Longing for Home: The Impact of COVID-19 on Cambodian Evangelical Life
In Cambodia, the government's response to the COVID-19 crisis intersected with religious practice this year, as April played host both to the Christian Holy Week and the Cambodian New Year holiday, rooted in Cambodian Buddhism and indigenous religions. Typically, the Cambodian New Year celebrat...
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| Type de support: | Électronique Article |
| Langue: | Anglais |
| Vérifier la disponibilité: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | En cours de chargement...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Publié: |
Edinburgh Univ. Press
[2020]
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| Dans: |
Studies in world christianity
Année: 2020, Volume: 26, Numéro: 3, Pages: 281-297 |
| Classifications IxTheo: | BL Bouddhisme BT Religions traditionnelles océaniennes CB Spiritualité chrétienne KBM Asie |
| Sujets non-standardisés: | B
Resurrection
B Khmer New Year B Transnational B Covid-19 B Cambodia B Digital Media B Evangelicalism B Prayer |
| Accès en ligne: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Résumé: | In Cambodia, the government's response to the COVID-19 crisis intersected with religious practice this year, as April played host both to the Christian Holy Week and the Cambodian New Year holiday, rooted in Cambodian Buddhism and indigenous religions. Typically, the Cambodian New Year celebration involves the near-complete shutting down of Phnom Penh, allowing for residents of the capital city to spend the New Year with their families in the countryside. Many Christians stay with their parents or other relatives, who remain primarily Theravada Buddhist, in the rural provinces throughout Holy Week, missing Easter Sunday services to participate in New Year's festivities at their ancestral homes. In light of the government's precautionary cancellation of the all-encompassing festivities surrounding the Cambodian New Year this spring, Christians who have previously spent Easter Sunday addressing controversial questions of interreligious interaction notably focused this year, through online broadcasting, on the resurrection of Jesus. In the United States, the near elimination of in-person gatherings has blurred the boundaries between the ministry roles of recognised church leaders and lay Christians, often women, who have long been leading unofficial services and devotionals over the phone and internet. In this article, I argue that the COVID-19 crisis, with its concomitant mass displacement of church communities from the physical to the technological realm, has impacted transnational Cambodian evangelicalism by establishing greater liturgical alignment between churches in Cambodia and in the diaspora, democratising spiritual leadership and increasing opportunities for interpersonal connectedness within the Cambodian evangelical community worldwide. |
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| ISSN: | 1750-0230 |
| Contient: | Enthalten in: Studies in world christianity
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3366/swc.2020.0310 |