Grasped by the Spirit: An Anthropological and Theological Understanding of an Existential Religious Experience

Abstract

Over the course of 2021, I conducted ethnographic research among transnational Pentecostal communities in Madrid. During this research, ethnographic data on manifestations of the Spirit was collected. This data appeared to defy the perspective of a distant and critical observer. In this article I explore how an anthropologist might incorporate Tillich’s theology of the Spirit to make sense of and think through existential religious experiences within Pentecostal communities, such as experiences of being possessed or grasped by the Holy Spirit. This article begins by presenting data from a Pentecostal culto in Madrid in which the Spirit plays a defining role. Initially, I reflect on how an anthropologist might make sense of similar ethnographic data. Subsequently, I turn to Paul Tillich’s theology of the Spirit. I discover how Tillich’s theology can aid in making sense of ethnographic data of manifestations of the Spirit. Tillich’s theology enables anthropologists to make sense of ethnographic encounters with the Spirit beyond secular registers dominant in the anthropological discipline.