PentecoStudies

BURGESS, Richard. Nigerian Pentecostalism and Development: Spirit, Power, and Transformation.

2022-04-22T22:32:47+00:00

BURGESS, Richard. Nigerian Pentecostalism and Development: Spirit, Power, and Transformation. Abingdon: Routledge, 2020. xiii + 249pp. Hbk. ISBN: 9781315167299. £96.00.

IRELAND, Daryl R. John Song: Modern Chinese Christianity and the Making of a New Man.

2022-04-22T22:37:26+00:00

IRELAND, Daryl R. John Song: Modern Chinese Christianity and the Making of a New Man. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2020. xix + 248 pp. Hbk. ISBN: 9781481312707. £36.

ROBECK, John Mark. Towards a Pentecostal Theology of Praxis: A Case Study.

2022-04-22T22:41:00+00:00

ROBECK, John Mark. Towards a Pentecostal Theology of Praxis: A Case Study. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2021. 182pp. Hbk. ISBN: 9781978710382. £79.

TUPPURAINEN, Riku P. (ed.). Reading St. Luke’s Text and Theology: Pentecostal Voices.

2022-04-22T22:45:56+00:00

TUPPURAINEN, Riku P. (ed.). Reading St. Luke’s Text and Theology: Pentecostal Voices. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2019. xxxiii + 316pp. Pbk. ISBN: 9781532619847. $41.

WARIBOKO, Nimi. The Pentecostal Hypothesis: Christ Talks, They Decide.

2022-04-22T22:50:04+00:00

WARIBOKO, Nimi. The Pentecostal Hypothesis: Christ Talks, They Decide. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2020. 184pp. Pbk. ISBN: 9781725254510. £19.

The Origins of the Pentecostal Movement in Iran

2021-06-14T22:40:10+00:00

This article aims at providing an analysis of the roots and the early development of the Pentecostal movement among the Assyrians in Iran. It is focused on the autobiographical narratives delivered by Andrew Urshan, Benjamin Alexander and Thomas Nasseri. Although produced in different times and for different purposes, their narratives refer to the beginnings of Pentecostalism on the Iranian soil. The description of the spread of the Pentecostal ideas provided in the narratives has been contextualized in reference to the social and political changes occurring in Iran at the beginning of the twentieth century, before and during the First World War. Special attention has been paid to the migratory experiences of the early Assyrian Pentecostals as well as to the transformation of the Church of the East tradition. The article discusses the problem of cultural adaptation of Pentecostalism among Assyrians and emphasizes the fact that the movement was perceived as a factor for unifying the whole Assyrian community. This is mainly due to the fact that the movement was initiated and narrated by native Assyrian Christians rather than American missionaries. This makes Iranian Pentecostalism a rather special case in the Pentecostal history of the non-Western world.

Virtual Mediation of the Holy Spirit

2021-08-14T11:12:20+00:00

This article explores the prospect for an academic account of digital Pentecostalism given the propensity that Pentecostals have towards the use of modern technology. It uses a recent Roman Catholic discussion of “virtual communion” as a point of departure and aims to transpose the discussion into a Pentecostal key. Using the concept of the mediation of the Holy Spirit as a bridge between the two traditions it considers the transposition of virtual communion, virtual logic and remediation, as well as the internet as an ancillary or alternative space. The intention of the article is not to offer a definitive account but to develop a conversation around digitally mediated Pentecostalism. This is a conversation that has already started but, in light of a greater dependency on internet communication due to Covid-19, invites more sustained attention.

Dreams, Visions and the African Melodrama

2022-03-03T00:30:29+00:00

Pentecostal films in Africa have gained the attention of humanitarians concerned with the societal effects of witchcraft preoccupation. As well, they are of interest to anthropologists examining Spirit movements. Humanitarians address the ethical problem perceived in the Pentecostal melodrama and its narratives, while anthropologists and proponents of religious studies focus on the social and technological aspects of Pentecostal filmmaking and the discourses produced by these films within the religious landscape. This essay brings another avenue of exploration. It supplements the anthropological approach by exploring the Pentecostal narratives found at the interface of cinematography and Pentecostal epistemology for their theological substance. It is argued here that the Pentecostal melodrama is not only unique for how it serves as an epistemological technique for “piercing the veil” to expose the true state of things. It is also unique for how its narratives, themselves, are often products of a similar piercing, that is, of the dream or vision experience which visioners experience as the phenomenon of piercing the veil beyond the mundane to the noumenal. Referencing data drawn from recent dream research, this article explores the interpretive processes inherent to Pentecostal mediation of the seen and unseen, the role of prayer in that process and the suggestion that cinematography embodies the liturgical expression of a distinct Pentecostal epistemology.

Pentecostal Lyrical Theology in Dialogue with Lutherans on Water Baptism

2021-09-15T17:24:22+00:00

Lutheran–Pentecostal dialogue has devoted significant attention to water baptism. Much of this reflection, however, has been encumbered by a lack of developed scholarly attention given to baptism among Pentecostals. Pentecostal language of ordinance and symbolism has even led Lutherans to critique Pentecostal baptismal theology as anthropocentric and anaemic. To correct this misunderstanding, I study a Pentecostal baptismal hymn – Brooke and Scott Ligertwood’s “Beneath the Waters (I Will Rise)” – as an alternative entry point into Pentecostal baptismal theology. The analysis demonstrates that the testimonial dimension of baptism presumes a recognition of divine work in the rite. The baptizand encounters Christ and is brought into a deeper participation in his death and resurrection. This understanding of Pentecostal baptismal theology advances dialogue with Lutherans by clarifying Pentecostal rhetoric and revealing more insightful questions into the tensions between the two traditions.

Editorial

2022-04-22T22:28:18+00:00