Last week I read Matt Tomlinson and Debra McDougall’s introduction to their edited collection Christian Politics in Oceania (2012). I made several interested notes, but one that particularly stuck with me was how they take issue with Fenella Cannell’s question “What difference does Christianity make?” More specifically, they take issue with the answer she provides to her question. This led me to re-read Cannell’s introduction to The Anthropology of Christianity (2006). Let me outline the two sides to the discussion.
Fenella Cannell: Let us (anthropologists) stop presupposing that Christianity changes everything forever
Fenella Cannell: Let us (anthropologists) stop presupposing that Christianity changes everything forever