Pentecostal or Charismatic Churches Books

Book SynopsisVeli-Matti Kärkkäinen is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary.Amos Yong is Associate Professor, Bethel College, Minnesota.Trade ReviewWith the entrance of classical Pentecostals into the ecumenical arena this is a timely and important work?Now we await more from this gifted theologian. -- Ralph Del Colle * Pneuma *?a reliable and helpful survey of a wide range of issues in contemporary theology as well as the author's own contribution to the discussion. -- Henry H. Knight, III, Saint Paul School of Theology * Religious Studies Review *…a reliable and helpful survey of a wide range of issues in contemporary theology as well as the author's own contribution to the discussion. -- Henry H. Knight, III, Saint Paul School of Theology * Religious Studies Review *With the entrance of classical Pentecostals into the ecumenical arena this is a timely and important work…Now we await more from this gifted theologian. -- Ralph Del Colle * Pneuma *Table of ContentsChapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Acknowledgements Chapter 3 Introduction: Pentecostalism and a Theology of the Third Article Chapter 4 Abbreviations Chapter 5 Hermeneutics and Identity: Pentecostal and Ecumenical: Chapter 6 Hermeneutics: From Fundamentalism to Postmodernism Chapter 7 Authority, Revelation and Interpretation Chapter 8 Pentecostals as "Anonymous Ecumenists?" Chapter 9 Free Churches, Ecumenism and Pentecostalism Chapter 10 The Ecumenical Potential of Pneumatology Chapter 11 Ecclesiology: Chapter 12 Toward a Pneumatological Ecclesiology Chapter 13 Trinity as Communion in the Spirit Chapter 14 The Church as Charismatic Fellowship Chapter 15 Spirit, Laity, Ministry Chapter 16 The Spirit and the Lord's Supper Chapter 17 Soteriology: Chapter 18 Grace and the Ecumenical Potential of Theosis Chapter 19 On a Theology and Spirituality of the Cross Chapter 20 Are Pentecostals Oblivious to Social Justice? Chapter 21 Theology of Mission: Chapter 22 Proselytism: A Theological Inquiry Chapter 23 Culture, Contextualization and Conversion Chapter 24 Pneumatology, Eschatology, Missiology Chapter 25 A Pneumatological Theology of Religion? Chapter 26 Endnotes Chapter 27 Name Index Chapter 28 Subject Index

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Book SynopsisEssek William Kenyon (1867-1948) has virtually escaped scholarly notice, and yet his influence on the twentieth-century church is profound. Of particular note is Kenyon''s influence on William Durham that apparently led to the first major split in Pentecostalism. Kenyon''s own evangelistic work was thoroughly interdenominational, touching every major Protestant denomination of his day. E.W. Kenyon and the Postbellum Pursuit of Peace, Power, and Plenty is the most comprehensive biography of Kenyon available today. It explores his influence on the Pentecostal/Charismatic movements, and likewise illuminates the practice of intuition and mysticism from which the 20th century message of peace, power and plenty emerged. Contains nine black and white photographs, bibliography and index.Trade ReviewWhat Simmons does best is use Kenyon as a window through which to peer into the world of late-Victorian evangelicalism...Simmons has done a nice job of creatively complicating our picture of evangelical religion in the early twentieth century by showing just how fluid and amorphous was the Protestant culture of postbellum America. * Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture *Anyone trying to understand...new religious movements, or important elements of the religious vitality and ferment which marked the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in North America, should read this book. * Nova Religio: The Journal Of Alternative And Emergent Religions *"Simmons has skillfully organized his material, and the extensive footnotes and selected bibliography add to the book's usefulness..." * CHOICE *

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Book SynopsisWho Healeth All Thy Diseases is a history of divine healing and 19th-century health reform in the Church of God, one of the earliest and most influential pre-Pentecostal radical holiness movements. The Church of God taught that Wesleyan entire sanctification was creating a visible unity of saints that restored the New Testament church of the apostles. As the movement grew and experimented with the implications of visible sainthood, physical healingmiraculous divine healing and the physical perfectionism of health reformbecame integral to the life and theology of the Church of God, shaping everything from proof of membership and evidence of ministerial authority to childrearing practices and acceptable clothing styles. Physical healing manifested and embodied the movement''s claim that God was healing the universal church (the Body of Christ) by cleansing individuals from the corruption of inbred sin. By 1902, the prevailing opinion in the Church said that divine healing was an essential aspect of the gospel, use of medicine was sinful, and every minister had to exhibit the gifts of healing. In the early 20th century, the Church''s theology and practices of healing became increasingly problematic. Tragic failures of divine healing, epidemics, medical advances, court trials, mandatory inoculations of schoolchildren, and general opprobrium combined to prevent a simplistic equation of the Church of God and the church of the apostles. By 1925, the Church had reversed its radical, anti-medicine doctrines. Church members continued to affirm that Jesus answered prayers for healing, but they no longer claimed to know exactly how he would answer prayers. With that loss of certainty, healing lost its power to serve as evidence of holiness and its central place in the history of the Church of God.Trade ReviewReaders interested in divine healing, health reform, the Holiness movement, the Church of God reformation, Pentecostalism, and related issues will find Stephens' book a fascinating, well-researched volume and a good read. * H-Pentecostalism, July 2009 *The book is clearly and elegantly written. Chapter divisions and signposting of sections within chapters organize the material effectively…. Stephens has written a stupendous history, based on in-depth research and replete with analytical insights. This work ought to be read by scholars, students, and others interested in divine, medical, and alternative healing whether or not they are concerned with the Church of God, for this denomination offers a fascinating case study for asking broader questions. * Pneuma *

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Book SynopsisThis book extrapolates a uniquely Pentecostal and incarnational Spirit Christology, inspired by piqued interest in the Holy Spirit and for the purpose of ecumenical dialogue. The method employed is Pentecostal in its emphasis on the Spirit, incarnational in its consideration of the life of Jesus, and Spirit Christological in its uniting of the two. The aim is to supersede the five-fold gospel model by systematizing Pentecostal praxis into a cohesive and identity-giving Spirit Christology. The book distinguishes the components of Pentecostal identity through an investigation of past and current Pentecostal voices, juxtaposes them against secular and other denominational categories, and ultimately arrives at a distinctly Pentecostal conceptualization of Spirit Christology that translates ecumenically and generationally. In fact, this project is the first constructive Spirit Christological endeavor developed by a Pentecostal and dedicated to the specific, Pentecostal issue of fusing hoTrade Review"Skip Jenkins offers the first explicit proposal of a Pentecostal and incarnational Spirit Christology. What is distinctive about the Pentecostal approach is the primacy given both to the experience of the Spirit and to the thematic predominance of the Christological image in the Pentecostal full gospel narrative. Jenkins highlights the mutual conditioning of pneumatology and Christology, linking concerns for trinitarian theology, holiness and power, and the life of the church, above all by taking seriously Edward Irving’s theology concerning the humanity of Christ as fallen flesh and the anointing of Christ with the Holy Spirit. The result is a systematic, constructive, and charismatic Spirit Christology that represents ecumenical Pentecostal theology at its finest!" —Wolfgang Vondey, Reader in Contemporary Christianity and Pentecostal Studies and Director of the Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies, University of Birmingham“With deep sensitivity to and understanding of the Pentecostal tradition, Skip Jenkins proposes a constructive Pentecostal and incarnational Spirit Christology. The proto-Pentecostal and Scottish pastor, Edward Irving, is the foundation and inspiration for Jenkins’ endeavor. Articulating the redemptive work of the Holy Spirit vis-à-vis the Spirit’s role in the incarnate life of Christ, Jenkins gives the Holy Spirit a major role in redemption, which is sometimes not found in alternative Christian traditions. Jenkins shows, nonetheless, that a Christological structure—the five-fold gospel—frames the hallmark of the Pentecostalism—the experience of Spirit baptism. Although focused on developing Pentecostal theology, Jenkins’ purpose is ecumenical, not parochial. Based on the theological categories of a Pentecostal and incarnational Spirit Christology, he integrates the traditional Pentecostal emphasis on holiness of life and power for mission as well as dialogues with the wider Christian communities. Historical, systematic, constructive, and ecumenical, this book is an important contribution to the growing field of Pentecostal academic theology.” —Steven M. Studebaker, Associate Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology and Howard and Shirley Bentall Chair in Evangelical Thought, McMaster Divinity CollegeTable of ContentsAcknowledgments – Introduction – Raw Materials of Pentecostal Identity: Pentecostal Ideas Concerning the Relationship Between Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit – Pentecostal Ecclesial Demarcation: Edward Irving the Proto-Pentecostal – A Resource for Pentecostal Theology: The Incarnational Christology of Edward Irving – Protestant Ecumenical Information: Jesus Christ and Fallen Human Nature According to James D. G. Dunn and Karl Barth – Roman Catholic Ecumenical Information: The Spirit-Christology of David Coffey – The Synthetic Conclusion: Toward a Pentecostal Incarnational Spirit Christology.

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Book SynopsisOffers a critical Pentecostal philosophy of God that challenges orthodox Christianity.Although Pentecostalism is generally considered a conservative movement, in The Split God Nimi Wariboko shows that its operative everyday notion of God is a radical one that poses, under cover of loyalty, a challenge to orthodox Christianity. He argues that the image of God that arises out of the everyday practices of Pentecostalism is a split God-a deity harboring a radical split that not only destabilizes and prevents God himself from achieving ontological completeness but also conditions and shapes the practices and identities of Pentecostal believers. Drawing from the work of Slavoj ?i?ek, Jacques Lacan, Jean-Luc Nancy, and Giorgio Agamben, among others, Wariboko presents a close reading of everyday Pentecostal practices, and in doing so, uncovers and presents a sophisticated conversation between radical continental philosophy and everyday forms of spirituality. By de-particularizing Pentecostal studies and Pentecostalism, Wariboko broadens our understanding of the intellectual aspects of the global Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.

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Book SynopsisThis book carries an ethnographic signature in approach and style, and is an examination of a small Brooklyn, New York, African-American, Pentecostal church congregation and is based on ethnographic notes taken over the course of four years. The Pentecostal Church is known to outsiders almost exclusively for its members' bizarre habit of speaking in tongues. This ethnography, however, puts those outsiders inside the church pews, as it paints a portrait of piety, compassion, caring, loveall embraced through an embodiment perspective, as the church's members experience these forces in the most personal ways through religious conversion. Central themes include concerns with the notion of spectacle because of the grand bodily display that is highlighted by spiritual struggle, social aspiration, punishment and spontaneous explosions of a variety of emotions in the public sphere. The approach to sociology throughout this work incorporates the striking dialectic of history and biography to peTrade ReviewThis four-year ethnographic study of a small African American church in Brooklyn, a revision of the author's PhD dissertation, is exceptionally well organized. Sociologist Marina highlights what he sees as "exotic" aspects of Pentecostal worship, and is most interested in the processes of religious conversion, which he relates to speaking in tongues. He uncovered tremendous diversity of opinion within church members' thoughts concerning glossolalia. Earlier researchers examined glossolalia as a form of altered states of consciousness, but Marina offers mainly sociological explanations and ultimately argues that church members understand tongue speaking primarily as a form of social empowerment. He also insightfully analyzes church organization, outlining the formal and informal structures of the Holy Ghost Church with attention to charismatic authority. Earlier studies of Pentecostalism predicted that church authority would become increasingly bureaucratic over time, but Marina convincingly argues that leaders in smaller Pentecostal congregations are better able to maintain their claims to charisma. The author's presentation is clear, his attention to ethnographic detail exemplary, and his scholarship sound. A significant contribution to the study of African American Pentecostalism. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. * CHOICE *Getting the Holy Ghost makes significant contributions to our understanding of African-American Pentecostalism and to the sociological study of religious conversion. The author successfully highlights some of the tensions between traditional religion and the complexities of urban life . . . . [Getting the Holy Ghost] is an excellent study. Marina’s presentation is clear, his attention to ethnographic detail is exemplary, and his scholarship is thorough. Highly recommended. * PentecoStudies *Peter Marina presents a rare portrait of religious rites in a small community church in Brooklyn, New York. Marina’s skillful use of qualitative data based on first hand accounts, in-depth interviews and daily encounters with neighborhood residents tell an intriguing story involving 'speaking in tongues,' rites of aggregation, and a moving pathos that is part of the historical circumstance of African-American life since slavery. It is powerful ethnography where outsiders are allowed into an often hidden world in plain sight. It is a fascinating account, thoughtful, and dynamic that deserves wide praise and should be read by all interested in life in the city. -- Terry Williams, The New SchoolGetting the Holy Ghost is a richly descriptive ethnography of an African American Pentecostal congregation in Brownsville, New York. Marina challenges the crisis model of religious conversion and instead argues that conversion is a life-long decision making process. Marina uses in-depth analysis of the conversion stories of ten participants, from pastors to recent converts, to make his case. While reading the life stories of these struggling Pentecostals, you’ll feel as if you know each of them personally. -- Peter Althouse, Southeastern UniversityGetting the Holy Ghost is a skillfully researched account of a small African/Caribbean Pentecostal congregation in Brooklyn, N.Y. Framing the work with sociological theories on Pentecostalism and religious conversion—some supported, others modified and still others rejected—Peter Marina narrates a delightful story through his use of rich interview data and personal observation. His account points to the importance of considering the role emotion plays in the growth of Pentecostalism, a global movement launched over 100 years ago with a host of paranormal experiences, including “tongue-speaking.” Marina’s analysis of how this small congregation balances charisma with institution in an age when spirituality increasingly challenges religious bureaucracy will be of interest not only to Pentecostal scholars but to all serious students of religion. -- Margaret A. Poloma, University of AkronPeter Marina has achieved something quite rare in the annals of sociological ethnography: he has entered a community with which he had little in common and has told a compelling story about its innermost meanings, its organization, its cultural rituals and practices with the analytical deftness and observational acuity of an old hand. Yet, this is Marina's first book! It is a wonderful accomplishment by an expert chronicler of the everyday among the urban poor. Read it and experience life in a house of worship as you've never seen it. -- David Brotherton, The City University of New YorkGetting the Holy Ghost is a marvelous ethnography which takes us to the hidden places and strange raptures of Pentecostalism , the largest Christian movement in the world today. Peter Marina has a fine eye for both physical and social detail: he writes like a dream and his text springs to life. In places it reads like a film script. You feel you are there amongst the dancers, the singers the people speaking in tongues and you share both his attraction and disquiet for this movement to reclaim the supernatural from the cold rationality of conventional religion. -- Jock Young, The City University of New YorkTable of ContentsIntroduction Part 1 Chapter 1: A Brief Overview of Global Pentecostalism Chapter 2: Brownsville, Brooklyn Chapter 3: Holy Ghost Church Organizational Structure Part 2 Chapter 4: The Main Characters Chapter 5: The Pentecostal Scene and its Music Chapter 6: Becoming a God Hunter Chapter 7: Getting Saved Chapter 8: Speaking in Tongues Part 3 Chapter 9: The Future of the Black Tongue Speaking Church Chapter 10: Individual Consequences to Becoming a Pentecostal

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Book SynopsisEzekiel has often been called ‘the prophet of the spirit’ because of his surpassing use of the word רוח, ‘spirit’. The main argument of this book is that Ezekiel’s ‘spirit’ motif conveys a polysemous symbolism which, nonetheless, accentuates an overarching leitmotiv. Ezekiel’s ‘spirit’ symbolism signifies a paradigm shift in ancient Israelite visualization of divine presence in Israel: from visible phenomena and experiences, mediated through rituals at cultic shrines in Israel, to an omnipresence that is not necessarily mediated through cultus. Moreover, author Samuel W. Muindi posits that the African Pentecostal ‘en-spirited’ worldview is an apt hermeneutical lens for understanding Ezekielian ‘spirit’ symbolism. The experiences of the Ezekielian exilic community prefigure dynamic equivalents in African communities. As such, Ezekielian ‘spirit’ symbolism critically informs the African Pentecostal ‘en-spirited’ worldview while the latter illumines Ezekielian ‘spirit’ symbolism. This book is aimed at students of Biblical theology and others who wish to enrich their understanding of hermeneutics as well as Biblical pneumatology as an ‘en-spirited’ worldview.Table of ContentsPreface – List of Abbreviations – Ezekiel’s “Spirit” and the African “En-Spirited” Worldview – Ezekiel in Contemporary Scholarship – The Word “ רוח ” in the Hebrew Bible – African Pentecostal Pneumatology – Ezekiel’s רוח Symbolism and the African Pentecostal Pneumatology – Conclusion – Bibliography – Author Index – Subject Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book investigates the question of human flourishing in African New Pentecostalism in South Africa. In a context marked by deep economic inequality and high unemployment, many poor South Africans rely on African New Pentecostal prophets to bring spiritual meaning to their lives. Collectively, and using various theoretical frameworks and methods, the authors of this volume analyze and critique the concept of this pursuit, and ask what can be done to challenge African New Pentecostal prophets to respond effectively. The book will be of interest to academics, pastors, researchers and university students in Pentecostalism in Africa, Missiology and Science of Religion, Sociology and Psychology of Religion and the public role of religion in South Africa and beyond. "This volume provides a uniquely fresh perspective on African Pentecostalism by linking three important discursive fields: human flourishing, charismatic Pentecostalism, and decoloniality. The volume provides important insights into the normative notions brought forward by prophetic Pentecostalism on what constitutes a good life. It thereby substantially advances the debate on Pentecostalism and prosperity. Even though the book zooms in on South Africa, its chapters bear relevance far beyond. The volume is therefore a must-read for anyone wanting to engage with current trends in African Christianity." —Philipp Öhlmann, Associated Senior Researcher, Center for Rural Development, Humboldt University; Research Fellow, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Botswana "This is an intellectually stimulating, original, and thought-provoking contribution to the field of African Pentecostal Studies. It has not failed to deliver and must be read to understand new creative interpretations of the movements by African Christian scholars." —Chammah Kaunda, Assistant Professor, Yonsei University, South Korea; Extraordinary Professor, University of the Western Cape, South Africa "This important book creatively explores human flourishing in the context of New Prophetic Pentecostalism in Africa. It should be read by all who are interested in the most recent developments of Southern African Pentecostalism and those concerned about genuine human flourishing in the church and wider society." —Dr. Simo Frestadius, Dean of Research, Regents Theological College; Executive Director, Institute for Pentecostal Theology; Chair, European Pentecostal Theological AssociationTrade ReviewThis volume provides a uniquely fresh perspective on African Pentecostalism by linking three important discursive fields: human flourishing, charismatic Pentecostalism, and decoloniality. The volume provides important insights into the normative notions brought forward by prophetic Pentecostalism on what constitutes a good life. It thereby substantially advances the debate on Pentecostalism and prosperity. Even though the book zooms in on South Africa, its chapters bear relevance far beyond. The volume is therefore a must-read for anyone wanting to engage with current trends in African Christianity. Philipp Öhlmann Associated Senior Researcher at the Center for Rural Development Humboldt University, Research Fellow, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Botswana. This is an intellectually stimulating, original, and thought-provoking contribution to the field of African Pentecostal Studies. It has not failed to deliver and must be read to understand new creative interpretations of the movements by African Christian scholars. Chammah Kaunda Assistant Professor, Yonsei University, South Korea. Extraordinary Professor, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. This important book creatively explores human flourishing in the context of New Prophetic Pentecostalism in Africa. It should be read by all who are interested in the most recent developments of Southern African Pentecostalism and those concerned about genuine human flourishing in the church and wider society. Simo Frestadius Dr. Simo Frestadius, Dean of Research, Regents Theological College Executive Director, Institute for Pentecostal Theology Chair, European Pentecostal Theological AssociationTable of ContentsIntroduction – Collium Banda: Black Theology and Human Flourishing in South African Neo-Pentecostal Prophetism – Sello Jonas Thinane: Religion and Economy: The Nexus between the ECG Church Leader’s Lavish Lifestyle and His Congregants’ Human Flourishing – Bekithemba Dube: Human Unflourishing at Universal Church of the Kingdom of God: A Decoloniality Approach – Sphesihle Khanyile: From Christianity to Plentianity: Reading Discourses of Human Flourishing, Prosperity Gospel, and Black Emancipation in King HQ Nala’s Virtual Sermons – Sibusiso Masondo: Blessing Seekers or Bounty Hunters?: The Case of the Followers of Prosperity Preachers in South Africa – Kelebogile Resane: Human Flourishing in African Pentecostal Prophetism: Authentic or a Fallacy? – Abraham Modisa Mkhondo Mzondi: “Not yet Uhuru”: Looking at the Poor, Ubuntu, African Pentecostal Prophetism and Human Flourishing in the Post–1990 South African Context – Marius Nel: Prophetic Neo-Pentecostal Churches and the Theodicy Challenge – Mookgo S. Kgatle, Anthony Reddie, and Collium Banda: Epilogue – Notes on Contributors – Index.

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Book SynopsisAfrican Pentecostal Theology: Modality, Disciplinarity, and Decoloniality explores research methodology, theological disciplines, and contextualization as important aspects in the process of studying Pentecostal theology in an African context. Mookgo Solomon Kgatle outlines different data collection and data analysis methods, including the skills of interpreting and presenting research findings in a responsible manner. This book illustrates that Pentecostal theology, given its pneumatological approach, goes beyond conventional theological disciplines in transdisciplinary research. The development of knowledge in African Pentecostal Theology should recognize African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS), African oral and traditional cultures, and African indigenous languages to be relevant to Africans. Pentecostal theologians from different theological disciplines in Africa and globally will find this book a worthwhile read.Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroductionPart I Modality in African Pentecostal TheologyChapter 1: Research Methods in Pentecostal theologyChapter 2: Pentecostal Theological ParadigmsChapter 3: Pentecostal Theological ApproachesPart II Disciplinarity in African Pentecostal TheologyChapter 4: Disciplines Within Pentecostal TheologyChapter 5: Interdisciplinary, Multidisciplinary, And Transdisciplinary Pentecostal TheologyChapter 6: Pentecostal Theology: Beyond Theological DisciplinesPart III: Decoloniality in African Pentecostal TheologyChapter 7: Contextualising Pentecostal TheologyChapter 8: Developing Knowledge in African Pentecostal Theology.Chapter 9: Engaging Pentecostal Communities ConclusionReferencesAbout the AuthorIndex

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Book Synopsis Since the 1990s, an increasing number of young men in Cameroon have aspired to play football as a career and a strategy to migrate abroad. Migration through the sport promises fulfillment of masculine dreams of sports stardom, as well as opportunities to earn a living that have been hollowed out by the country’s long economic stalemate. The aspiring footballers are increasingly turning to Pentecostal Christianity, which allows them to challenge common tropes of young men as stubborn and promiscuous, while also offering a moral and bodily regime that promises success despite the odds. Yet the transnational sports market is tough and unpredictable: it demands disciplined young bodies and introduces new forms of uncertainty. This book unpacks young Cameroonians' football dreams, Pentecostal faith, obligations to provide, and desires to migrate to highlight the precarity of masculinity in structurally adjusted Africa and neoliberal capitalism.Trade Review “[This book] is a welcome addition to the literature on African masculinity, global professional sport, neoliberalism, and Pentecostalism. I find it particularly laudable that the book is concise and relatively short. Its main arguments and analytical observations are well written and empirically saturated.” • JRAI (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute) “Overall, the book is a very exciting journey into one of the shadiest corners of the global football industry… [It] is an important analytical contribution to the fields of sports science, ethnography, and other disciplines focusing on contemporary postcolonialism, the global economy, and young masculinities. It contains an impressive breadth in its research overview as well as a clarifying depth in its analysis…Kovač’s book is an eye-opener for anyone prepared to see and understand. Football’s systematic exploitation of young men, a kind of trafficking, is going on at this very moment and the question is whether the majority of us wants to keep the current order or try to change it. After reading Kovač’s book, I am doubtful that this system is sustainable in the long run." • idrottsforum.org “This is an extraordinarily high-quality book, destined to make a mark in Africanist scholarship. Simply by demonstrating the connection between football and Pentecostalism in Cameroon, Kovac’s manuscript takes a step I have never seen before, examining a kind of confluence of two global movements into a local production of masculine subjects.” • Sasha Newell, Université libre de Bruxelles, author of The Modernity Bluff: Crime, Consumption, and Citizenship in Cote D'Ivoire “Tells the fascinating story of young Cameroonians, who opt for football as a career to bring them global mobility and attain what the author calls ‘moral masculinity' … The story is full of unexpected turns, bringing in a wide array of aspects and actors.” • Peter Geschiere, University of Amsterdam, author of The Perils of Belonging: Autochthony, Citizenship, and Exclusion in Africa and EuropeTable of Contents List of Figures Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Precarity, Spirituality, and Masculinities Chapter 1. Dreams of Mobility: Football between Politics, Economy, Spirituality, and Transnational Markets Chapter 2. “This Is a Business, Not a Charity”: Political and Moral Economy of Football and the Production of the Suffering Subject Chapter 3. Becoming Useful and Humble: Moral Masculinities in Uncertain Times Chapter 4. “Tapping the Power”: Ruptures and Continuities in the Spiritual World of Football Chapter 5. Anxious Athletes, Spiritual Wives: Football, Pentecostalism, and the Body Conclusion: Masculinities, Faith, and the Production of Aspiration References Index

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Book SynopsisThe enormous Pentecostal and charismatic movement—often called Renewalist—has highlighted the power of the Holy Spirit but has rarely emphasized the movement’s educational range and reach. Formal and informal teaching in many schools, colleges, seminaries, church campuses, homes, and parachurches all contribute to a scattered and varied teaching impetus. Pentecostal and Charismatic Education: Renewalist Education Wherever it is Found looks at education through the eyes of those who see God at work in the world through the church and beyond. The book explores questions like: What should parents look for in a child’s education and what choices do they have? What educational role can churches have? This book offers a worldview invested with traditional Christian theology, but also enlivened by an understanding of the continuing outpouring of the Holy Spirit.Table of ContentsIntroductionChapter One: Aims, Ethics, and Means of EducationChapter Two: How Did We Get Here?Chapter Three: Theory and OrientationChapter Four: Science and Human DevelopmentChapter Five: Primary EducationChapter Six: Secondary EducationChapter Seven: Higher EducationChapter Eight: Parachurch EducationChapter Nine: Church EducationConclusionBibliographyAbout the Authors

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Book SynopsisIn Pentecostalism, Postmodernism, and Reformed Epistemology, Yoon Shin critically builds on James K. A. Smith’s postmodern Pentecostal epistemology with the aid of Reformed epistemology. It takes the reader through an interdisciplinary journey that exposits and illumines the relationship among Pentecostal spirituality, continental and analytic philosophy, postliberalism, moral psychology, and philosophy of emotion. This work clarifies misunderstandings of Smith, in Smith, and between continental and analytic epistemology, constructively and coherently synthesizing the sources through interdisciplinary analysis and thereby demonstrating the value of mashup philosophy. The resulting epistemology strengthens the mostly descriptive epistemology of Smith with the warrant criteria of Alvin Plantinga.Trade Review“Yoon Shin’s engaging study stages a constructive conversation few may have thought possible—namely, that among Reformed epistemology, postmodern philosophy, and Pentecostal theology. The result is a substantive and creative proposal—a ‘mashup epistemology,’ as Shin styles it—that greatly enriches our thinking about religious knowledge and the possibilities available for Christian reflection upon the quality of our knowledge.” -- Philip G. Ziegler, University of Aberdeen"Combining the most stimulating debates of the last decade, Yoon Shin courageously ventures into the seemingly contradictory interests of Pentecostal, Evangelical, Reformed, and postmodern epistemologies through the lens of one of their chief interlocutors, James K.A. Smith. Critical and constructive, combining philosophy, theology, hermeneutics, and cultural studies, this conversation advocates for a postmodern Christian epistemology grounded in the concrete embodiment of the human situation." -- Wolfgang Vondey, University of Birmingham"In this significant work, Yoon Shin brings James K.A. Smith’s postmodern epistemology into a much-needed conversation with Reformed epistemology. The result is a magnificently lucid and engaging product that will mark a watershed moment in Pentecostalist scholarship. Pentecostalism, Postmodernism, and Reformed Epistemology: James K. A. Smith and the Contours of a Postmodern Christian Epistemology will be treasured by scholars for its rigorous argumentation, clarity, and depth of insight. A real tour de force! " -- Brian Lightbody, Brock University"In conversation with the work of James K. A. Smith, Shin seeks to make good on showing how postmodern philosophy and Reformed epistemology can inform one another and contribute to the task of developing a postmodern Christian epistemology. This book is refreshingly astute in its discussion of the relevant issues, its interdisciplinary and comparative analysis, and its constructive proposal. Shin deserves our gratitude for paving the way toward a richer understanding of such a possibility!" -- Frederick Aquino, Graduate School of Theology, Abilene Christian UniversityTable of ContentsForewordAcknowledgementsIntroduction Part 1: Smith’s Pentecostal EpistemologyChapter 1: Pentecostal Spirituality and PostmodernismChapter 2: Pentecostal EpistemologyChapter 3: Pretheory, Theory, and Their Integrated Relationship Part 2: Smith’s Postmodern EpistemologyChapter 4: Postmodern Hermeneutic EpistemologyChapter 5: Smith the Relativist? Chapter 6: Against Narrative, Affective KnowledgePart 3: Reformed and Postmodern EpistemologyChapter 7: Plantinga’s Reformed Epistemology Chapter 8: Warranted Christian Belief Chapter 9: Reformed Epistemology, Postmodernism, and a Way ForwardConclusion: Contours of a Postmodern Christian EpistemologyGlossaryBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

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Book SynopsisAmong many of his influences, James K. A. Smith set the agenda for Pentecostal philosophy with the publication of Thinking in Tongues, which addressed a wide range of philosophical loci through the lens of Pentecostal spirituality. In particular, he articulated an epistemology called narrative, affective knowledge, one that carefully utilizes the resources from continental philosophy and Pentecostalism. In Pentecostalism, Postmodernism, and Reformed Epistemology: James K. A. Smith and the Contours of a Postmodern Christian Epistemology, while accepting the broader descriptions of narrative, affective epistemology, Yoon Shin critically modifies and strengthens Smith’s epistemology through careful exposition and critique and with the aid of wide-ranging resources, such as moral psychology, philosophy of emotion, postliberalism, and Reformed epistemology. Through his exposition, Shin argues that Smith’s Pentecostal epistemology is not uniquely Pentecostal, but postliberal and postmodern. Against Smith’s insistence that to be a Christian postmodern is to be a relativist, Shin critiques Smith’s misunderstanding of postliberalism and its realist commitment and argues for a performative correspondence theory of truth. Moreover, he expands on Smith’s thin prescription for knowledge by enlisting the aid of Reformed epistemology. Through dialogue with Reformed epistemology, Shin identifies three areas for dialogue between postmodern and Reformed epistemology in service of developing a postmodern Christian epistemology. Trade Review“Yoon Shin’s engaging study stages a constructive conversation few may have thought possible, namely that between Reformed epistemology, postmodern philosophy, and Pentecostal theology. The result is a substantive and creative proposal—a ‘mashup epistemology’ as Shin styles it—that greatly enriches our thinking about religious knowledge and the possibilities available for Christian reflection upon the quality of our knowledge.” -- Philip G. Ziegler, University of Aberdeen"Combining the most stimulating debates of the last decade, Yoon Shin courageously ventures into the seemingly contradictory interests of Pentecostal, Evangelical, Reformed and postmodern epistemologies through the lens of one of their chief interlocutors, James K.A. Smith. Critical and constructive, combining philosophy, theology, hermeneutics, and cultural studies, this conversation is an advocate for a postmodern Christian epistemology grounded in the concrete embodiment of the human situation." -- Wolfgang Vondey, University of Birmingham"In this significant work, Yoon Shin brings James K.A. Smith’s postmodern epistemology into a much-need conversation with Reformed epistemology. The result is a magnificently lucid and engaging product that will mark a watershed moment in Pentecostalist scholarship. Pentecostalism, Postmodernism, and Reformed Epistemology: James K. A. Smith and the Contours of a Postmodern Christian Epistemology will be treasured by scholars for its rigorous argumentation, clarity, and depth of insight. A real tour de force! " -- Brian Lightbody, Brock UniversityTable of ContentsForewordAcknowledgementsIntroduction Part 1: Smith’s Pentecostal EpistemologyChapter 1: Pentecostal Spirituality and PostmodernismChapter 2: Pentecostal EpistemologyChapter 3: Pretheory, Theory, and Their Integrated Relationship Part 2: Smith’s Postmodern EpistemologyChapter 4: Postmodern Hermeneutic EpistemologyChapter 5: Smith the Relativist? Chapter 6: Against Narrative, Affective KnowledgePart 3: Reformed and Postmodern EpistemologyChapter 7: Plantinga’s Reformed Epistemology Chapter 8: Warranted Christian Belief Chapter 9: Reformed Epistemology, Postmodernism, and a Way ForwardConclusion: Contours of a Postmodern Christian EpistemologyGlossaryBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

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Book SynopsisAs younger generations drift away from evangelical churches, the number of religiously unaffiliated young adults grows. Is the drift because of politics, personal morality, rebelliousness, culture wars, or something else? In this project, 16 young adults from the Churches of Christ participate in qualitative interviews over a five-year span. They describe messages they learned about success and survival from their faith communities as children, and how they have embraced and reinterpreted those messages into helpful life principles as adults. The resulting study explores issues of ethnicity in evangelical borderland communities and contrasts Latinx narratives with white narratives in religious and educative contexts. Findings also revealed gendered narratives, class-based narratives, and the glaring absence of helpful narratives around sexuality, filtered through the lenses of religion and education. The central finding of the interviews is this: participants experienced the Church of Christ as rewarding conformity with community, a strategy (when it works) which secures the future of the denomination and cements a conservative doctrine in the next generation of leadership. However, the study concludes that true survival narratives were the narratives participants constructed in response to the narratives provided by Churches of Christ.Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: How to Make It HereChapter 1: Constructing the Survival NarrativeChapter 2: The Hermeneutical Circle of Ethics as Qualitative MethodologyChapter 3: Religion: “Everyone in the Car!”Chapter 4: Identities: “Everyone Loves a Mirror”Chapter 5: Education: “How to Make It Here”Chapter 6: Mechanism beneath the MessageConclusion: The Essential NarrativesAppendixBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

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Book Synopsis Co-authored by three anthropologists with long–term expertise studying Pentecostalism in Vanuatu, Angola, and Papua New Guinea/the Trobriand Islands respectively, Going to Pentecost offers a comparative study of Pentecostalism in Africa and Melanesia, focusing on key issues as economy, urban sociality, and healing. More than an ordinary comparative book, it recognizes the changing nature of religion in the contemporary world – in particular the emergence of “non-territorial” religion (which is no longer specific to places or cultures) – and represents an experimental approach to the study of global religious movements in general and Pentecostalism in particular.Trade Review “… a valuable addition to the literature on Pentecostalism. It is an experiment in comparative anthropology which employs an intriguing and innovative method and theory… This book is likely to stimulate salutary re-thinking about what passes as ‘established’ assumptions about the nature, history, and theory of Pentecostal research in the social sciences.” • Contemporary Religion “… a rich comparative study of sites in Africa and Melanesia in the thrall and thick of ‘Pentecost.’… [It] succeeds as a comparative and collective ethnography of three sites of modern ‘Pentecost,’ encouraging readers to see ‘Pentecostalism’ as not merely a new religious movement but rather a multiplicity of new religious movements, for they are many, emerging from and embedded within distinct historical and cultural contexts…It will also provide sociologists of religion who study new religious movements ethnographically with much food for thought and many opportunities for scholarly introspection.” • Sociology of Religion “Going to Pentecost raises important questions that intersect with theoretical issues in religion, globalization, and research about everyday life, that extend beyond the anthropology of Christianity and therefore, important for the broader more multidisciplinary study of Pentecostalism.” • Anthropos “This volume should be commended for its methodological device that allows for further investigation in the study of transnational religions. Theories develop directly from comparative field research… this book’s creative agenda should be both explored and further developed, and I would recommend it primarily to scholars in the fields of anthropology, Pentecostal studies, missiology, and world Christianity.” • Pneuma. The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies “Well-written, accessible, and groundbreaking… this book offers to rejuvenate the anthropology of Pentecostalism.” • Jon Bialecki, University of Edinburgh “Ethnographically well-grounded, conceptually innovative, and experimental in its comparative approach. Although there have been many collaborative publications on global Pentecostalism, few are so well integrated and are able to develop arguments through a truly comparative ethnography.” • Kim Knibbe, University of GroningenTable of Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements PART I: INTRODUCTIONS Introduction: Going to ‘Pentecost’: Outline of an Experiment Interlude: Locations in 'Pentecost' Reading Guide PART II: PRESENTATIONS FROM 'PENTECOST' Chapter 1. Borders in ‘Pentecost’: Creating Protected Spaces Chapter 2. Reconfiguring Life and Death: A New Moral Economy in ‘Pentecost’ Chapter 3. Anti-relativist Nostalgias and The Absolutist Road PART III: THEORIES FROM 'PENTECOST' Chapter 4. Borders and Abjections: Approaching Individualism in ‘Pentecost’ Chapter 5. Engaging with Theories of Neoliberalism and Prosperity Chapter 6. Ruptures and Encompassments: Towards an Absolute Truth PART IV: COMMENTS Chapter 7. Comparison Re-placed Matei Candea Chapter 8. Pentecostalism and Forms of Individualism Joel Robbins Chapter 9. Life at The End of Time: A Note on Comparison, 'Pentecost' and the Trobriands Bjørn Enge Bertelsen Chapter 10. Wealth versus Money in Pentecost: Why Is Money Good? Knut Rio Chapter 11. ‘Pentecost’ in The World Birgit Meyer Index

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Book SynopsisSince the 1990s, an increasing number of young men in Cameroon have aspired to play football as a career and a strategy to migrate abroad. Migration through the sport promises fulfillment of masculine dreams of sports stardom, as well as opportunities to earn a living that have been hollowed out by the country's long economic stalemate. The aspiring footballers are increasingly turning to Pentecostal Christianity, which allows them to challenge common tropes of young men as stubborn and promiscuous, while also offering a moral and bodily regime that promises success despite the odds. Yet the transnational sports market is tough and unpredictable: it demands disciplined young bodies and introduces new forms of uncertainty. This book unpacks young Cameroonians'' football dreams, Pentecostal faith, obligations to provide, and desires to migrate to highlight the precarity of masculinity in structurally adjusted Africa and neoliberal capitalism.

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Book SynopsisJoseph Smale was a catalytic figure in the church life of los Angeles, leading many towards the 'Promised land' of Pentecostal blessing in 1905-1906; although his subsequent experiences led him to retreat from the burgeoning Pentecostal movement. Joseph Smale (1867-1926) was one of the central figures involved in the chain of events leading to the 1906 Azusa Street revival in los Angeles. This study presents the diverse influences which impacted Smale - formative years in Britain, growing up in Cornwall and Somerset amid a rhythm of Wesleyan revival; reformed theological training under the tutelage of C.H. Spurgeon in London; migration to the united States; plus hard experiences in the 'school of anxiety' - which were all precursors for Smale's influential role as champion of Pentecostal revival. Smale's leadership will resonate with every church leader who prays for revival and longs for more Holy Spirit power experimentally. Furthermore, his story is also educative for those contending with some of the more problematic and 'untidy' aspects of Pentecostal-Charismatic experience, involving painful power struggles, hurts, abuse of freedom, spiritual excesses and so on. Smale's 'Moses' designation and biography still have relevance for the church in the present day.

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Book Synopsis Over the past decades, Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity has arguably become the fastest growing religious movement in the world. Distinguishing features of this variant of Christianity include formal ritual activities as well as informal, experiential, and ecstatic forms of worship. This book examines Pentecostal-charismatic ritual practice in different parts of the world, highlighting, among other things, the crucial role of ritual in creating religious communities and identities.Trade Review “The book is a solid piece of work…Besides the theoretical novelties, the amount of empiric material that is presented is one of the book’s major benefits…the anthology represents a breakthrough in Pentecostal studies...it is one of the most interesting books that has been written on charismatic Christianity for a long time, and it must absolutely be read by everyone with an interest in Pentecostalism or/and ritual theory.” · Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review “The quality of the essays is thankfully high, even as the cumulative result of the volume is suggestive for rethinking contemporary theories of ritual. This suggests that Practicing the Faithnot only tells us about pentecostal-charismatic life, but it also has methodological implications for anthropologists and other students of ritual. The study of Pentecostalism, thus, shows itself to be no less surprising than the phenomenon itself.” · Religious Studies Review "This is a welcome collection of essays on ritual within Pentecostal and charismatic churches [that] will stake out new ground in a very crowded field." · Matthew Engelke, London School of EconomicsTable of Contents Introduction Martin Lindhardt Chapter 1.The Obvious Aspects of Pentecostalism: Ritual and Pentecostal Globalization Joel Robbins Chapter 2. Laying our sins on the altar: Ritualising charismatic Catholic reconciliation and healing Jacqueline Ryle Chapter 3. Healing and Redomestication: Reconstitution of the Feminine Self in South Korean Evangelical Cell Group Ritual Practices Kelly Chong Chapter 4. Ritualization of Life Thomas J. Csordas Chapter 5. Adventure and Atrophy in a Charismatic Movement: Returning to the ‘Toronto Blessing’ Martyn Percy Chapter 6. Ritual Use of the Bible in African Pentecostalism Paul Gifford Chapter 7. Voices: Presence and Prophecy in Charismatic Ritual Simon Coleman Chapter 8. When God Interferes. Ritual, Empowerment and Divine Presence in Chilean Pentecostalism Martin Lindhardt Chapter 9. Quiet Deliverances Jon Bialecki Chapter 10. Imperfect Vessels: Emotion and rituals of anti-Ritual in American Pentecostal and Charismatic devotional life Gretchen Pfeil Chapter 11. Public Rituals and Political Positioning: Venezuelan Evangelicals and the Chávez Government David Smilde Notes on Contributors Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis book puts John Chrysostom in conversation with deliverance ministries and the prosperity gospel in modern African charismatic Christianity. Chrysostom had a cosmology not unlike that present in the charismatic Christianity of the global south, where the world is populated by spirits able to affect the material world. Additionally, Chrysostom had plenty to say about suffering, demons, and prosperity. Through this conversation, issues of personal moral responsibility and salvation rise to the surface, and it is through these issues that modern Western and African Christians can perhaps have a conversation that gets past the “weirdness” of a spirit-inhabited world and talk together about the saving work of Christ for the benefit of all the Church.Table of Contents1. Charismatic Christianity in Africa2. John Chrysostom’s World and Modern Africa: Intersections3. A Conversation about Deliverance4. A Conversation about Prosperity5. Themes of the Conversations

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Book SynopsisThis book outlines a Pentecostal theology of praxis while also providing a concrete example of how such a theology is fleshed out. By investigating various elements of Pentecostal and Liberation theologies and highlighting various similarities and differences between the two camps, John Mark Robeck constructs a framework through which a Pentecostal theology of praxis might be observed. Taking a step further, he offers a case study of three Pentecostal churches in El Salvador as an example of how such a theology is lived out. Robeck examines the lives of the pastors of these congregations, the engagement of these congregations in activities of social engagement that serve to bring about various forms of liberation, as well as the participation of the congregations and their communities in transformative actions which serve to bring about real change.Table of Contents1. Towards A Pentecostal Theology of Praxis2. The Pentecostal Movement within the Salvadoran Context3. Three AIC Congregations Partnering with ENLACE4. Communication of Pentecostal Praxis

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Book SynopsisSpencer Moffatt, PhD, is an independent scholar and hospice chaplain in Minneapolis, MN.

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Book SynopsisThe book explores how African Pentecostal Churches in Europe respond to African refugees, highlighting needs like language skills, legal guidance, therapy, housing, jobs, and prayer. The analysis supports discussions on mission, migration, and integration, emphasizing Pentecostal themes, contextualization, and the impact of volunteerism on mission.

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Book SynopsisAfter many years of experience with churches, I observed that the maturing of the churches in general was being thwarted by the lack of genuine apostolic and five fold ministry. The book was written to illustrate the need for genuine apostolic leadership from the heart of maturity. Most books about apostolic leadership, although good and helpful, were more or less written from the point of view of application and performance of ministry rather than from the aspect of heart. Key editorial points are: Why we need each other. The marks of a true apostle and how to recognize them The need for a team spirit. Passing the baton to future leaders. This book will throw great light on the understanding of those who want to see true oversight work in churches and the blessing it will bring to all concerned.

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Book SynopsisOne dictionary definition of miracles is that they are 'remarkable and welcome events that seem impossible to explain'. But can they still happen today? Should we expect them? Jesus certainly encouraged his disciples to anticipate miraculous accompaniments to their proclamation of his good news. In Mark 16:17-18 he emphasizes five signs that 'will accompany those who believe' (v17). So if we accept that miracles do happen today How might we see more of the miraculous in the twenty-first century? How can they be experienced? Just what kind of faith is needed for them to happen? Are there hindrances that can stop them occurring and if so, what are they? Perhaps you need a personal miracle. Maybe it's a desire to help someone else receive one. You might even be longing for both.

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