Covering as Coordination of Power: Pentecostal Navigations of Spiritual Authority and Protection in Urban Johannesburg

How are Pentecostal theologies, doctrines, and practices deployed in navigating urban spaces? This paper examines how covering—a concept and practice deployed in some Pentecostal and charismatic churches—is deployed and negotiated in navigating life in the city. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork initiated in Johannesburg’s vibrant yet complex urban landscape, this research investigates how covering extends beyond church walls to influence broader urban experiences through power-laden interactions. Within my case study church, Speak in Tongues International (SITI), covering refers to multilayered spiritual authority, protection, and accountability structures that create relationships between the divine and human, and between leaders and followers. This paper contributes to the affect-sensitive urban studies literature by theorising how, in contrast to the city riddled by fear, anxiety and insecurity, religious conceptions mediate how some congregants understand themselves as moving through city spaces under a protective divine canopy that shields them from moral contamination whilst simultaneously imposing behavioural and social constraints.