Protestantism and This-Worldly Hope: Navigating Religion, Ethnicity and Class in Southeast Asian Economies

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel Proposal Application

Abstract

Protestant Christianity has grown significantly among burgeoning Southeast Asian economies in recent years. In particular, the strand known as Pentecostalism has gained exceptional traction among young, urban, middle-class ethnic Chinese. Rather than retreat from the social scene with the increasing rationalization of society, Protestantism has come to provide an existential ballast for subjects facing the challenges of capital accumulation within a post-Fordist global economy. This panel will examine how Protestantism, in its various strands, articulates discourses of this-worldly hope that resonates with the material aspirations as well as ethnic, class and political positions of religious subjects. In turn, this panel will reflect on the dynamic relationship between religion and the material world.
The cases covered by this panel include: the intervention of Pentecostalism in the national and socio-economic life of Singapore through the articulation of the prosperity gospel; the appeal of a Pentecostal megachurch to middle-class Malaysians yearning for a religious experience, an international modernity and a hopeful, progressive growth oriented future; the strategies employed by a fast-growing Pentecostal Indonesian church in negotiating global, local and class dynamics amidst challenging political and economic circumstances; and how Chinese Protestants in Vietnam negotiate the socio-economic uncertainties that come with the implementation of Đổi Mới (Renovation), including the intergenerational transference of religious capital as a strategy for entrenching class positions. In all these cases, these strands of Protestantism intervenes in the lives of their adherents through offering this-worldly hope.

Area of Study

• Southeast Asia

Session Organizer

• Yew Foong Hui, Hong Kong Shue Yan University

Individual Presentations

• The Prosperity Gospel in Singapore: Pentecostal Navigations in a Material World - Terence Chong, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

• “Believe your Dream”: A Pentecostalism Experience in Malaysia - Jeaney Yip, University of Sydney

• Protestantism among Vietnam Chinese: The Historical Trajectory of Hope - Yew Foong Hui, Hong Kong Shue Yan University

• Singapore Chinese Christian Business People and Articulations of Hope in China - Sin Wen Lau, University of Otago