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Draw Me Close: An Ethnography of Experience in a Dutch Charismatic Church, PhD dissertation, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2001.
Draw Me Close is a case study of Vineyard Utrecht, a charismatic-evangelical congregation in the Netherlands. Subject of the study is the meaning of religious experiences for Vineyard Utrecht believers. The author conducted fieldwork in this church between January 1997 and September 1998.
The theoretical approach is inspired by recent phenomenological thinking in anthropology, in order to give an in-depth interpretation of believers’ experiences.
After the introduction, Chapter 1 explores and constructs a theoretical framework for the book, addressing questions of the changing role of experience in religious formations in the post-traditional situation. It is stated that as the traditional authority of religion is in decline, individuals become their own religious authority with religious experience serving as the primary gateway to the sacred. Vineyard churches are an interesting example of this process, since they consider themselves as a ‘non-traditional’ and ‘a-religious’ movement, emphasizing the individual’s immediate experience of God which represents to them the true nature of Christianity.
Chapter 2 describes the development of the Vineyard movement from a small Californian congregation to a thriving global movement of churches. This Chapter also describes the Vineyard Utrecht church, its members and its organizational dynamics as a starting church in the city of Utrecht.
Chapter 3 describes the basic theology of the church, in which the intimate relationship with God is central and in which ‘religion’, which believers understand as a false representation of true faith in God, is rejected. The experiential-practical nature of this theology is described, showing how these beliefs are received and experienced by believers and how it works as an orientation for living, i.e. a ‘lifestyle of worship’.
Chapter 4 deals with prophecy, which plays a dynamic role in church life and in the lives of believers, both as encouragement and as a means of direction. In this Chapter the hermeneutics of prophecy is analyzed, in particular in relation to the Bible as a source of continuing revelation, and in relation to personal transformation and ’spiritual growth’.
Worship music, the hallmark of the worldwide Vineyard movement and the clearest example of the globalization of charismatic experience, is the subject of Chapter 5. The meaning of music as immediate religious communication is discussed, following the idea of the construction of musical meaning within a musical community. It is argued that the particular mood of contemporary worship, in which emotional release is central, owes much to its popmusical shape.
Chapter 6 describes religious embodiment in Vineyard Utrecht. Attention is given to bodily ecstasy, a phenomenon which is typical for Vineyard churches, but which has become more restrained in Vineyard Utrecht. It is shown that while ecstatic experiences such as falling and shaking have been diminished - and controlled by the leadership - these phenomena are still seen as important signs of the immediate power of the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 7 is the concluding Chapter, in which it is argued that the rejection of ‘religion’ by Vineyard believers, ultimately leads to a religiosity in which the emotional life of individuals is sacralized.
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