This article examines the personal religious testimonies, both of conversion and "life stories," of Chilean Pentecostal Christians. Lindhardt, an anthropologist, argues that these Christians use testimonies to construct personal and social identities. After framing the subject theoretically the author uses presents testimonies and the transcripts of conversations of six Chilean Pentecostals to illustrate his argument. Lindhardt sees their personal narratives as a vital aspect of these Pentecostal's religious practice and of religious practice in general. These stories have a specific function,"the public narration of a testimony is a way of socially positioning oneself within a religious community while at the same time confirming and committing oneself to its basic values and world views."(40)
Lindhardt's anthropological approach produces views on testimonies corresponding with Christian concepts about sharing one's faith. First, it is a rite of passage into the Body of Christ. St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."(Romans 10:10) It is not enough to silently believe a Christian is expected to stand up and declare his faith in Jesus. Another study, by Susan Harding, shows a similar practice among American Baptists. She refers to their testimonial practice as bearing "witness." where identity in the individual and group is formed by sharing stories of spiritual transformation. Emphasis on the conversion story is also the focus of my critique of prompts designed to help Christians share their faith. A second concept Lindhart sees in his study is the way "post conversion life stories"(34) are shared by Christians as "important ways of continuously renarrating the engagement of the Pentecostal subject with divine others." Here he is writing about testimonies that are shared where the focus isn't on conversion, with it's requisite before and after transformation from darkness and damnation to light and salvation. Instead these testimonies are everyday life events infused with the knowledge and sense of God; for example comfort comes to the Christian in his or her soul from the Holy Spirit, a prayer for a job is answered, someone is healed, a new Biblical understanding is learned. In these moments God seems real and present and the testimonies are opportunity for both the teller and the hearer to share an increase in faith. These faith affirming testimonies are ongoing in the life of individual Christians and in their community of faith and "better seen as work-in-progress than a once and for all completed project."(34) I will make a case in my own study for an expansion of the role of testimony-sharing educational products that includes these day to day encounters with God.
Lindhardt lived in Chile with his Chilean wife. His article includes transcripts of individual and re-tellings of many encounters with Pentecostal Christians, but no mention is made to how the data was collected or recorded. At points he speaks about asking questions, leading me to interpret the following texts as interviews. At times he records dialogue between multiple speakers and describes worship services more in the style of an ethnographic study. The article is published in a Finnish Journal which may have different conventions and assumptions about presenting data. I did like his article. He talked about times he and his Catholic wife were made uncomfortable, yet he always treated his subjects with a great deal of respect. His published entire conversion narratives and "life stories" in long form. This made it easier to hear the authentic voice of the speaker and more convincing than when quotes are used sparingly.
