Comments on “Renegotiating self and society”

You wrote: “Modernized, rationalized Christianity had mostly also eliminated experience of the sacred and transcendent, emphasizing this-worldly humanistic ethics. Both countercultures produced new religions and quasi-religions emphasizing ecstatic practices, “direct experience,” and the supernatural.”

It immediately leapt out to me that the communal practice of “speaking in tongues” is maybe the prime surviving example of ecstatic Christian tradition (at least as of the 90’s?) I know of. It is obviously forced and unnatural for most participants (watch any video) but there’s also an obvious “there” there, a possibility of a tradition towards release from socially structured roles into communal and equal experience that is more powerful for the ridgid context. This further caused me to think of this really excellent series of Kenneth Copeland * Metal mashups (linked). The similarity off the ecstatic experience between the cultures is the obvious subtext of the video; with, to me, a clear implication that Metal is more enlightened / self aware, but the validity of the experience being the main point.

https://youtu.be/0JPRvxTjfOk