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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.

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