“All Things Are Possible: Charismatic Christianity and the Uncontrollability of the American Political Order"

Prof Michael Wilkinson - Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology at Trinity Western University, British Columbia

This seminar presentation examines the contemporary convergence of charismatic Christianity and American right-wing populism through the lens of cultural sociology and theories of social acceleration. Drawing on the concept of religious repertoires and Hartmut Rosa’s theory of uncontrollability, it argues that charismatic Christianity—particularly in its prophetic, prosperity-oriented, and nationalist forms—offers a subcultural narrative that promises mastery over an increasingly alienating and unstable world. Focusing on the White House Faith Initiative, prophetic populism, Christian nationalism, and the sacralization of political authority, the paper shows how charismatic religious actors seek to resolve late-modern anxieties by collapsing the boundaries between religion and politics. Ultimately, this project intensifies rather than resolves alienation, revealing the limits of religious-political attempts to render modern social institutions controllable.

Michael Wilkinson is Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology at Trinity Western University in British Columbia. His research focuses on cultural analyses of religion in Canada. He also writes about immigration and religion, evangelicalism, Pentecostalism, and globalisation.

This seminar will be held ‘in person’.