The Subversive Evangelical: The Ironic Charisma of an Irreligious Megachurch (Advancing Studies in R

Rosie Perera

Peter J. Schuurman
McGill-Queen's University Press, 2019
978-0773557338
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0773557334

Evangelicals have been scandalized by their association with Donald Trump, their megachurches summarily dismissed as "religious Walmarts." In The Subversive Evangelical Peter Schuurman shows how a growing group of "reflexive evangelicals" use irony to critique their own tradition and distinguish themselves from the stereotype of right-wing evangelicalism.

This is a close ethnographic study on the meaning and method of charismatic leadership from a megachurch case study in Canada.

Entering the Meeting House -- an Ontario-based Anabaptist megachurch -- as a participant observer, Schuurman discovers that the marketing is clever and the venue (a rented movie theatre) is attractive to the more than five thousand weekly attendees. But the heart of the church is its charismatic leader, Bruxy Cavey, whose anti-religious teaching and ironic tattoos offer a fresh image for evangelicals. This charisma, Schuurman argues, is not just the power of one individual; it is a dramatic production in which Cavey, his staff, and attendees cooperate, cultivating an identity as an "irreligious" megachurch and providing followers with a more culturally acceptable way to practise their faith in a secular age. Going behind the scenes to small group meetings, church dance parties, and the homes of attendees to investigate what motivates these reflexive evangelicals, Schuurman reveals a playful and provocative counterculture that distances itself from prevailing stereotypes while still embracing a conservative Christian faith.

Note: this in-depth study took place before it was revealed in 2021 that Cavey was involved in what a third party determined to be a case of clergy sexual abuse. This gives the background to Cavey's rise to megachurch fame and offers a history of the church and its Anabaptist subculture.