The Split God

Although Pentecostalism is generally considered a conservative movement, inThe Split God Nimi Wariboko shows that its operative everyday notion of God is a radical one that poses, under cover of loyalty, a challenge to orthodox Christianity. He argues that the image of God that arises out of the everyday practices of Pentecostalism is a split God—a deity harboring a radical split that not only destabilizes and prevents God himself from achieving ontological completeness but also conditions and shapes the practices and identities of Pentecostal believers. Drawing from the work of Slavoj Žižek, Jacques Lacan, Jean-Luc Nancy, and Giorgio Agamben, among others, Wariboko presents a close reading of everyday Pentecostal practices, and in doing so, uncovers and presents a sophisticated conversation between radical continental philosophy and everyday forms of spirituality. By de-particularizing Pentecostal studies and Pentecostalism, Wariboko broadens our understanding of the intellectual aspects of the global Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.

Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction: Thinking at the Boundary

1. Day of Pentecost: The Founding Violent Gesture of Splits

2. Spiritual Discernment: Bathroom Mirror as Metaphor

3. The Beauty, Skin, and Monstrosity of Grace

4. The Sacred as Im/possibility: Expect a Miracle!

5. The Impossible Possibility, Capitalism, and the Pentecostal Subject

6. Worship as Pure Means

7. Everyday Form of Theology: Between Pentecostal Apparatus and Prosaic Existence

Conclusion: Ethical Implications of a Split God
Notes
Bibliography
Index