Fluctuating divinity

Anthropological studies of Pentecostal and evangelical faith practices and experiences frequently reveal that followers struggle with a challenge related to the presence of “the religious,” in both its material and immaterial manifestations. This challenge often prompts an academic dilemma in attempting to ascribe meaningful existence to things that are simultaneously absent and present. To move beyond this dilemma, I will focus on a tension within a group of travelers attending the annual prayer convocation of the All Pacific Arise movement, based in Solomon Islands, held in Israel. The tension arose from individuals wanting to visit a biblical site, which the group leaders considered a distraction from experiencing God’s presence during the journey. However, this distraction was seen not as a need to abstain from material objects that could mediate contact with God, but rather as a sign that God, though omnipresent, fluctuates in intensity. Their understanding that divinity varies over time and space invited me to consider Graham Harman’s Object Oriented Ontology as explained in Immaterialism, which asserts that all things, both material and immaterial, inherently remain beyond our grasp. I suggest that this approach helps us interpret objects, including “God” and “religious movement” as transcendent and, at times, withdrawn.