Arguing with Christianity

Abstract This chapter maps how anthropology has approached Christianity over the past decades and explores how the emergence of Pentecostalism as an empirical phenomenon has challenged and redefined anthropology’s approach. The chapter begins with a revision of the prehistory and emergence of the anthropology of Christianity as a sub-field; and then works with the thought-provoking ideas of Olivier Roy to discuss what kinds of challenges Pentecostalism has offered to the discipline. Finally, the chapter proposes an experimental methodology (“Going to Pentecost”) as a response to such challenges, enabling a focus on the problems of individualism, rupturism, and absolutism.