Marjoe Gortner, Imposter Revivalist
Toward a Cognitive Theory of Religious Misbehavior
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/ptcs.v12i1.83Keywords:
revivalism, fakery, trance, Marjoe, cognitive theories, embodimentAbstract
Revivalism is a hallmark of pentecostal history in North America. This study analyzes the infamous case of evangelist Marjoe Gortner as he carries out a revival tour under the guises of authenticity and sincerity. After providing a brief biographical overview of both the revivalist’s life history and Marjoe, the documentary film, I analyze Marjoe’s roleplaying through Judith Becker’s theoretical application of cognitive theories of being, perception, and embodiment to pentecostal praxis. I argue that the processes of trance, re-entry, and structural coupling implicate Marjoe as more than just an unbelieving instigator of ecstatic religious phenomena. He is caught up in the production of intense effervescent states of social or corporate energy, and himself becomes a vital part of the revival experience. Neurologically, Marjoe experiences cognitive dissonance in terms of self-identity. The learned nature of revival services, furthermore, demonstrates the complexly embodied nature of ecstatic religious rituals.
References
Balmer, R. 2010. The Making of Evangelicalism: From Revivalism to Politics and Beyond. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press.
Becker, J. 2004. Deep Listeners: Music, Emotion, and Trancing. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Boleyn-Fitzgerald, M. 2010. Pictures of the Mind: What Neuroscience Tells Us About Who We Are. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Bowler, C. 2011. “Blessed Bodies: Healing within the African American Faith Movement”. In Brown, 2011: 81–105.
Brown, C.G. (ed.). 2011. Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Healing. New York: Oxford University Press.
— 2012. Testing Prayer: Science and Healing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Brown, C.G., S.C. Mory, R. Williams, and M.J. McClymond. 2010. “Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Proximal Intercessory Prayer (STEPP) on Auditory and Visual Impairments in Rural Mozambique”. Southern Medical Association 103.9: 864–9.
Cheney, G.A. 1983. Television in American Society. New York: Franklin Watts.
Cooper, T.W. 2011. “Ecstasy and the Kinesthetic Body: An Ethnographic Study of Contemporary Pentecostal Worship”. Master’s thesis, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO.
— 2012. “Religion, Science, and Glossolalia: Interpreting (Academic) Tongues-Speaking”. Unpublished paper presented at Indiana University’s Graduate Conference, “On Religion: Definition, Delimitation, Application,” Bloomington, IN, February 24–5, 2012.
Damasio, A.R. 1994. Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
Dorries, D.W. 1992–3. “The Making of Smith Wigglesworth, Part 2: The Making of His Message”. Heritage 12.4: 20–23.
Douglas, M. 1970. Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology. New York: Pantheon Books.
Durkheim, E. [1912] 2001. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Trans. C. Cosman. New York: Oxford University Press.
Espinoza, G. 2011. “Latino Pentecostal Healing in the North American Borderlands”. In Brown, 2011: 129–49.
Gaines, S.S. 1973. Marjoe: The Life of Marjoe Gortner. New York: Harper & Row.
Glucklich, A. 2009. Dying for Heaven: Holy Pleasure and Suicide Bombers—Why the Best Qualities of Religion Are Also Its Most Dangerous. New York: HarperOne.
Goff Jr., J.R. 2003. “Parham, Charles Fox”. In S.M. Burgess and E.M. van der Maas (eds), The International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 955–7.
Goodman, F.D. 1972. Speaking in Tongues: A Cross Cultural Study of Glossolalia. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Hinn, B. 1999. He Touched Me: An Autobiography. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
Hollenweger, W.J. 1997. Pentecostalism: Origins and Developments Worldwide. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.
Huber, S. and O.W. Huber. 2010. “Psychology of Religion”. In A. Anderson, M. Bergunder, A. Droogers and C. van der Laan (eds), Studying Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press: 133–55.
Jones, D.G. 2010. “Peering into People’s Brains: Neuroscience’s Intrusion into Our Inner Sanctum”. Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 62.2: 122–32.
Kingdon, J. 2011. “In the Eye of the Beholder”. In M.R. Canfield (ed.), Field Notes on Science and Nature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press: 129–60.
Lawson, E.T. and R.N. McCauley. 2006. “Interpretation and Explanation: Problems and Promise in the Study of Religion”. In D.J. Slone (ed.), Religion and Cognition: A Reader. Oakville, CT: Equinox: 12–35.
Lincoln, B. 1994. Authority: Construction and Corrosion. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Newberg, A.B., N.A. Wintering, D. Morgan and M.R. Waldman. 2006. “The Measurement of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow during Glossolalia: A Preliminary SPECT Study”. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 148: 67–71.
Proudfoot, W. 1985. Religious Experience. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Samarin, W.J. 1972a. “Variation and Variables in Religious Glossolalis”. Language in Society 1.1: 121–130.
—. 1972b. “Sociolinguistic vs. Neurophysiological Explanations for Glossolalia: Comment on Goodman’s Paper”. Journal for the Social Scientific Study of Religion 11.3: 293–6.
Smith, H. and S. Kernochan (producers and directors). [1972] 2006.
Marjoe. Documentary film. 88 min. New York: Docurama. DVD.
Taves, A. 2009. Religious Experience Reconsidered: A Building-Block Approach to the Study of Religion and Other Special Things. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
—. 2011. “2010 Presidential Address: ‘Religion’ in the Humanities and the Humanities in the University”. American Academy of Religion 79.2: 287–314.
van der Laan, C. 2010. “Historical Approaches”. In A. Anderson, M. Bergunder, A. Droogers, and C. van der Laan (eds), Studying Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press: 202–19.
Vasquez, M. 2010. More Than Belief: A Materialist Theory of Religion. New York: Oxford University Press.
Wacker, G. 2001. Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Warner, W. 1988. “J. Narver Gortner: The Early Life of a Key Figure in the Assemblies of God”. Heritage 8.1: 13–16.
—. 1996. “A Child in the Pulpit”. Heritage 16.1: 3, 16–17.
Wells, K. 2011. Narrative Inquiry. New York: Oxford University Press.
Yamane, D. 2000. “Narrative and Religious Experience”. Sociology of Religion 61.2: 171–89.
Becker, J. 2004. Deep Listeners: Music, Emotion, and Trancing. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Boleyn-Fitzgerald, M. 2010. Pictures of the Mind: What Neuroscience Tells Us About Who We Are. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Bowler, C. 2011. “Blessed Bodies: Healing within the African American Faith Movement”. In Brown, 2011: 81–105.
Brown, C.G. (ed.). 2011. Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Healing. New York: Oxford University Press.
— 2012. Testing Prayer: Science and Healing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Brown, C.G., S.C. Mory, R. Williams, and M.J. McClymond. 2010. “Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Proximal Intercessory Prayer (STEPP) on Auditory and Visual Impairments in Rural Mozambique”. Southern Medical Association 103.9: 864–9.
Cheney, G.A. 1983. Television in American Society. New York: Franklin Watts.
Cooper, T.W. 2011. “Ecstasy and the Kinesthetic Body: An Ethnographic Study of Contemporary Pentecostal Worship”. Master’s thesis, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO.
— 2012. “Religion, Science, and Glossolalia: Interpreting (Academic) Tongues-Speaking”. Unpublished paper presented at Indiana University’s Graduate Conference, “On Religion: Definition, Delimitation, Application,” Bloomington, IN, February 24–5, 2012.
Damasio, A.R. 1994. Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
Dorries, D.W. 1992–3. “The Making of Smith Wigglesworth, Part 2: The Making of His Message”. Heritage 12.4: 20–23.
Douglas, M. 1970. Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology. New York: Pantheon Books.
Durkheim, E. [1912] 2001. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Trans. C. Cosman. New York: Oxford University Press.
Espinoza, G. 2011. “Latino Pentecostal Healing in the North American Borderlands”. In Brown, 2011: 129–49.
Gaines, S.S. 1973. Marjoe: The Life of Marjoe Gortner. New York: Harper & Row.
Glucklich, A. 2009. Dying for Heaven: Holy Pleasure and Suicide Bombers—Why the Best Qualities of Religion Are Also Its Most Dangerous. New York: HarperOne.
Goff Jr., J.R. 2003. “Parham, Charles Fox”. In S.M. Burgess and E.M. van der Maas (eds), The International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 955–7.
Goodman, F.D. 1972. Speaking in Tongues: A Cross Cultural Study of Glossolalia. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Hinn, B. 1999. He Touched Me: An Autobiography. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
Hollenweger, W.J. 1997. Pentecostalism: Origins and Developments Worldwide. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.
Huber, S. and O.W. Huber. 2010. “Psychology of Religion”. In A. Anderson, M. Bergunder, A. Droogers and C. van der Laan (eds), Studying Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press: 133–55.
Jones, D.G. 2010. “Peering into People’s Brains: Neuroscience’s Intrusion into Our Inner Sanctum”. Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 62.2: 122–32.
Kingdon, J. 2011. “In the Eye of the Beholder”. In M.R. Canfield (ed.), Field Notes on Science and Nature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press: 129–60.
Lawson, E.T. and R.N. McCauley. 2006. “Interpretation and Explanation: Problems and Promise in the Study of Religion”. In D.J. Slone (ed.), Religion and Cognition: A Reader. Oakville, CT: Equinox: 12–35.
Lincoln, B. 1994. Authority: Construction and Corrosion. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Newberg, A.B., N.A. Wintering, D. Morgan and M.R. Waldman. 2006. “The Measurement of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow during Glossolalia: A Preliminary SPECT Study”. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 148: 67–71.
Proudfoot, W. 1985. Religious Experience. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Samarin, W.J. 1972a. “Variation and Variables in Religious Glossolalis”. Language in Society 1.1: 121–130.
—. 1972b. “Sociolinguistic vs. Neurophysiological Explanations for Glossolalia: Comment on Goodman’s Paper”. Journal for the Social Scientific Study of Religion 11.3: 293–6.
Smith, H. and S. Kernochan (producers and directors). [1972] 2006.
Marjoe. Documentary film. 88 min. New York: Docurama. DVD.
Taves, A. 2009. Religious Experience Reconsidered: A Building-Block Approach to the Study of Religion and Other Special Things. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
—. 2011. “2010 Presidential Address: ‘Religion’ in the Humanities and the Humanities in the University”. American Academy of Religion 79.2: 287–314.
van der Laan, C. 2010. “Historical Approaches”. In A. Anderson, M. Bergunder, A. Droogers, and C. van der Laan (eds), Studying Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press: 202–19.
Vasquez, M. 2010. More Than Belief: A Materialist Theory of Religion. New York: Oxford University Press.
Wacker, G. 2001. Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Warner, W. 1988. “J. Narver Gortner: The Early Life of a Key Figure in the Assemblies of God”. Heritage 8.1: 13–16.
—. 1996. “A Child in the Pulpit”. Heritage 16.1: 3, 16–17.
Wells, K. 2011. Narrative Inquiry. New York: Oxford University Press.
Yamane, D. 2000. “Narrative and Religious Experience”. Sociology of Religion 61.2: 171–89.
Published
2013-05-05
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Cooper, T. (2013). Marjoe Gortner, Imposter Revivalist: Toward a Cognitive Theory of Religious Misbehavior. PentecoStudies, 12(1), 83-106. https://doi.org/10.1558/ptcs.v12i1.83
