Pentecostalism The World Their Parish [Paperback]

This book deals with the largest global shift in religion over the last forty years, the astonishing rise of Pentecostalism and charismatic Christianity.Preface.

Proposed argument.

1. A Cultural Revolution: Sources, Character, Niches.

2. North America and Europe: Contrasts in Receptivity.

3. Latin America: A Template?.

4. Latin America: Ambiguity in Different Cultural Sectors.

5. Indigenous Peoples.

6. Africa.

7. Asia.

8. Trying Conclusions: A Global Option?.

Index.

Pentecostalism: The World Their Parish deals with the phenomenon of 'charismatic' Christianity in a context and style very far from the superficial categories in which it often gets discussed, raising substantive issues for the whole question of the future of Christianity. He is sympathetic but not uncritical, and manages to distinguish much that is habitually blurred. As a scholar of Latin American Pentecostalism, he is in the first rank. He writes as always with grace and clarity. It is exactly the kind of book most commentators on religion ought to read, with its careful dismantling of cliches about fundamentalism and its plea for a culturally nuanced account of pentecostal piety. The Most Revd Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Wales

David Martin ranks as one of the leading scholarly interpreters of world pentecostalism and its 'charismatic penumbra'. In this work he once again demonstrates his mastery of the cultural dynamics that have informed the movement's global sweep, as well as the differences that have marked sub-traditions, territories, localities and social groupings. Challenging glib secularization theories, Martin persuasively traces the functionality of pentecostal spirituality in modern society. He combines the rigor of the sociologist with the l“É