Kids of Knutby: Living in and Leaving the Swedish Filadelfia Congregation (Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities)

This book tells the story of the children and youth of the charismatic new religious commune Knutby Filadelfia in Sweden. It recounts the history of the congregation, which started out as a part of the Swedish Pentecostalmovement in 1921. In the 1990s, it developed into a new religion, when the congregation’s female pastor embraced the role of the Bride of Christ. The congregation became widely known in 2004 when one of its members was murdered by another member, the latter claiming to have been acting on orders from God. In 2018, the congregation dissolved after a few years of internal crisis. Sanja Nilsson provides rich empirical analysis of archival material and interviews with the congregation’s children and youth. The young informants’ personal perspectives on their own childhoods encompass narratives from their time inside the congregation, when they identified as members of a stigmatizedminority religion, aswell as from the time after the dissolution of the group, when they identified asdefectors from what they came to view as a sectarian milieu. This work offers a comprehensive insight into the Knutby Filadelfia congregation, a group, that although notoriously charted by the media, has been hitherto unexplored by academics. It adds to the growing field of studies concerned with childhoods within new religions and expounds the dynamics of the defection process from the rarely applied perspective of children and youth themselves. Prologue: Coming to Knutby Praise for Kids of Knutby Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Theoretical Points of Departure Previous Research and Key Concepts Questions of Terminology: The Scholarly Divide Cults or New Religious Movements An Integrated Concept: High-Demand New Religious Communes Sociological Studies on Children in New Religious Movements/Cults Perfect Children (2015) Children in New Religions (1999) Child-Rearing Issue in Totalist Groups (2001) Escaping Utopia: Growing Up in a Cult, Getting Out, and Starting Over (2018) Summary of Academic Research on the Knutby Filadelfia Congregation The Knutby Code (2008) Murder in Knutby: Charisma, Eroticism, and Violence in a Swedish Pentecostal Community (2011) Knutby Filadelfia: An Independent Religious Community with Roots in the Swedish Pentecostal Movement (2015) The Charismatic Leader in Knutby Filadelfia: The Children’s Perspective (2017) Additional Academic Papers Additional Non-Scholarly Material on the Knutby Filadelfia Congregation References Chapter 2: Knutby Filadelfia Pentecostalism A Brief Historical Background The Swedish Pentecostal Movement The History of the Pentecostal Filadelfia Congregation in Knutby 1921–1984 1985–1991 1992–1997 1997–2004 2004 2005–2014 Levels of Engagement in Knutby Filadelfia 2014–2016 Theology The Bride of Christ The Tirsa Prophecy Eschatology Spiritual Battles The Trinity Healing Lifestyle Semi-Communal Living Work Gender Roles Norms Concerning Children and Child-Rearing Incidents of Abuse at the Knutby School in 2004 Authoritarian Parenting Styles The Fall References Chapter 3: The Charismatic Leader Charismatic Authority A Colourful Front The House on The Hill A Grand Narrative of Persecution Negotiating Access to the Charismatic Leader Klara Maria Kevin and Oscar Purity Benjamin Reflections on Charismatic Authority Authority on Display Persecution Narratives Accessing the Divine Working for Waldau References Chapter 4: Parents Parent–Child Relationships Perfect Parents Lukas Ville Anna and Sara Shunned Parents Maria and Her Mum Carina and Joel Erik and Benjamin Sofia Stand-In Parental Caregivers Oscar Erica and Pontus Maria Emily Reflections on Social Stigma Team Performances Spiritual Shunning Purity in High-Demand New Religious Communes When Mum is Not Good Enough References Chapter 5: The Youth Group Peer-to-Peer Relations in The Youth Group The Directors of The Youth Group Residing at The Hill Susanna Jonas Best Friends The Boys The Girls Saturday Night Dinner Parties The Spirit World Sickness and Health Love and Marriages Handing It Down Summer Training Camp Reflections on Power Structures Within The Youth Group Inside the System The Perfect Kids The Youth and The Adults References Chapter 6: Outsiders Relating to Outsiders Family Members on the Outside First Generation Jonas and Jimmie Sara Anna Defectors Lukas and Ville The Youth Group Benjamin The Children The Impact of Stigma Adults Youth Theoretical Reflections on Boundaries Between the Congregation and Society Insiders and Outsiders Making Sense of Stigma Leaving Knutby Summary Timeline 2016–2022 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 References Chapter 7: Conclusions Applicable Aspects of the Concept of Total Institutions Total Tendencies Curtailment and Mortification of the Self In-Group and Out-Group Stigma Systems of Reward and Punishment Three Categories of Parenthood Adaptation Alignments Presentations of Childhood Secrets and Loyalties The Nature of the Backstage Accessing the Back Stage of the Young References Chapter 8: Reflections on Studying Children in New Religions References References Index