Global Pentecostal Studies

My review of The Theology of Amos Yong and the New Face of Pentecostal Scholarship ( Brill, 2013) edited by Wolfgang Vondey and Martin Mittelstadt can be found on Renewal Dynamics . Michael Wilkinson

Sponsored by the Center on Religion and Chinese Society Purdue University - October 30-31, 2013 A Report from David Reed, Professor Emeritus Wycliffe College, University of Toronto Purdue University's Professor Fenggang Yang and its Center on Religion and Chinese Society sponsored a first: a symposium on Pentecostal-charismatic movements in China and the Global East. Sixteen papers introduced participants to a diversity and complexity that has already earned global Pentecostalism its reputation for cultural adaptability. The presenters were a mix of seasoned and emerging doctoral and post-doctoral scholars. Their disciplines included anthropology, history, intercultural studies, political science, and sociology. Papers, soon to be published, ranged from broad historical and social themes to case studies. While most attention was devoted to China, presenters examined churches, ministries or movements in Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, in some instance...

José Casanova, professor of sociology at Georgetown University and head of the Program on Globalization, Religion and the Secular at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, recently spoke at Duke University on globalization and Christianity. An interview with Casanova can be found here . Casanova makes excellent observations about globalization and Christianity that highlight the importance of seeing that globalization is not just about the spread of Christianity around the world. Globalization is also about a new social context and an awareness of the world as a single place that has implications for new social arrangements. This argument reflects what Roland Robertson has argued for decades. The one implication for Pentecostal studies is to move away from simply seeing Pentecostalism "everywhere" and to recognize that a new global context also means a new type of Pentecostalism, one that is transforming. Scholars of Pentecostalism need to refle...

Pentecostals have theological views of the world that range from embracing it to rejecting it. The world for some Pentecostals can be a hostile place where evil spirits come under the authority of Jesus Christ. Pentecostals also view the world as a place for the Holy Spirit's activity where the kingdom of God is advanced as witnessed through spiritual gifts like healing. Theological responses offer important insight into how Pentecostals view the world. And the intersection of these theological views with sociological observations about worldwide change provides researchers with interesting cases for exploration. There are four that are especially interesting for me at this time that require sustained research and discussion. The first has to do with the way Pentecostals engage public issues especially when they are in conflict with other religions. Africa offers some fascinating examples. In Nigeria, for example, there is religious conflict between Pentecostals and Muslims over ...

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, was announced as the new pope, Pope Francis. He is the first pope from Latin America where the Catholic Church has a long history and represents the largest group of Catholics in the world. Pope Francis is a member of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits. He is not a member of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. I am not sure he is sympathetic to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Latin America either. However, no doubt, his election will bolster the Catholic Church in Latin America. In his home country of Argentina, the Pentecostals had little impact until the middle of the 20th century when Tommy Hicks was granted unprecedented access to stadiums for mass evangelistic meetings. Still, the Pentecostals do not represent a large number of Christians in Argentina. The Catholic Church in many countries is charismatic and the latitude Catholic charismatics are granted in Latin America keeps many within the fold. For example, ...

The latest report on the status of Christianity in the world was published in January 2013 in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research (IBMR Vol. 37, No. 1: 32-33). The two-page report is the twenty-ninth annual report following the publication of David Barrett’s World Christian Encyclopedia (Oxford, 1982). The most recent report discusses an important change in counting Pentecostals and Charismatics. Moving away from the traditional three “wave” description of classical Pentecostals, Charismatics, and Independents, it discusses the Pew Forum strategy of lumping them altogether as a single type – “renewalist.” The IBMR report does not critique this approach or discuss any of the historical or theological or sociological implications of doing so (even if the three wave approach has its problems, which it does). While the IBMR report does not use the term “renewalist” in its table, it does count the different “waves” as a single type. The problem in doing so, is that trackin...