Global Pentecostal Studies

One of my objectives is to further refine my understanding of what is meant by "global" for researching Pentecostalism. There are several options that I will mention at this point. Perhaps there are more to be discovered. For now, there are three important ways in which scholars understand globalization. First, there are those like Anthony Giddens and Niklas Luhmann who take a systems or structural perspective. Society is understood to be a dynamic social system that includes boundaries, structure, institutions, and a range of interactions that illustrate how the system is constructed and operates. Second, there are those who understand globalization as the field of post-colonial critique and civilizational clash. Huntington's clash of civilizations thesis is referred to here. Global society is constructed and negotiated among those civilizations that compete with one another often characterized by tension, debate, and violence. Third, there is also the view of global soc...

I visited Hillsong London last night. The Dominion Theatre was filled to capacity with primarily young adults. The cosmopolitan congregation and other tourists and travellers like myself filled the streets in front of the theatre waiting for the 6pm worship event to begin, the fourth of four regular such Sunday services. I sat in the balcony about fifteen minutes before the hour. The music, stage lights, and special effects all set the tone for what was about to begin including the “Welcome Home” video that looped through its message every two minutes. Feeling at home somewhere in a global world is an attractive message. At 6pm the stage was filled with musicians and singers and immediately the crowd rose to its feet dancing to the music. For about forty minutes the musicians led in worship followed by prayer. Prayer requests scrolled across the screen from the emails sent to Hillsong leaders. Next was the offering that included video instructions on how to use your smartphone to give ...

If Pentecostalism is anything, it is a missionary movement, argues Allan Anderson. This past week Anderson lectured at Trinity Western University at the Summer Seminar in Pentecostal Studies. I have read Anderson’s books and heard him present at various academic meetings. However, after spending the past week listening to him, it struck me that while much research examines Pentecostalism as a restoration movement, restoring spiritual gifts, or as a renewal movement, calling people to be filled with the Spirit, or a political movement, seeking power, or a progressive social movement, addressing holistically the needs of communities, Pentecostalism is primarily a missionary movement (most likely, Pentecostalism is all of these things). However, as a missionary movement, spreading throughout the world from multiple centres of renewal and revival, Pentecostalism has come to represent the most significant transformation in world Christianity since the Protestant Reform...

William K. Kay, Professor of Theology, Glynd r University, Wales In trying to predict a future research agenda on Pentecostalism here are four suggestions: 1. Pentecostalism under the academic spotlight : Academic activity situated in tertiary institutes will continue to grow exponentially. Research programmes of all kinds will persist and accessible international peer-reviewed publication will allow countries with weaker infrastructures to begin to catch up with the best. This is already occurring, as an examination of the citation indices shows. Medical, chemical and other research papers are now routinely posted online and available to researchers all over the world. Universities are competing globally with each other in this race for scientific pre-eminence so that the best universities are able to headhunt cutting-edge grant-capturing researchers from anywhere in the world. Given that the hard sciences are internationalising even more rapidly than was onc...

Mark Hutchinson, University of Western Sydney, Australia Michael Wilkinson’s last post on the importance of disciplines such as sociology to Pentecostal scholarship was, I thought, well made. It focuses on the problems of ‘relevance’ when the job given to Pentecostal scholars is to ‘think theologically’.  What we don’t usually ask is ‘who wrote the job description?’ Ideas, especially programmatic ideas, never exist in the vacuum – as a whole Pentecostal scholars respond to the needs of their emerging institutions, which in turn answer to the movements and denominations which support them.  The job description given to them is usually phrased in such terms as ‘tell us what to think about....’ (insert difficult contemporary issue from a list compiled either by the evangelical school up the road or the front page of a newspaper). Usually left unsaid are the conditioning statements. A common one is: ‘... but don’t think too hard because we need the answer next...

Allan Anderson, University of Birmingham.  Contemporary Pentecostalism is very much the result of the process of globalization, and “health and wealth” advocates are as much at home in Lagos and Rio as they are in Tulsa or Fort Worth. In many cases, the only ones who get rich in poverty-ravaged countries are the preachers. The mass media, beginning with the use of periodicals and newsletters, followed by a ready acceptance of new technologies –– first radio and then television and internet –– tourism and pilgrimages to megachurches, ubiquitous voluntarism, and an international economy, combined to create conditions conducive to the spread of a globally-friendly religion like Pentecostalism. This manifested itself in many different ways. Some of the networks have begun to take on the appearance of new denominations. Some have passed to a second generation of leadership whose organizational ideas were quite different from those of the founders. Some of the new...

The long-term sustainability of Pentecostal studies requires the establishment of a broader research agenda. This is not a project one can do by her/himself. I've asked a number of people to consider writing their thoughts about Pentecostal studies and over the next several months I will post their comments here.

Early sociological thinkers all wrote about religion and society and how religion offered important insights into social processes, systems, ritual, civil society, power and authority, leadership, and a host of other topics. By the middle of the twentieth century religion moved to a marginal position. This was due to several factors. One was a shift among sociologists toward issues of methodology. Some also thought secularization was occurring and religion would ultimately disappear leaving them to wonder how religion fit into larger studies. But it was also because social scientific studies of religion ceased to make important links between their work and the broader field of sociology. Detailed studies of denominations and congregations, while descriptively rich, failed to connect with the broader issues of social change, culture, and society. Sociologists of religion became more cloistered with well-attended meetings and presentations of excellent research. The problem was,...

Global Pentecostal Movements: Migration, Mission, and Public Religion Michael Wilkinson, editor. Brill: International Studies in Religion and Society This volume contributes to the growing body of literature on religion and globalization and specifically global Pentecostal movements. While Pentecostalism worldwide shares a cultural resemblance, it is also localized and expressed in different ways. The variety of Pentecostalisms throughout the world are illustrated through important themes of mission, migration, and public religion. The global flows of Pentecostal practices, beliefs, and cultures, brings into contrast these variations. Negotiating what it means to be Pentecostal often leads to conflict and questions of identity. Interaction with other religions like Islam in Africa, mission work in Asia, and migration to Europe and North America is problematized. Regional coverage includes Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and North America. Contributors include...

The widespread usage of globalization in the public suggests it has become more than a theoretical idea. Numerous scholars have debated its definition, history, social characteristics, culture, and consequences for the world. What is often missing from many analyses is a thorough understanding of religion in global society. For some, religion is simply a survival of a traditional social world that will eventually disappear due to secularization. This is evidenced by religious violence, intolerance, protest, and the general refusal of religions to accept a new global order. There is evidence to suggest that religions are anti-global. Some cases also illustrate that religions are globalizers. Through migration and missionary work religions expand throughout the world.  Religion can be transformative. Globalization requires a new optic to think about religion and its role in global society. Pentecostalism is not the only window into the world of social change. However, it is a parti...