its charismatic leader, Bruxy Cavey, whose anti-religious teaching and ironic tattoos offer a fresh image for evangelicals. This charisma, I argue, is not just the power of one individual; it is a dramatic production in which Cavey, his staff, and attendees cooperate, cultivating an identity as an “irreligious” megachurch and providing followers with a more culturally acceptable way to practise their faith in a secular age.
Going behind the scenes to small group meetings, church dance parties, and the homes of attendees to investigate what motivates these reflexive evangelicals, I reveal a playful and provocative counterculture that distances itself from prevailing stereotypes while still embracing a conservative Christian faith.
"Creatively written and engaging, The Subversive Evangelical is an important book and a pleasure to read." Sam Reimer, Crandall University
_The Subversive Evangelical_ provides a compelling portrait of an ironic religious orientation--an anti-Christian Christianity--that mixes subversion and deconversion to uphold religious orthodoxy while seeming to reject it. This book uncovers the sociological workings of an enormous multi-campus megachurch led by an overweight, unkempt, and self-deprecating pastor who kicks seriousness to the curb and insists that Jesus is a totally fun guy. This quirky, whimsical, and iconoclastic minister overturns established tradition by restructuring his church around "Those Who Hate Church." Given the increased number of disaffected white Christians walking away from organized religion, this book explains how an inventive and charismatic leader adopted and now orchestrates the performance of an unexpected and newly legitimated ecclesiology for contemporary evangelicals, one that is aggressively fighting for the continued relevancy of congregational faith in North America.
Gerardo Martí, L Richardson King Professor of Sociology at Davidson College and co-author of The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity.
A rigorous sociological, theoretical, and empirical ethnographic study of one of Canada's most witty, playful, and humorous evangelical leaders (and his congregation). Schuurman masterfully unpacks the place of charisma in a congregation's attempt to systematically distance itself from a popularized and stigmatized conception of what it means to be evangelical in a post-Christian Canada. A must read for scholars of religion and church leaders in Canada who wish to think carefully and critically about congregations and/or evangelicals.
Joel Thiessen, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Director, Flourishing Congregations Institute
NOTE: this PhD was re-worked, with deleted chapters and new chapters in my book _The Subversive E... more NOTE: this PhD was re-worked, with deleted chapters and new chapters in my book _The Subversive Evangelical_. There is much new and different material.
Megachurch pastors—as local and international celebrities—have been a growing phenomenon since the 1960s, when megachurches began to proliferate across North America. Why are these leaders and their large congregations so popular in an age of increasing “religious nones”? Commentators in both popular and academic literature often resort to characterizing the leadership with stereotypes of manipulative opportunists along the lines of Sinclair Lewis’ Elmer Gantry (1927) or narrow characterizations of savvy entrepreneurs who thrive in a competitive religious economy. Similarly, writers assume megachurch attendees are a passive audience, or even dupes.
This dissertation challenges the Elmer Gantry stereotype and the religious economic perspectives by examining one particular megachurch pastor named Bruxy Cavey in the context of his “irreligious” megachurch community called The Meeting House. It argues that charismatic leadership, not calculated management and branding techniques, best explains the rapid growth of this megachurch as well as the deep commitments many people make to it. While the concept of “charisma” is often used equivocally, in the tradition of Max Weber I contend that charismatic authority is best understood not only as an extraordinary individual quality but as a form of cultural authority that arises when traditional and institutional forms have lost their plausibility and people experience uncertainty, dissatisfaction, or distress. People attribute exemplary powers to someone who offers them a way out, and intellectually and emotionally bond with the visionary and their vision.
This charismatic authority I portray as a dramatic production, what I call a “dramatic web” that draws followers into its scene and script, offering some resolution to their worries. The complex, compelling nature of this drama is best understood in the context of Wendy Griswold’s “cultural diamond,” which proposes four elements in the analysis of a cultural object: the cultural object itself, its creators, its receivers, and the social world that encapsulates them all. I investigate the four elements as part of a “charismatic diamond”: the cultural object is the “dramatic web” of Cavey’s church, marketed as “a church for people who aren’t into church”; the creators are Cavey and his staff, who employ a variety of media to generate and disseminate the drama; the social world is a Canadian culture ambivalent about religion and which stigmatizes right-wing evangelicals; the receivers are various concentric circles of audience who participate in the subculture of the church to varying degrees.
Following the dramaturgical themes of Erving Goffman, I investigate the “dramatic web” of The Meeting House in two parts—as a deconstructive, satirical project displayed on Sunday mornings and then as a re-constructive, romantic adventure that is exemplified in weekday Home Churches. For the first, I show Cavey deliberately takes “role distance” from the stereotype of a right-wing evangelical pastor, using satire to deconstruct the mores of North American evangelical culture and create an “alienating effect” in his audience. The negatively oriented opening acts create a space in which a new script can be constructed, and I demonstrate next Cavey’s two core romantic narratives that champion “relationship, not religion”—a script that is to be enacted through their weekday Home Churches. Not all attendees are caught up in this dramatic web to the same degree, however, as attendees select elements from it for their own purposes, some embracing and identifying with the whole script, while others take pieces from it to arrange into a more eclectic religious life. The final chapter explores moments of “dramaturgical trouble,” including the question of what happens when Cavey retires, dies, or is deposed. In other words, how might this religious performance come to an end? I offer a typology of possible endings and their sequels—three scenarios of charismatic succession I developed from Weber’s writing on the routinization of charisma.
The dissertation concludes by suggesting that, contrary to predictions of the megachurches demise, if megachurches indeed are a compelling drama co-produced by leader and follower that brings meaning, purpose, and joy to followers’ lives in the midst of cultural tension, megachurches are not just a passing fad or vulnerable personality cult, but a viable and likely enduring North American religious institution.
A sociology graduate thesis on the subject of video surveillance.
Supervisor: Dr. David Lyon
Quee... more A sociology graduate thesis on the subject of video surveillance. Supervisor: Dr. David Lyon Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario May 1995
Brill's Encyclopedia of Global Pentecostalism Online , 2020
This is a thousand word entry under the subject heading of "megachurches" in the Encyclopedia. He... more This is a thousand word entry under the subject heading of "megachurches" in the Encyclopedia. Here I discuss the megachurch as a global phenomenon and tie it into the charismatic and prosperity gospel movement.
An investigation of the development and character of megachurches in Canada, including some stati... more An investigation of the development and character of megachurches in Canada, including some statistics and a case study of The Meeting House, an "irreligious" megachurch in 17 sites across Ontario.
Engages the work of James K. A. Smith as it pertains to the Emerging Church.
In: DeRoo, Neal and... more Engages the work of James K. A. Smith as it pertains to the Emerging Church.
In: DeRoo, Neal and Brian Lightbody, eds. _The Logic of Incarnation: James K. A. Smith’s Critique of Postmodern Religion_. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2008.
féconde la mienne » (226). Les quatre critères de discernement qui apparaissent en conclusion n’a... more féconde la mienne » (226). Les quatre critères de discernement qui apparaissent en conclusion n’auraient-ils pas pu intervenir plus rapidement pour corriger une lecture éventuellement tronquée des Évangiles ? Ce livre est à lire pour tous les pèlerins en quête de liberté et gageons que le prochain livre de Bergeron approfondira ces critères de discernement pour un monde trop souvent soumis aux seules lois du marché.
“A church for people not into church” is the ironic motto of The Meeting House, an Anabaptist meg... more “A church for people not into church” is the ironic motto of The Meeting House, an Anabaptist megachurch in southern Ontario, Canada. It has seventeen satellite sites—mostly rented movie theatres—where its approximately 5,000 attendees show up each Sunday. Led by Bruxy Cavey, a long-haired hippie-wannabe in jeans and a T-shirt, the church’s vision is to upend cultural stereotypes of evangelical Christians by doing the liturgically unexpected—and, so they claim, more easily offering seekers a fresh, unimpeded look at Jesus and his teaching. This essay is based on graduate work I completed at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and published as The Subversive Evangelical. I attended The Meeting House most closely during 2011–14, although I followed the teachings from a distance until 2018. Unlike most megachurch studies, I personally interviewed the leading figure (on three occasions). I also attended five House Churches (small groups) for eleven weeks each and interviewed eighty-two people with varying connections to the church. This is the advantage of ethnography: megachurches are not just sermons, vision statements, and the dramatic scandals reported by mass media: they are people, practicing their religious lives alongside their other daily commitments, and the rituals they practice shape and transform their religious identity.
An investigation of the development and character of megachurches in Canada, including some stati... more An investigation of the development and character of megachurches in Canada, including some statistics and a case study of The Meeting House, an "irreligious" megachurch in 17 sites across Ontario.
This article investigates a megachurch's ritual internally referred to (with ironic tones) as “Pu... more This article investigates a megachurch's ritual internally referred to (with ironic tones) as “Purge Sunday” in order to show how evangelicals in Canada navigate their "spoiled identity" (Goffman). This occasional Sunday ritual, a sort of “anxious bench” counter-performance or reverse altar call at The Meeting House (Toronto), demonstrates clearly the ambivalence of the church toward consumer culture and megachurch growth pressures while at the same time reinforcing aspects of it. It is a signal to their audience that communicates the congregation’s distance from high-pressure evangelical churches and so-called “cults.” This particular ritual celebrates one of the paradoxical dimensions of their identity—that they are “evangelicals for people not into evangelicalism”--an attempt to find a more culturally legitimate Canadian identity.
The first survey of large churches in Canada. It offers a broad overview of churches with more th... more The first survey of large churches in Canada. It offers a broad overview of churches with more than 1000 weekly attendees from across the nation. Lead author was Warren Bird.
Vincent Lloyd argues we move beyond both cynical and pragmatic approaches to charisma and instead... more Vincent Lloyd argues we move beyond both cynical and pragmatic approaches to charisma and instead apply a normative analysis of charismatic leadership--how it either is authoritarian and abusive or democratic and empowering. His goal is to use the concept for ethical evaluation towards the good, the true, and the beautiful society.
There are few good books on the Canadian religious landscape and this is certainly one of the bet... more There are few good books on the Canadian religious landscape and this is certainly one of the better ones. Contains qualitative as well as theoretical work in a broad sociological framework. Based on interviews in the Calgary region.
Book review of a geographical analysis of Rick Warren's Saddleback Community Church. In a nutshel... more Book review of a geographical analysis of Rick Warren's Saddleback Community Church. In a nutshell, Wilford views the megachurch as a reflection of post-suburban life.
An accessible read, giving much detail to the life and politics of the Canadian superstar evangel... more An accessible read, giving much detail to the life and politics of the Canadian superstar evangelist who set up her megachurch in L.A.
This is not just the publication of my PhD. Chapters have been edited, two removed, and two new o... more This is not just the publication of my PhD. Chapters have been edited, two removed, and two new ones added, including a preface. My entire angle has also shifted to include an assessment of evangelical religion in Canada. Evangelicals have been scandalized by their association with Donald Trump, their megachurches summarily dismissed as “religious Walmarts.” In _The Subversive Evangelical_ I show how a growing group of “reflexive evangelicals” use irony to critique their own tradition and distinguish themselves from the stereotype of right-wing evangelicalism.
Entering the Meeting House - an Ontario-based Anabaptist megachurch - as a participant observer, I discover that the marketing is clever and the venue (a rented movie theatre) is attractive to the more than five thousand weekly attendees. But the heart of the church is its charismatic leader, Bruxy Cavey, whose anti-religious teaching and ironic tattoos offer a fresh image for evangelicals. This charisma, I argue, is not just the power of one individual; it is a dramatic production in which Cavey, his staff, and attendees cooperate, cultivating an identity as an “irreligious” megachurch and providing followers with a more culturally acceptable way to practise their faith in a secular age.
Going behind the scenes to small group meetings, church dance parties, and the homes of attendees to investigate what motivates these reflexive evangelicals, I reveal a playful and provocative counterculture that distances itself from prevailing stereotypes while still embracing a conservative Christian faith.
"Creatively written and engaging, The Subversive Evangelical is an important book and a pleasure to read." Sam Reimer, Crandall University
_The Subversive Evangelical_ provides a compelling portrait of an ironic religious orientation--an anti-Christian Christianity--that mixes subversion and deconversion to uphold religious orthodoxy while seeming to reject it. This book uncovers the sociological workings of an enormous multi-campus megachurch led by an overweight, unkempt, and self-deprecating pastor who kicks seriousness to the curb and insists that Jesus is a totally fun guy. This quirky, whimsical, and iconoclastic minister overturns established tradition by restructuring his church around "Those Who Hate Church." Given the increased number of disaffected white Christians walking away from organized religion, this book explains how an inventive and charismatic leader adopted and now orchestrates the performance of an unexpected and newly legitimated ecclesiology for contemporary evangelicals, one that is aggressively fighting for the continued relevancy of congregational faith in North America.
Gerardo Martí, L Richardson King Professor of Sociology at Davidson College and co-author of The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity.
A rigorous sociological, theoretical, and empirical ethnographic study of one of Canada's most witty, playful, and humorous evangelical leaders (and his congregation). Schuurman masterfully unpacks the place of charisma in a congregation's attempt to systematically distance itself from a popularized and stigmatized conception of what it means to be evangelical in a post-Christian Canada. A must read for scholars of religion and church leaders in Canada who wish to think carefully and critically about congregations and/or evangelicals.
Joel Thiessen, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Director, Flourishing Congregations Institute
NOTE: this PhD was re-worked, with deleted chapters and new chapters in my book _The Subversive E... more NOTE: this PhD was re-worked, with deleted chapters and new chapters in my book _The Subversive Evangelical_. There is much new and different material.
Megachurch pastors—as local and international celebrities—have been a growing phenomenon since the 1960s, when megachurches began to proliferate across North America. Why are these leaders and their large congregations so popular in an age of increasing “religious nones”? Commentators in both popular and academic literature often resort to characterizing the leadership with stereotypes of manipulative opportunists along the lines of Sinclair Lewis’ Elmer Gantry (1927) or narrow characterizations of savvy entrepreneurs who thrive in a competitive religious economy. Similarly, writers assume megachurch attendees are a passive audience, or even dupes.
This dissertation challenges the Elmer Gantry stereotype and the religious economic perspectives by examining one particular megachurch pastor named Bruxy Cavey in the context of his “irreligious” megachurch community called The Meeting House. It argues that charismatic leadership, not calculated management and branding techniques, best explains the rapid growth of this megachurch as well as the deep commitments many people make to it. While the concept of “charisma” is often used equivocally, in the tradition of Max Weber I contend that charismatic authority is best understood not only as an extraordinary individual quality but as a form of cultural authority that arises when traditional and institutional forms have lost their plausibility and people experience uncertainty, dissatisfaction, or distress. People attribute exemplary powers to someone who offers them a way out, and intellectually and emotionally bond with the visionary and their vision.
This charismatic authority I portray as a dramatic production, what I call a “dramatic web” that draws followers into its scene and script, offering some resolution to their worries. The complex, compelling nature of this drama is best understood in the context of Wendy Griswold’s “cultural diamond,” which proposes four elements in the analysis of a cultural object: the cultural object itself, its creators, its receivers, and the social world that encapsulates them all. I investigate the four elements as part of a “charismatic diamond”: the cultural object is the “dramatic web” of Cavey’s church, marketed as “a church for people who aren’t into church”; the creators are Cavey and his staff, who employ a variety of media to generate and disseminate the drama; the social world is a Canadian culture ambivalent about religion and which stigmatizes right-wing evangelicals; the receivers are various concentric circles of audience who participate in the subculture of the church to varying degrees.
Following the dramaturgical themes of Erving Goffman, I investigate the “dramatic web” of The Meeting House in two parts—as a deconstructive, satirical project displayed on Sunday mornings and then as a re-constructive, romantic adventure that is exemplified in weekday Home Churches. For the first, I show Cavey deliberately takes “role distance” from the stereotype of a right-wing evangelical pastor, using satire to deconstruct the mores of North American evangelical culture and create an “alienating effect” in his audience. The negatively oriented opening acts create a space in which a new script can be constructed, and I demonstrate next Cavey’s two core romantic narratives that champion “relationship, not religion”—a script that is to be enacted through their weekday Home Churches. Not all attendees are caught up in this dramatic web to the same degree, however, as attendees select elements from it for their own purposes, some embracing and identifying with the whole script, while others take pieces from it to arrange into a more eclectic religious life. The final chapter explores moments of “dramaturgical trouble,” including the question of what happens when Cavey retires, dies, or is deposed. In other words, how might this religious performance come to an end? I offer a typology of possible endings and their sequels—three scenarios of charismatic succession I developed from Weber’s writing on the routinization of charisma.
The dissertation concludes by suggesting that, contrary to predictions of the megachurches demise, if megachurches indeed are a compelling drama co-produced by leader and follower that brings meaning, purpose, and joy to followers’ lives in the midst of cultural tension, megachurches are not just a passing fad or vulnerable personality cult, but a viable and likely enduring North American religious institution.
A sociology graduate thesis on the subject of video surveillance.
Supervisor: Dr. David Lyon
Quee... more A sociology graduate thesis on the subject of video surveillance. Supervisor: Dr. David Lyon Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario May 1995
Brill's Encyclopedia of Global Pentecostalism Online , 2020
This is a thousand word entry under the subject heading of "megachurches" in the Encyclopedia. He... more This is a thousand word entry under the subject heading of "megachurches" in the Encyclopedia. Here I discuss the megachurch as a global phenomenon and tie it into the charismatic and prosperity gospel movement.
An investigation of the development and character of megachurches in Canada, including some stati... more An investigation of the development and character of megachurches in Canada, including some statistics and a case study of The Meeting House, an "irreligious" megachurch in 17 sites across Ontario.
Engages the work of James K. A. Smith as it pertains to the Emerging Church.
In: DeRoo, Neal and... more Engages the work of James K. A. Smith as it pertains to the Emerging Church.
In: DeRoo, Neal and Brian Lightbody, eds. _The Logic of Incarnation: James K. A. Smith’s Critique of Postmodern Religion_. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2008.
féconde la mienne » (226). Les quatre critères de discernement qui apparaissent en conclusion n’a... more féconde la mienne » (226). Les quatre critères de discernement qui apparaissent en conclusion n’auraient-ils pas pu intervenir plus rapidement pour corriger une lecture éventuellement tronquée des Évangiles ? Ce livre est à lire pour tous les pèlerins en quête de liberté et gageons que le prochain livre de Bergeron approfondira ces critères de discernement pour un monde trop souvent soumis aux seules lois du marché.
“A church for people not into church” is the ironic motto of The Meeting House, an Anabaptist meg... more “A church for people not into church” is the ironic motto of The Meeting House, an Anabaptist megachurch in southern Ontario, Canada. It has seventeen satellite sites—mostly rented movie theatres—where its approximately 5,000 attendees show up each Sunday. Led by Bruxy Cavey, a long-haired hippie-wannabe in jeans and a T-shirt, the church’s vision is to upend cultural stereotypes of evangelical Christians by doing the liturgically unexpected—and, so they claim, more easily offering seekers a fresh, unimpeded look at Jesus and his teaching. This essay is based on graduate work I completed at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and published as The Subversive Evangelical. I attended The Meeting House most closely during 2011–14, although I followed the teachings from a distance until 2018. Unlike most megachurch studies, I personally interviewed the leading figure (on three occasions). I also attended five House Churches (small groups) for eleven weeks each and interviewed eighty-two people with varying connections to the church. This is the advantage of ethnography: megachurches are not just sermons, vision statements, and the dramatic scandals reported by mass media: they are people, practicing their religious lives alongside their other daily commitments, and the rituals they practice shape and transform their religious identity.
An investigation of the development and character of megachurches in Canada, including some stati... more An investigation of the development and character of megachurches in Canada, including some statistics and a case study of The Meeting House, an "irreligious" megachurch in 17 sites across Ontario.
This article investigates a megachurch's ritual internally referred to (with ironic tones) as “Pu... more This article investigates a megachurch's ritual internally referred to (with ironic tones) as “Purge Sunday” in order to show how evangelicals in Canada navigate their "spoiled identity" (Goffman). This occasional Sunday ritual, a sort of “anxious bench” counter-performance or reverse altar call at The Meeting House (Toronto), demonstrates clearly the ambivalence of the church toward consumer culture and megachurch growth pressures while at the same time reinforcing aspects of it. It is a signal to their audience that communicates the congregation’s distance from high-pressure evangelical churches and so-called “cults.” This particular ritual celebrates one of the paradoxical dimensions of their identity—that they are “evangelicals for people not into evangelicalism”--an attempt to find a more culturally legitimate Canadian identity.
The first survey of large churches in Canada. It offers a broad overview of churches with more th... more The first survey of large churches in Canada. It offers a broad overview of churches with more than 1000 weekly attendees from across the nation. Lead author was Warren Bird.
Vincent Lloyd argues we move beyond both cynical and pragmatic approaches to charisma and instead... more Vincent Lloyd argues we move beyond both cynical and pragmatic approaches to charisma and instead apply a normative analysis of charismatic leadership--how it either is authoritarian and abusive or democratic and empowering. His goal is to use the concept for ethical evaluation towards the good, the true, and the beautiful society.
There are few good books on the Canadian religious landscape and this is certainly one of the bet... more There are few good books on the Canadian religious landscape and this is certainly one of the better ones. Contains qualitative as well as theoretical work in a broad sociological framework. Based on interviews in the Calgary region.
Book review of a geographical analysis of Rick Warren's Saddleback Community Church. In a nutshel... more Book review of a geographical analysis of Rick Warren's Saddleback Community Church. In a nutshell, Wilford views the megachurch as a reflection of post-suburban life.
An accessible read, giving much detail to the life and politics of the Canadian superstar evangel... more An accessible read, giving much detail to the life and politics of the Canadian superstar evangelist who set up her megachurch in L.A.
This is an accessible introduction to some of the biggest names in evangelical Christianity today... more This is an accessible introduction to some of the biggest names in evangelical Christianity today and offers an application of religious economy theory to its subject matter.
One of the few in-depth studies into evangelical small groups. Written with anthropological atten... more One of the few in-depth studies into evangelical small groups. Written with anthropological attention to details like language, outsiders, and group bonding.
Note: the denomination in Canada is now re-named "Be In Christ."
Click the URL above to see th... more Note: the denomination in Canada is now re-named "Be In Christ."
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Entering the Meeting House - an Ontario-based Anabaptist megachurch - as a participant observer, I discover that the marketing is clever and the venue (a rented movie theatre) is attractive to the more than five thousand weekly attendees. But the heart of the church is its charismatic leader, Bruxy Cavey, whose anti-religious teaching and ironic tattoos offer a fresh image for evangelicals. This charisma, I argue, is not just the power of one individual; it is a dramatic production in which Cavey, his staff, and attendees cooperate, cultivating an identity as an “irreligious” megachurch and providing followers with a more culturally acceptable way to practise their faith in a secular age.
Going behind the scenes to small group meetings, church dance parties, and the homes of attendees to investigate what motivates these reflexive evangelicals, I reveal a playful and provocative counterculture that distances itself from prevailing stereotypes while still embracing a conservative Christian faith.
"Creatively written and engaging, The Subversive Evangelical is an important book and a pleasure to read." Sam Reimer, Crandall University
_The Subversive Evangelical_ provides a compelling portrait of an ironic religious orientation--an anti-Christian Christianity--that mixes subversion and deconversion to uphold religious orthodoxy while seeming to reject it. This book uncovers the sociological workings of an enormous multi-campus megachurch led by an overweight, unkempt, and self-deprecating pastor who kicks seriousness to the curb and insists that Jesus is a totally fun guy. This quirky, whimsical, and iconoclastic minister overturns established tradition by restructuring his church around "Those Who Hate Church." Given the increased number of disaffected white Christians walking away from organized religion, this book explains how an inventive and charismatic leader adopted and now orchestrates the performance of an unexpected and newly legitimated ecclesiology for contemporary evangelicals, one that is aggressively fighting for the continued relevancy of congregational faith in North America.
Gerardo Martí, L Richardson King Professor of Sociology at Davidson College and co-author of The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity.
A rigorous sociological, theoretical, and empirical ethnographic study of one of Canada's most witty, playful, and humorous evangelical leaders (and his congregation). Schuurman masterfully unpacks the place of charisma in a congregation's attempt to systematically distance itself from a popularized and stigmatized conception of what it means to be evangelical in a post-Christian Canada. A must read for scholars of religion and church leaders in Canada who wish to think carefully and critically about congregations and/or evangelicals.
Joel Thiessen, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Director, Flourishing Congregations Institute
Megachurch pastors—as local and international celebrities—have been a growing phenomenon since the 1960s, when megachurches began to proliferate across North America. Why are these leaders and their large congregations so popular in an age of increasing “religious nones”? Commentators in both popular and academic literature often resort to characterizing the leadership with stereotypes of manipulative opportunists along the lines of Sinclair Lewis’ Elmer Gantry (1927) or narrow characterizations of savvy entrepreneurs who thrive in a competitive religious economy. Similarly, writers assume megachurch attendees are a passive audience, or even dupes.
This dissertation challenges the Elmer Gantry stereotype and the religious economic perspectives by examining one particular megachurch pastor named Bruxy Cavey in the context of his “irreligious” megachurch community called The Meeting House. It argues that charismatic leadership, not calculated management and branding techniques, best explains the rapid growth of this megachurch as well as the deep commitments many people make to it. While the concept of “charisma” is often used equivocally, in the tradition of Max Weber I contend that charismatic authority is best understood not only as an extraordinary individual quality but as a form of cultural authority that arises when traditional and institutional forms have lost their plausibility and people experience uncertainty, dissatisfaction, or distress. People attribute exemplary powers to someone who offers them a way out, and intellectually and emotionally bond with the visionary and their vision.
This charismatic authority I portray as a dramatic production, what I call a “dramatic web” that draws followers into its scene and script, offering some resolution to their worries. The complex, compelling nature of this drama is best understood in the context of Wendy Griswold’s “cultural diamond,” which proposes four elements in the analysis of a cultural object: the cultural object itself, its creators, its receivers, and the social world that encapsulates them all. I investigate the four elements as part of a “charismatic diamond”: the cultural object is the “dramatic web” of Cavey’s church, marketed as “a church for people who aren’t into church”; the creators are Cavey and his staff, who employ a variety of media to generate and disseminate the drama; the social world is a Canadian culture ambivalent about religion and which stigmatizes right-wing evangelicals; the receivers are various concentric circles of audience who participate in the subculture of the church to varying degrees.
Following the dramaturgical themes of Erving Goffman, I investigate the “dramatic web” of The Meeting House in two parts—as a deconstructive, satirical project displayed on Sunday mornings and then as a re-constructive, romantic adventure that is exemplified in weekday Home Churches. For the first, I show Cavey deliberately takes “role distance” from the stereotype of a right-wing evangelical pastor, using satire to deconstruct the mores of North American evangelical culture and create an “alienating effect” in his audience. The negatively oriented opening acts create a space in which a new script can be constructed, and I demonstrate next Cavey’s two core romantic narratives that champion “relationship, not religion”—a script that is to be enacted through their weekday Home Churches. Not all attendees are caught up in this dramatic web to the same degree, however, as attendees select elements from it for their own purposes, some embracing and identifying with the whole script, while others take pieces from it to arrange into a more eclectic religious life. The final chapter explores moments of “dramaturgical trouble,” including the question of what happens when Cavey retires, dies, or is deposed. In other words, how might this religious performance come to an end? I offer a typology of possible endings and their sequels—three scenarios of charismatic succession I developed from Weber’s writing on the routinization of charisma.
The dissertation concludes by suggesting that, contrary to predictions of the megachurches demise, if megachurches indeed are a compelling drama co-produced by leader and follower that brings meaning, purpose, and joy to followers’ lives in the midst of cultural tension, megachurches are not just a passing fad or vulnerable personality cult, but a viable and likely enduring North American religious institution.
Supervisor: Dr. David Lyon
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
May 1995
In: DeRoo, Neal and Brian Lightbody, eds. _The Logic of Incarnation: James K. A. Smith’s Critique of Postmodern Religion_. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2008.
Entering the Meeting House - an Ontario-based Anabaptist megachurch - as a participant observer, I discover that the marketing is clever and the venue (a rented movie theatre) is attractive to the more than five thousand weekly attendees. But the heart of the church is its charismatic leader, Bruxy Cavey, whose anti-religious teaching and ironic tattoos offer a fresh image for evangelicals. This charisma, I argue, is not just the power of one individual; it is a dramatic production in which Cavey, his staff, and attendees cooperate, cultivating an identity as an “irreligious” megachurch and providing followers with a more culturally acceptable way to practise their faith in a secular age.
Going behind the scenes to small group meetings, church dance parties, and the homes of attendees to investigate what motivates these reflexive evangelicals, I reveal a playful and provocative counterculture that distances itself from prevailing stereotypes while still embracing a conservative Christian faith.
"Creatively written and engaging, The Subversive Evangelical is an important book and a pleasure to read." Sam Reimer, Crandall University
_The Subversive Evangelical_ provides a compelling portrait of an ironic religious orientation--an anti-Christian Christianity--that mixes subversion and deconversion to uphold religious orthodoxy while seeming to reject it. This book uncovers the sociological workings of an enormous multi-campus megachurch led by an overweight, unkempt, and self-deprecating pastor who kicks seriousness to the curb and insists that Jesus is a totally fun guy. This quirky, whimsical, and iconoclastic minister overturns established tradition by restructuring his church around "Those Who Hate Church." Given the increased number of disaffected white Christians walking away from organized religion, this book explains how an inventive and charismatic leader adopted and now orchestrates the performance of an unexpected and newly legitimated ecclesiology for contemporary evangelicals, one that is aggressively fighting for the continued relevancy of congregational faith in North America.
Gerardo Martí, L Richardson King Professor of Sociology at Davidson College and co-author of The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity.
A rigorous sociological, theoretical, and empirical ethnographic study of one of Canada's most witty, playful, and humorous evangelical leaders (and his congregation). Schuurman masterfully unpacks the place of charisma in a congregation's attempt to systematically distance itself from a popularized and stigmatized conception of what it means to be evangelical in a post-Christian Canada. A must read for scholars of religion and church leaders in Canada who wish to think carefully and critically about congregations and/or evangelicals.
Joel Thiessen, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Director, Flourishing Congregations Institute
Megachurch pastors—as local and international celebrities—have been a growing phenomenon since the 1960s, when megachurches began to proliferate across North America. Why are these leaders and their large congregations so popular in an age of increasing “religious nones”? Commentators in both popular and academic literature often resort to characterizing the leadership with stereotypes of manipulative opportunists along the lines of Sinclair Lewis’ Elmer Gantry (1927) or narrow characterizations of savvy entrepreneurs who thrive in a competitive religious economy. Similarly, writers assume megachurch attendees are a passive audience, or even dupes.
This dissertation challenges the Elmer Gantry stereotype and the religious economic perspectives by examining one particular megachurch pastor named Bruxy Cavey in the context of his “irreligious” megachurch community called The Meeting House. It argues that charismatic leadership, not calculated management and branding techniques, best explains the rapid growth of this megachurch as well as the deep commitments many people make to it. While the concept of “charisma” is often used equivocally, in the tradition of Max Weber I contend that charismatic authority is best understood not only as an extraordinary individual quality but as a form of cultural authority that arises when traditional and institutional forms have lost their plausibility and people experience uncertainty, dissatisfaction, or distress. People attribute exemplary powers to someone who offers them a way out, and intellectually and emotionally bond with the visionary and their vision.
This charismatic authority I portray as a dramatic production, what I call a “dramatic web” that draws followers into its scene and script, offering some resolution to their worries. The complex, compelling nature of this drama is best understood in the context of Wendy Griswold’s “cultural diamond,” which proposes four elements in the analysis of a cultural object: the cultural object itself, its creators, its receivers, and the social world that encapsulates them all. I investigate the four elements as part of a “charismatic diamond”: the cultural object is the “dramatic web” of Cavey’s church, marketed as “a church for people who aren’t into church”; the creators are Cavey and his staff, who employ a variety of media to generate and disseminate the drama; the social world is a Canadian culture ambivalent about religion and which stigmatizes right-wing evangelicals; the receivers are various concentric circles of audience who participate in the subculture of the church to varying degrees.
Following the dramaturgical themes of Erving Goffman, I investigate the “dramatic web” of The Meeting House in two parts—as a deconstructive, satirical project displayed on Sunday mornings and then as a re-constructive, romantic adventure that is exemplified in weekday Home Churches. For the first, I show Cavey deliberately takes “role distance” from the stereotype of a right-wing evangelical pastor, using satire to deconstruct the mores of North American evangelical culture and create an “alienating effect” in his audience. The negatively oriented opening acts create a space in which a new script can be constructed, and I demonstrate next Cavey’s two core romantic narratives that champion “relationship, not religion”—a script that is to be enacted through their weekday Home Churches. Not all attendees are caught up in this dramatic web to the same degree, however, as attendees select elements from it for their own purposes, some embracing and identifying with the whole script, while others take pieces from it to arrange into a more eclectic religious life. The final chapter explores moments of “dramaturgical trouble,” including the question of what happens when Cavey retires, dies, or is deposed. In other words, how might this religious performance come to an end? I offer a typology of possible endings and their sequels—three scenarios of charismatic succession I developed from Weber’s writing on the routinization of charisma.
The dissertation concludes by suggesting that, contrary to predictions of the megachurches demise, if megachurches indeed are a compelling drama co-produced by leader and follower that brings meaning, purpose, and joy to followers’ lives in the midst of cultural tension, megachurches are not just a passing fad or vulnerable personality cult, but a viable and likely enduring North American religious institution.
Supervisor: Dr. David Lyon
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
May 1995
In: DeRoo, Neal and Brian Lightbody, eds. _The Logic of Incarnation: James K. A. Smith’s Critique of Postmodern Religion_. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2008.
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