Author Description

Pentecostal/charismatic movements represent one of the most popular, fastest growing religious movements within contemporary world Christianity. The nascence, expansion of the Pentecostal movement in twentieth and twenty-first century Africa and the African Diaspora leads to a recognition of Pentecostalism as an integral part of the globalization process but also as a product or consequence of it. The fluid, elastic nature of the phenomena, particularly its influence on mainline Christianity render a consideration of a distinctively Pentecostal identity more and more enigmatic. The rhetorical sub-title Who is Afraid of the Holy Ghost? best encapsulates the book s overriding themes and discourses. The why and how of Pentecostal expansion and relative success in Africa, the African Diaspora and globally will continue to pose critical issues relevant to historians of religion, social scientists, secular historians, theologians and policy makers in an era of increasing global insecurity and uncertainty. The visibility, mobility and continued growth throws up future challenges to both Pentecostal/charismatic and non-Pentecostals alike, to world Christianity and its interaction with other religions, and within local/global public spheres. Owing to the movement s public role and strategies of expansion, the pentecostalization and charismatization of world Christianity will be commonplace. The book provides scholarly, interdisciplinary analysis of these dynamic movements and processes, not just as they impact on Christianity in Africa, but on Christianity generally in its many global contexts. While some contributions undertook conceptual reflection on the appropriation, application of the concepts pentecostalism, globalization and fundamentalism; others tackled the spontaneous, multifaceted provenance, historical and phenomenal expansion of Pentecostal/Charismatic movements in the geo-ethnic contexts of Nigeria, South Africa and USA. The book also focused on thematic iss