416 Omar McRoberts
This understanding of scripture encourages believers to apply biblical insights to the
exigencies of daily life.
The pastors in question expressed the idea of radical embodiment in terms of the
biblical mandate to serve the “whole person,” in all his or her social and spiritual
complexity. The following remark, made by Rev. Powell, refers to this mandate. Note
his broad scriptural justification for social concern:
When you look at the Bible – right? – from Genesis to Revelations – there’s always
been a Christian man who could lead the nation...Christians always got involved
with politics. And I think it’s really sad when the church say, I’m not gon’ get involved
with that stuff. That’s our problem. We get involved with the spirit too much and
not dealing with thetotal man. How do I reach this guy and get him into a job,
into a house and into some kind of structure, and let him know he has a reason to
live?This statement reflects an experiential interpretation of the Bible. Such interpretations
were also evident when ministers expressed the conviction that Christians are called
to fight against sin in all its forms,especiallysocial injustice and inequality. A non-
experiential reading of the Bible might have excluded social injustice from the catalogue
of fightable sins, despite the fact that the faithful claimed to encounter injustice daily.
The clergy’s application of “whole person” theology supports the findings of pre-
vious studies, which show that theological conservatives tend to justify their views
and activities in strictly religious terms (Tamney and Johnson 1990). It also contributes
to scholarly evidence that charismatic/evangelical religion, with its heavy reliance on
the Holy Spirit and biblical insight, can be used as a “fuel” for liberatory struggle and
community development work as well as priestly, personal functions.
Community Building and Conversionism.Even those religious ideas sometimes used
to shut out “the world” can also become fuel for worldly engagement. Some Pente-
costals have tended to build exclusive, priestly communities that stand at high tension
with the social and cultural environment – even if individual members are allowed
to support social change work outside of the church. The clerics in question have
extended this community ethic to help build communities of clergy and laypersons
committed to social transformation. Rev. Rivers was a founding member of a city-wide,
ecumenical antiviolence coalition. Pastor Calvin has convened several regional confer-
ences of black women clergy concerned with violence and drug abuse. Rev. Powell has
begun organizing “small churches” like his own, that want to balance organizational
growth with demonstrations of social concern. For each minister, the idea of the highly
committed community serves as a kind of mediator between Pentecostal practice and
social activism.
This connection became clear during discussions about the effectiveness of struc-
tural and individual-level strategies for social change. All of the pastors agreed that
both societal and personal transformations were necessary to improve life in poor in-
ner city neighborhoods. They also favored the development of independent activist
structures to meet the social, political, and economic needs of black people. This senti-
ment did not conflict in any way with the pastors’ commitment to Pentecostal practice.
In fact, their advocacy of do-for-self social and political empowerment tended to jibe
with statements stressing the traditional conversionist values of “reborn social identity,