Magical Moments: An Intellectualist Approach to the Neo-Pentecostal Faith Ministries

One of the advantages of analyzing new religious movements is that they are capable of re-opening debates largely confined to the narrower scope of anthropological accounts of religion. The theme of magic is a principal consideration. Some new religions, largely syncretic in form, consistently provide the trajectory for magical practices through the re-emergence of ancient configurations, as well as through more nascent expressions. This article considers one strand of neo-Pentecostalism, the ‘health and wealth gospel’ of the Faith ministries, in order to re-examine the functionalist-symbolic versus ‘intellectualist’ theoretical debate concerning the nature of magic. It does not claim to resolve the debate either way, although I will suggest that the intellectualist position, perhaps best elucidated by the work of Robin Horton, may have more to offer than at first supposed when considering the current expressions of magic.