An Engagement with "Modernity"? Becoming Christian in the Kelabit Highlands of Central Borneo

Introduction Although historically originating in Europe during the Enlightenment, it is widely acknowledged that the phenomenon of modernity had an impact on religions and cultures beyond Europe. This impact is usually characterized along the lines of a split between private and public worlds, a subjectivizing and marginalization of religion, a loss of tradition and breakdown of community, disenchantment, and the meaninglessness of religious language. All these are exemplified through social and political theories which suggest that the more a society becomes modern, the more its religious traditions decline (cf. Camaroff and Camaroff 1991; Ferguson 1999).