OKH Journal: Anthropological Ethnography and Analysis Through the Eyes of Christian Faith

Blood Entanglements, Evangelicals and Gangs in El Salvador

Christopher Valencia — 2026-07-29

Divination, Possession, and Witchcraft

Johannes Merz — 2026-07-29

As an anthropologist who is also a Christian I regularly engage with people who have religious expressions and spiritual interests that differ from my own. I have witnessed divination, sacrifices, and possession, and researched witchcraft. In principle, I do not wish to get personally involved in religious or spiritual activities that concern other entities than God, especially if it entails participating in their worship or seeking their favor. Since I found little help in the available literature, I needed to develop my own position. Taking a reflexive and experiential stance, I draw on my background, the people I engage with, and my experience of doing fieldwork. While both anthropologists and missionaries have often viewed religions other than Christianity reductively, I propose that we take people seriously by adopting an empathic attitude. This works well with an ontological, relational, and collaborative approach to anthropology that focuses on studying with people.

The Fossett Framework

Douglas Fossett — 2026-07-29

Identity rupture represents one of the most destabilizing experiences in human life, disrupting relational belonging, narrative coherence, embodiment, and vocational orientation. While theological anthropology has long emphasized the relational and storied nature of the human person, it has offered fewer process-oriented accounts of how identity is reconstituted following profound disruption. This article presents the Fossett Framework as a theological–anthropological model that interprets rupture as an ontological disturbance rather than as a primarily psychological or therapeutic event. Drawing on Christian anthropology alongside interdisciplinary insights from narrative and trauma studies, the Framework articulates four movements—Rupture, Descent, Turning, and Re-Formation—through which the human person undergoes reconstitution rather than recovery. Identity is understood as a dynamic process of becoming, mediated through communal belonging, relational presence, and theological meaning-making. By positioning community as a theological agent in the restoration of personhood, the Fossett Framework contributes a constructive process-oriented account of identity re-formation to contemporary debates concerning relationality, suffering, and human becoming.

Latinx’s Testimonies on the Margins of Street-Life

Christopher Valencia — 2026-07-29

This article examines two Latinx testimonies connected to street life in San Bernardino, CA, a Hispanic majority city in the Inland Empire. The city of San Bernardino has undergone high levels of urban decline, which in turn has created a web of urban issues, such as a rising unhoused population, high levels of urban violence and other issues of street life (drug usage, gangs, etc.) In the process, street ministries have emerged in the city and have attempted to assist people on the margins. In spaces like street ministries, non-traditional testimonies appear and remind us of narratives, which I term testimonies on the margins, that operate outside of more institutional spaces of religion. While traditional conversion narratives can have their own narrative arcs, what are we to make of testimonies of the street life that appear in pieces or fragments, and of women that transform their wounds to factors of healing? Exploring Latinx testimonies on the margins of San Bernardino as “fragmented testimonies” and “testimonies of tears,” this article reads these testimonies as overlooked accounts of how Latinx voices survive and heal from their social-historical conditions, compounded with issues of street life. It proposes that, while unorthodox, these testimonies are attempts to heal from wounds of street life—wounds of erasure and wounds of loss.

‘Will Not Those Who Have Ears, Hear?’

Micah Adkins — 2026-07-29

This article analyzes the implications of the Weberian concept of a prophet through a theological lens. The analysis extends to the influence of the Holy Spirit on the Christian experience, offering insight into the fruits of the Spirit as the core of Christian ethics. With the Holy Spirit as the ‘ultimate prophet,’ and the fruits of the Spirit as the fuel for virtuous Christian behavior, the Weberian prophet is described in the form of one highly driven and authentic person, a pastor of a church located in a rural village of southern Ohio. This individual, seeking to actualize the will of God in their social context, exemplifies Max Weber’s idea of a charismatic leader, a sort of ethical prophet in contemporary culture. In offering an ethnographic account of transcendent communication and prophetic influence within the life of the church, I also considered how the Holy Spirit serves as an actor in His own right, motivating spiritual growth, emotional maturity, and prophetic dialogue among the body of believers.

Faithfully Praying in the Same Direction–Together

Lindy Backues — 2026-07-29

This article explores the development and impact of a profound interfaith friendship between an American Christian and an Indonesian Muslim, highlighting collaborative efforts to promote mutual understanding and respect amidst diverse religious backgrounds. The authors recount their individual journeys, their own cultural exchanges, and the challenges they have faced in bridging religious divides. By way of both academic analysis and personal reflections, the authors emphasize the importance of authentic, humble, listening religious dialogue, the limitations of secularism in accommodating deep religious convictions, and the transformative potential of interfaith solidarity and openness. The authors advocate for a conceptual shift from bounded to centered sets in religious identity, suggesting that genuine devotion and service to humanity do a better job of defining religious belonging. This approach aims to foster inclusivity without compromising individual faith tenets, offering a model for peaceful coexistence and cooperative action in pluralistic societies.

On Defining “Religion” in “Religious” vs. “Secular” Engagement

Robert McKee — 2026-07-29

Recovering Pharisees

Gregory Stephens — 2026-07-29