Expressions Of Pentecostalism Research Articles

The “Pinkster Kerk” as a Site of Indigenous Religious Expression within Black Pentecostal Theology

Deploying a decolonial epistemological framework that brings critical race and identity theory into conversation with African and Black theologies, this article explores the phenomenon of Pinkster Kerk as a productive site for indigenous meaning-making within studies on Black theology and African Pentecostalism. Through an autobiographical account of Pinkster and a systematic critical review of the literature on Black theology and African Pentecostalism, I argue that South African Black theology, and studies of Pentecostalism in particular, have much to gain from this unique expression of Pentecostalism found on the Cape Flats. This conversation reflects on three interrelated areas – indigenous religion, Black theology, and African Pentecostalism – and offers some theoretical insights and philosophical signposts for expanding discussion on issues of identity, politics, and race within each of these fields of study.

New Approaches to ‘Converts’ and ‘Conversion’ in Africa: An Introduction to the Special Issue

It is our goal in this special issue on “Religious Conversion in Africa” to examine the limitations of a long-standing bias toward Christianity with respect to the study of “conversion.” Furthermore, we want to use this issue to prime other scholarly approaches to cultural change on the continent, beginning as early as the medieval period, including the colonial and early postcolonial eras, and extending to the contemporary. There are several reasons for making these interventions. One is the emergence of the anthropology of Christianity as a scholarly literature and sub-discipline. This literature has often focused on issues of religious change in relation to its own predilection for charismatic and Pentecostal expressions of Christianity and the distinct characteristics of cultural discontinuity within those communities. Another reason for this special issue on religious “conversion” in Africa is the relative lack of studies that engage with religious change beyond Pentecostal, charismatic, and evangelical Protestant contexts. As such, studies on the “conversion” of Ahmadi in West Africa, medieval Ethiopian women, Mormons in twentieth-century southeastern Nigeria, and Orthodox Christians in Uganda are included, as is a fascinating case of what it means to “trod the path” of Rastafari in Ghana. Taken together, these contributions suggest new and important paths forward with respect to “conversion,” including critiquing and perhaps even discarding the term in certain contexts. Ultimately, we want these articles to illuminate the many ways that Africans across the continent have engaged (and continue to engage) with beliefs, practices, ideas, and communities—including the changes they make in their own lives and in the lives of those communities.

Balm in Gilead: religious soothing from the furnace of the Nigeria-Biafra War and Igbo Pentecostal expressions

Pentecostalism in recent times has become a crucial phenomenon exerting a great influence on the religious, social and cultural life of the Igbo. This is traceable to the social-economic and psychological conditions that prevailed in Igboland during and immediately after the Nigeria-Biafra war. Most of the existing literature on the war seem to be focused on its economic and social consequences with little or no serious attention given to religious yearnings from the furnace of the war particular the growth of Pentecostalism in Igboland. Furthermore, the war appears to be majorly seen by historians from the perspective of the international diplomatic ties between Nigeria and the international communities, without looking inwards to its religious implications. It is on the strength of the above lacuna that this research work was conceived. The study was anchored on the empirical theory of divine intervention as propounded by Thomas Aquinas and observed that disillusionment, poverty and depression that naturally followed the war could not be resolved by the programme of reintegration, reconciliation and reconstruction of the federal government. Similarly, the Igbo people appeared to have lost confidence in the potency of their traditional religious practices as well as the sincerity of the harbingers of mission Christianity, which created an atmosphere of a new religious demand that enhanced evangelization and Pentecostal growth. Like the post slave trade, the post war Igboland saw a balm in Gilead from the soothing messages of the Pentecostal movements that promised to heal the wounds of the war. Pentecostalism offered hope, absolute reliance on the divine will on matters of marginalization, poverty and disillusionments that compounded the tragic incidence of the war.

The Evangelicalisation of Black Pentecostalism in the AFM of SA (1940 -1975): A Turning Point

The Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) of South Africa, a Pentecostal denomination founded in 1908 by an American missionary, John G Lake, attracted a large following of blacks in South Africa from its inception. This denomination contributed a large body of Zionist churches to the African Independent Church movement. Among its black members before and during the 1940s, it was Zionist-like—only undergoing changes between 1943 and 1975 resulting in it becoming outright evangelical. This was a turning point in the history of the AFM and black Pentecostals specifically, as it brought this large body of followers culturally closer to the dominant evangelical expression of Pentecostalism in the denomination. This article looks into reasons behind the changes as well as how they were carried out. Primary sources, available at the AFM archives, and secondary sources such as theses, articles and books with a bearing on the topic have been consulted. The article contributes to the growing body of South African Pentecostal history.

“I Do Not Think I Could be a Christian on My Own”

Abstract In this article, I explore how eight female Pentecostals express their everyday religion in contemporary Sweden. This article indicates that a shift has taken place in religious practice in Swedish Pentecostalism from earlier decades. The world-rejecting attitude and individual pietistic heritage have been toned down and replaced by what I will term a relational piety that emphasizes the relational side of being “Christ-like” and encourages adherents to practice their everyday religion together. The informants depended on their family, friends, congregation, and Christian networks to maintain and deepen their religiosity and Christian lifestyle. The study is also an example of a broadly gender-equal expression of Pentecostalism and points to the movement’s ability to adjust to different contexts.

The reception of the upper German-Swiss reformation in the Pentecostal movement: Attempting an interpretation

ABSTRACTAlthough Pentecostalism as a renewal movement shares many basic values of the Reformation the question arises as to whether there are particular points that Pentecostals owe to that tradition? Is it possible to claim a reception given the diverse cultural contexts and ecclesial expressions of Pentecostalism? By focusing on the Upper German and Swiss Reformation attention will be paid to the understanding of the Lord’s Supper, the model of congregationalism and the hermeneutics that Ulrich Zwingli employed. Perhaps one should not take reception for granted.

Progressive Pentecostalism, Development, and Christian Development NGOs: A Challenge and an Opportunity

July 2015 Bryant L. Myers is professor of international development in the School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California. —myers@fuller.edu S unusual happened in the Global South in the late 1980s and 1990s. A new expression of Pentecostalism arose that was distinguished by a combination of Pentecostal worship, aggressive evangelism, and grassroots efforts to provide education, health services and other relief, and development ministries. The phenomenon has attracted the attention of secular scholars. Their research makes the claim that, in five instances, these churches were better positioned and more effective in development work than international NGOs at work in the same city. This article will describe and assess these findings and then apply them to Christian development NGOs.

The Response of Early British Pentecostals to National Conscription during the Great War (1914-1918)

The First World War and its aftermath affected early expressions of Pentecostalism across Europe in many ways. It obviously disrupted attempts of European Pentecostals to seek interaction at a leadership level and to work collaboratively in global mission initiatives. This article explores the various responses of British Pentecostals to the challenge of national conscription. Some Pentecostals remained part of traditional denominations and key leaders, such as Alexander Boddy and Cecil Polhill, remained Anglicans and reflected the Just War ideal. Other Pentecostals had left traditional denominations and so were not protected from the consequences of taking a conscientious objection stance because Pentecostalism in Britain at that time had not formulated itself along recognised denominational lines. This article explores how early Pentecostals responded to national conscription in 1916 and shows the matter was not simply a matter of individual conscience but made an impact upon the identity and development of early British Pentecostalism.

The Bible Says! Neo-Prophetic Hermeneutics in Africa

The neo-prophetic churches, the most recent expression of Pentecostalism, currently experiencing stupendous growth, do more contextual or inculturation hermeneutics than did earlier Pentecostal movements. They have, as their pillars, African biblical hermeneutics (shaped by elements in the African context) and global Pentecostal hermeneutical paradigms (also shaped by Pentecostal beliefs). In relying on these two pillars, they have appropriated western biblical hermeneutical tools, categories and methods in the African milieu; hence their appeal to a large number of contemporary African Christians.

The Dream Center

In this article we investigate the Dream Center, a large-scale Pentecostal social outreach ministry and church, located in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. We ask three questions related to the development and forms of “Godly love” at the Dream Center. First, as a formal organization, how does the Dream Center facilitate and model the development of different forms of Godly love? Second, what forms of Godly love are found at the Dream Center? Third, what is the impetus to these forms and how are they activated into the practical action of helping others? We argue that the Dream Center represents a twenty-first-century expression of Pentecostalism that is both Spirit-animated and socially engaged with the world, rather than being other-worldly and inwardly focused on spiritual perfection. We argue further the Dream Center successfully embodies, animates, and motivates its members to pursue lives of love and service to others, through their experiences at the Dream Center. We conclude by suggesting that the Dream Center represents an emerging cultural desire by Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians for a faith that is both personally meaningful and engaged with today’s economic and social crises.

Mediating Power and Salvation: Pentecostalism and Religious Mediation in an African Context

The following presentation reflects on aspects of the interface between religious mediation and primal religion in Africa and African revivalist Christianity including African expressions of Pentecostalism.

Pentecostalismo Hi-tech: Uma janela aberta, algumas portas fechadas

The existence, the need and the use of the WEB by individuals, companies and governments is total, but the accession processes are distinct. This complicates even more in the religious expressions. Largely refractory to change, some religious expressions are more radical and adherence to modern values, some are extremely susceptible though. All of them adhered to some kind of technology hi-tech, but not necessarily its values. More specifically, an expression of Pentecostalism, the processes are slow, inconsistent and selective. The God is Love Pentecostal Church prohibits - among many things - its membership of having or watching TV, but the church has an Internet portal. That church joined the modern technology exerting absolute control over the lives of members in total isolation from any modern cultural expression. It is one of most closed churches, internally and externally, the Pentecostal world, but it is on the web. This church is a example that modern and archaic can be contradictory, but also, dialectically, a synthesis of reality.

"In Jesus' Name": A Key Resource on the Worldwide Pentecostal Phenomenon & the Oneness, Apostolic, or Jesus' Name Movement

AbstractThe review summarizes the implications of David Reed's excellent study of Oneness Pentecostalism as a major treatment of the movement in which the sections regarding its background, history, and theology are equally comprehensive. Reed's work sets the movement, not in the context of its global expansion and impact, but within the context of its historical development amidst an array of Evangelical-Pentecostal tensions. It characterizes the movement as a sect, rather than a cult, and as a worldwide expression of Pentecostalism in its own right. This review, therefore, explores Reed's argumentation in which he explains its historical development as a movement rooted, first and foremost, in pietism, especially Wesleyan, which used Jewish categories, similar to the practice of early Jewish rather than Nicene Christianity. Reed contends that a tendency towards a Jesus-centric 'reductionism' in Evangelicalism shaped the movement and most of its patterns of doctrinal 'imbalances.' The specific setting for this influence is seen as the theology of William Durham, specifically, and the restoration impulses of Pentecostalism, generally.

Pentecostalism: global trends and local adjusttnents

Pentecostal spread is often attributed to Pentecostalism's ability to make local cultural adjustments. This paper argues that there is also a strand within Pentecostalism that spreads through a conviction that it has embraced a global brand that needs little or no modification. The nature of this ‘globally committed’ strand is explored through the concepts of commodification, extraversion, importation and exoticism. Each of these sheds light on the thinking within the strand, enabling it to be distinguished from more ‘locally committed’ Pentecostal expressions. Particular attention is paid to the topic of importation as the migration of established Pentecostal groups across cultural boundaries highlights the extent of such established groups' commitment to further local cultural adjustment. Distinguishing between ‘globally committed’ and ‘locally committed’ Pentecostals strands is commended as valuable not only in academic debate but in assessing social concerns and analysing inter-church relations.