Panel: ACCESS TO THE DIVINE: HOW SACRED AND EVERYDAY LANGUAGES SHAPE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT



330.6 - HOTLINE WITH GOD: PERFORMING CHOSENNESS

AUTHORS:
Baczyk P. (UCL ~ London ~ United Kingdom)
Text:
This paper explores the concept of chosenness and how it is performed through language within evangelical contexts in the Church of England. It examines how religious actors use language to claim spiritual authority - not necessarily through ethical witness or ecclesial accountability, but through rhetorical strategies that emphasise immediacy, certainty, and exclusive access to the divine. In Anglican evangelicalism, practices such as extemporaneous prayer, personal testimony, and charismatic preaching frequently feature highly emotive language that signals an intimate, unmediated relationship with God. This language is employed to construct and reinforce spiritual hierarchies within communities of faith, shaping who is perceived as spiritually credible, inspired, or 'called.' Accordingly, the paper asks: How do evangelicals in the Church of England linguistically perform chosenness, and what theological or social functions does this serve? Drawing on discourse analysis and liturgical observation, the study investigates how such performances of divine access can simultaneously empower lay participation and reinforce informal authority structures. It also considers moments where these performances are contested or destabilised. Methodologically, the research adopts a qualitative approach, including textual and rhetorical analysis of sermons, testimonies, and prayer language, alongside observational data where available. The aim is not to critique belief itself, but to examine how language operates as a performative theological act - constructing authority, signalling chosenness, and shaping communal understandings of divine access. Ultimately, the paper contributes to broader discussions on how sacred and vernacular language structure power - and how, even within ostensibly inclusive evangelical settings, linguistic performances of chosenness sustain religious hierarchies and give rise to subtle internal sub-hierarchies.