The essay contrasts two distinct ways of Pentecostal formation: (1) social activism and (2) social passivism. The former identifies Christian formation as participation and leadership in the struggle against poverty, deprivation, and oppression; the latter withdraws into a sectarian mindset of individualism, self-improvement, and triumphalism. A focus on Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North America brings the two accounts into dialogue on the identity of contemporary Pentecostal formation. The results suggest that Christian formation among Pentecostals is confronted with significant diversity influenced by cultural and socioeconomic factors. Johns’ classic study of Pentecostal formation and its emphasis on conscientization leading to redemptive participation in the struggle among the oppressed demands further attention. This essay shows that conscientization among Pentecostals is not only a psychological and sociocritical form of assessment but a personal and communal coming to consciousness subject to long-term cultural influences and sociohistorical developments.
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Cheryl Bridges Johns, Pentecostal Formation: A Pedagogy among the Oppressed (JPTSup 2; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993).
See Robert Mapes Anderson, Vision of the Disinherited: The Making of American Pentecostalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979).
Cf. David Martin, Pentecostalism: The World Their Parish (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002), pp. 1–27.
Helen S. Dyer, Pandita Ramabai: The Story of Her Life (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1900).
Clementia Butler, Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati: Pioneer in the Movement for the Education of the Child-Widow of India (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1922).
Cf. Martin, Pentecostalism, pp. 132–52.
Lawrence Schlemmer, Dormant Capital: Pentecostalism in South Africa and Its Potential Social and Economic Role (Johannesburg: Centre for Development and Enterprise, 2008).
Ogbu Kalu, African Pentecostalism: An Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 213–17.
Rowan Ireland, Kingdoms Come: Religion and Politics in Brazil (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991), pp. 93–108.
See Martin, Tongues of Fire, 237–45; Cornelia Butler Flora, Pentecostalism in Columbia: Baptism by Fire and Spirit (Cranberry, nj: Associated University Presses, 1976), pp. 204–29.
Cf. Omar M. McRoberts, Streets of Glory: Church and Community in a Black Urban Neigborhood (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003), pp. 100–21.
Cf. Wolfgang Vondey, Pentecostalism: A Guide for the Perplexed (London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2013), pp. 89–110.
Milmon F. Harrison, Righteous Riches: The Word Faith Movement in Contemporary African American Religion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 134–37.
Stephanie Y. Mitchem, Name It and Claim It? Prosperity Preaching in the Black Church (Cleveland: Pilgrim, 2007), pp. 104–17.
Cf. David Maxwell, African Gifts of the Spirit: Pentecostalism and the Rise of a Zimbabwean Transnational Religious Movement (Oxford: James Currey, 2006), pp. 217–18.
Yong-gi Hong, ‘Encounter with Modernity: The McDonaldization and the Charismatization of Korean Mega-churches’, International Review of Missions 92.365 (2003), pp. 239–55.
See the dedicated issue, ‘Prosperity Theology and the Theology of Suffering’, Evangelical Review of Theology 20.1 (1996), pp. 3–94.
Richard Shaull and Waldo Cesar, Pentecostalism and the Future of the Christian Churches: Promises, Limitations, Challenges (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), pp. 28–31.
See Manuel Silva, ‘A Brazilian Church Comes to New York’, Pneuma 13.2 (1991), pp. 161–65.
See Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Continuum, 30th Anniversary edn, 2006).
Cheryl Bridges Johns, ‘From Strength to Strength: The Neglected Role of Crisis in Wesleyan and Pentecostal Discipleship’, Wesleyan Theological Journal 39.1 (2004), pp. 137–53.
Amos Yong, In the Days of Caesar: Pentecostalism and Political Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), pp. 265–68.
J.N. Horn, From Rags to Riches: An Analysis of the Faith Movement and Its Relation to the Classical Pentecostal Movement (Pretoria: University of South Africa, 1989), pp. 1–68.
Cf. D. William Faupel, The Everlasting Gospel: The Significance of Eschatology in the Development of Pentecostal Thought (JPTSup 10; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), pp. 307–309.
Marion Dearman, ‘Christ and Conformity: A Study of Pentecostal Values’, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 13.4 (1974), pp. 437–53.
Cf. Wolfgang Vondey, Beyond Pentecostalism: The Crisis of Global Christianity and the Renewal of the Theological Agenda (Pentecostal Manifestos 3; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), pp. 182–91.
See Helene Slessarev-Jamir, Prophetic Activism: Progressive Religious Justice Movements in Contemporary America (New York: New York University Press, 2011).
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The essay contrasts two distinct ways of Pentecostal formation: (1) social activism and (2) social passivism. The former identifies Christian formation as participation and leadership in the struggle against poverty, deprivation, and oppression; the latter withdraws into a sectarian mindset of individualism, self-improvement, and triumphalism. A focus on Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North America brings the two accounts into dialogue on the identity of contemporary Pentecostal formation. The results suggest that Christian formation among Pentecostals is confronted with significant diversity influenced by cultural and socioeconomic factors. Johns’ classic study of Pentecostal formation and its emphasis on conscientization leading to redemptive participation in the struggle among the oppressed demands further attention. This essay shows that conscientization among Pentecostals is not only a psychological and sociocritical form of assessment but a personal and communal coming to consciousness subject to long-term cultural influences and sociohistorical developments.
All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 473 | 86 | 11 |
Full Text Views | 234 | 9 | 4 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 100 | 29 | 10 |