The Embattled But Empowered Community


Book Description

Based on extensive empirical research, and utilizing predominately Latin American scholarly literature, this book examines connections between Argentine popular and pentecostal worldviews. It proposes that there is a major connection between the two rooted in cosmological assumptions of spiritual power.




Pentecostal Theology


Book Description

Winner of the Pneuma Book Award 2018, from The Society for Pentecostal Studies. Pentecostalism is the most rapidly growing branch of Christianity since the 20th century, yet it does not lend itself well to a singular doctrine and there is, therefore, no single comprehensive account of Pentecostal theology worldwide. In this volume, Wolfgang Vondey suggests an account of Pentecostal theology that is genuine to Pentecostals worldwide while allowing for different adaptation and explication among the various Pentecostal groups. He argues that Pentecostal theology is fundamentally concerned with the renewal of the Christian life identified by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit and directed toward the kingdom of God. The book unfolds in two main parts illustrating the full gospel story and theology. Eleven chapters identify the spiritual underpinnings and motivations for Pentecostal theology, formulate a Pentecostal theology of action, translate, apply, and exemplify Pentecostal practices and experiences, and integrate Pentecostal theology in the wider Christian tradition.




Exorcism and Deliverance


Book Description

A significant examination of exorcism and deliverance from a range of disciplines focuses on an important but often neglected area of the church's mission to the world. The diversity of essays makes sure that every facet is presented to encourage the reader thoroughly to consider this aspect of the church's approach to evil in our society. Since Jesus of Nazareth made exorcism a cornerstone of his own ministry, the Church has seen itself as engaged in a battle against the demonic. Exorcism has continued to play a role throughout Christian history in this conflict, although it has received different emphases in different times and places, and has been practiced in a range of different ways. Exorcism and Deliverance aims to shed new light on the phenomena of possession and exorcism by looking at them from a range of disciplinary perspectives.




Pentecostals and Charismatics in Latin America and Latino Communities


Book Description

Pentecostal-charismatics in Latin America and among Latinos: communities that share profound historical, linguistic and cultural roots. This compilation brings together practitioners and academics with pentecostal-charismatic affiliations, who analyse from within the development of the movement among these diverse communities.




Lived Religion, Pentecostalism, and Social Activism in Authoritarian Chile


Book Description

In Giving Life to the Faith, Joseph Florez offers an account of Pentecostal activism and the search for a new interpretation of Christian social responsibility during the extraordinary circumstances of everyday life during the Chilean dictatorship.




Interdisciplinary and Religio-Cultural Discourses on a Spirit-Filled World


Book Description

This volume presents interdisciplinary, intercultural, and interreligious approaches directed toward the articulation of a pneumatological theology in its broadest sense, especially in terms of attempting to conceive of a spirit-filled world.




Global Renewal Christianity


Book Description

This book gives an overview of one-hundred years of Pentecostal history in Latin America and addresses the move of the Holy Spirit in nations such as Brazil, Columbia, Argentina Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Mexico, as well as the Caribbean.,




New Faces of God in Latin America


Book Description

Combining historical and ethnographic research methods, along with a thorough review of existing literature on the study of Latin American Christianity, New Faces of God in Latin America addresses the important question of how global religion and local culture interact, situating the experience of Latin American Christianity in the broader conversations in the field of world Christianity, particularly with respect to the growing understanding of Christianity as a non-Western religion. Through case studies of different Pentecostal experiences in Latin America, Virginia Garrard explores cross-pollination and interaction with indigenous religions and cultures, finding widely varied responses to the material and spiritual needs of Latin Americans. The author locates Latin American religious experience within a field known as the "history of non-Western Christianity." This focuses on the experience, perceptions, and adaptations of those who adopt Christianity outside the context of Western missionary or other colonizing projects. The book engages with the intersection of culture and spirit-filled religion, with an eye to how those interactions help frame an alternative religious modernity. Throughout the book, the author uses culture as both a heuristic lens and as a variable within the equation. She argues that culture helps us understand how people engage with and reconfigure global religious flows within their own imaginations and for their own parochial uses.




The Spirit over the Earth


Book Description

Though the global center of Christianity has been shifting south and east over the past few decades, very few theological resources have dealt with the seismic changes afoot. The Majority World Theology series seeks to remedy that lack by gathering well-regarded Christian thinkers from around the world to discuss the significance of Christian teaching in their respective contexts. The contributors to this volume reflect deeply on the role of the Holy Spirit in both the church and the world in dialogue with their respective contexts and cultures. Taking African, Asian, and Latin American cultural contexts into account gives rise to fresh questions and insights regarding the Spirit's work as witnessed in the world and demonstrates how the theological heritage of the West is not adequate alone to address the theological necessities of communities worldwide.




Grassroots Pentecostalism in Brazil and the United States


Book Description

This book offers an historical and comparative profile of classical pentecostal movements in Brazil and the United States in view of their migratory beginnings and transnational expansion. Pentecostalism’s inception in the early twentieth century, particularly in its global South permutations, was defined by its grassroots character. In contrast to the top-down, hierarchical structure typical of Western forms of Christianity, the emergence of Latin American Pentecostalism embodied stability from the bottom up—among the common people. While the rise to prominence of the Assemblies of God in Brazil, the Western hemisphere’s largest (non-Catholic) denomination, demanded structure akin to mainline contexts, classical pentecostals such as the Christian Congregation movement cling to their grassroots identity. Comparing the migratory and missional flow of movements with similar European and US roots, this book considers the prospects for classical Brazilian pentecostals with an eye on the problems of church growth and polity, gender, politics, and ethnic identity.