It Is Easy When You Are a Christian: Badeng Kenyah Conversion to Christianity
In this article, I explore how the Long Geng Badeng Kenyah community of Sarawak converted to Christianity even though there was no sustained missionary persuasion from the outside. Over a period of study, I eventually accept the simple emic explanation that "it is easy when you are a Christian&...
| Published in: | Cultural and religious studies |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
David Publishing Company
2016
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| In: |
Cultural and religious studies
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| Further subjects: | B
Adet Bungan
B SIB Church B Christian conversion B Sarawak B Badeng Kenyah |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In this article, I explore how the Long Geng Badeng Kenyah community of Sarawak converted to Christianity even though there was no sustained missionary persuasion from the outside. Over a period of study, I eventually accept the simple emic explanation that "it is easy when you are a Christian" to be an important explanation. Central to this view is that Christianity provides an alternative religion that allows the people to avoid the need to observe the many troublesome taboos that hinder frequent traveling and engaging in various kinds of economic activities. The influence of relatives is an important factor, too, and as more people become Christians, the traditional Bungan followers lose the support to continue with the traditional religion and eventually almost all follow their relatives to adopt the new religion, which they find do not hinder practicing their culture other than replacing the traditional worship with the Christian way. The ethnographic study provides the opportunity to relate to recent scholarship on the anthropology of Christianity, and facilitates anthropological reflection on the study of cultural change, in particular, in relation to the work of Marshall Sahlins. |
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| ISSN: | 2328-2177 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Cultural and religious studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.17265/2328-2177/2016.04.004 |