Genre et transgression des normes morales et sexuelles dans les Églises de Réveil à Kinshasa et en diaspora

Abstract

This paper explores the transgression of religious norms within Revival churches which, following the example of Pente-costalism, have experienced a spectacular success in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as in the Congolese Diaspora over the past few decades. While the boundaries separating the "Christian world" and the "Pagan world" are strongly asserted by the born again and generate huge divisions across the Congolese people worldwide, nevertheless it is sometimes difficult to identify these boundaries apart from the professed life-saving and "civilising" morality claims. A case in point involves the recurrent scandals involving Churches and their leaders around issues of money and sex. Based on studies over the past ten years within the Congolese community, we investigate this apparent ambivalence of sexual morality by considering tne fact that the Church itself is a place which supports the ongoing construction of a normative Utopia, while at the same time hosting practices that directly contradict Christian norms. We shall see how the notion of heterotopia, proposed by Foucault for considering "other spaces", allows us to avoid the shortcomings of taking a binary approach (emancipation versus submission) toward the offering of religion. Instead we are able to consider pluralistic identity repertories of the churches stemming in part from their long history. The consideration of these transgressionssheds much needed light on the complexity of the issue of gender inside and outside of the Church.