The Thomas Souls Ministry is a prayer group founded by Catholics from the middle Sepik. It is led by a spirit of the dead called Thomas who takes possession of a Nyaura (West Iatmul) woman to preach, prophesy, counsel, and heal. While a prominent debate within the Anthropology of Christianity argues for radical change and rupture with the pre-Christian self and society, I suggest that continuity within change is found in the way my interlocutors have made Christianity their own. I argue that the local concept of the person defined by aspects of dividualism and reflecting ontological premises of people's lifeworld has strongly influenced the way Christianity was appropriated. In current religious practices people put these premises into action and reinforce them in intersubjective encounters with the divine other. Analysing people's 'onto-praxis', I argue that the Thomas Souls Ministry can be understood as part of a re-empowerment process that re-appropriates local meanings, spirits, and practices despite, and in fact against, the influence of the Catholic mission proselytizing in the region.

中文翻译：

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托马斯灵魂事工——巴布亚新几内亚尚布里湖的本体论、个人主义和魅力天主教

托马斯灵魂事工是一个祈祷团体，由来自塞皮克中部的天主教徒创立。它由一个叫做托马斯的死灵领导，他占有一个 Nyaura（西 Iatmul）女人来传教、预言、咨询和治愈。虽然基督教人类学中的一场突出争论主张彻底改变并与基督教前的自我和社会决裂，但我认为，变化中的连续性可以通过我的对话者使基督教成为他们自己的方式来找到。我认为，由个体主义的各个方面定义的人的地方概念和反映人们生活世界的本体论前提强烈影响了基督教被挪用的方式。在当前的宗教实践中，人们将这些前提付诸行动，并在与神圣他者的主体间接触中强化它们。分析人的'