Skip to main content

José Casanova on Globalization and Christianity

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 reflect upon questions that focus on the impact of globalization on Pentecostal identity, interaction with the various religions of the world, cultural diversity and the pluralization of Pentecostalism. How Pentecostals respond to the "world" as a single place represents some of the most interesting sociological work.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pope Francis, Latin America, and Catholic Charismatic Renewal

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, ...
4 comments
Read more

Brill's Encyclopedia of Global Pentecostalism

A new encyclopedia is in process with plans for publication in 2020.  In the spring of 2018 the list of headwords will be available for contributors to write on some aspect of global Pentecostalism.  SCOPE Brill’s Encyclopedia of Global Pentecostalism  (BEGP)   will provide a comprehensive overview of worldwide Pentecostalism from a range of disciplinary perspectives. It will offer analysis at the level of specific countries and regions, historical figures, movements and organizations, and particular topics and themes. Pentecostal Studies draws upon areas of research such as anthropology, biblical studies, economics, gender studies, global studies, history, political science, sociology, theological studies, and other areas of related interest. The BEGP will emphasize this multi-disciplinary approach and include scholarship from a range of disciplines, methods, and theoretical perspectives. Moreover, the BEGP will be cross-cultural and transnation...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pentecostalism: A Missionary Movement

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...
2 comments
Read more