Religious Spaces of Care in the Postsecular City
- 4 January 2022
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Equinox Publishing in Journal for the Academic Study of Religion
- Vol. 34 (3), 314-339
- https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.20998
Abstract
This article examines the civic engagement of two Nigerian Pentecostal churches in London: the London Lighthouse and Freedom's Ark. Firstly, it sets the context by reviewing the literature on immigrant religion and civic engagement, and examining the relationship between faith and social policy during the 'decade of austerity' and subsequent COVID-19 pandemic. It then describes the case study churches and outlines their civic activities. Finally, the article considers the characteristics of Nigerian Pentecostal churches that shape their civic activities. The increasing prominence of churches and faith-based organizations in social welfare provision in Britain has led to claims that faith groups are being co-opted into the wider processes of neoliberal governance. Drawing on research conducted in London, I show that in some contexts Nigerian Pentecostal civic activities represent ethical forms of resistance to neoliberal politics, especially those that address issues related to social and economic justice.Keywords
This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
- The geographies of food banks in the meantimeProgress in Human Geography, 2016
- Postsecular geographies: theo‐ethics, rapprochement and neoliberal governance in a faith‐based drug programmeTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 2014
- Redeeming the city: creating and traversing ‘London-Lagos’Religion, 2013
- SSSR Presidential Address Public Religions and the Postsecular: Critical ReflectionsJournal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2012
- What’s Love Got to Do with It? The Sociology of Godly Love and the Renewal of Modern PentecostalismJournal of Pentecostal Theology, 2012
- Co-Constituting Neoliberalism: Faith-Based Organisations, Co-Option, and Resistance in the UKEnvironment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 2012
- Defining cosmopolitan sociability in a transnational age. An introductionEthnic and Racial Studies, 2011
- Creating ‘Alternative Geographies’: Religion, Transnationalism and Everyday LifeGeography Compass, 2010
- Building the Big Society: a new policy environment for the third sector in EnglandVoluntary Sector Review, 2010
- African Pentecostal spirituality and civic engagement: the case of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in BritainJournal of Beliefs & Values, 2009