The Institution, the Ethic, and the Affect: The Hillsong Church and the Production of Multiple Affinities of the Self
Date
2010
Authors
Wade, Matthew
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Abstract
The Hillsong Church, based in Sydney, is the Australian
exemplar of the ‘megachurch’ phenomena, characterised by
large, generally non-denominational churches with evangelical,
‘seeker-friendly’ aspirations and adoption of contemporary
worship methods. Given the increasingly large following the
Church commands, there is surprisingly little scholarly research
on Hillsong, particularly from the perspective of Sociology.
This study seeks to contribute to a sociological understanding of
the phenomenon of Hillsong by analysing the particular ways that
its doctrine and practices evoke and respond to crises of the
self in modernity. Hillsong does not rail against the
developments associated with modernity, rather, the Church
consciously evangelises in recognition of them, managing to both
empower the individual and also act as a bulwark against more
dehumanising elements of modern society. This study will first
argue that Hillsong represents a new form of Goffman’s Total
Institution, one that recognises and responds to the
voluntaristic component of faith through the offer and provision
of order and stability in a chaotic world. Secondly, Hillsong
espouses ‘prosperity theology’, the injection of
divinely-mediated meaning and purpose into the acquisition of
wealth. Thirdly, by harnessing and producing affective labour
the Church is able to provide meaning, ways of feeling,
connecting, and experiencing generally not experienced in
everyday life. Ultimately, Hillsong attempts to simultaneously
satisfy multiple identity projects of the individual, and
somewhat paradoxically the subsumption of the individual within a
cause greater than themselves. I conclude by arguing that their
success is due to their ability to ‘invert the void’, whereby
all that was once hollow and aimless becomes imbued with
significance, meaning and purpose. This inversion, however, does
not substantially change the lifestyles of constituents, only
their perspective, raising several worrying implications
regarding the conflation of the sacred, commerce, and identity.
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megachurch, evangelism, total institutions, affective labour, Protestant Ethic, prosperity gospel
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