Offers a fascinating look at Pentecostalism's place in global theology and shows how Christians from other traditions can benefit from recent developments in Pentecostal theology.

Only a few decades past, academia tended to scoff at the very idea of serious Pentecostal theology. Today profound and variegated theological implications of this dynamic movement are the object of exploration and development across the entire spectrum of the Christian theological corpus. Arguably, an acute need has arisen for identification and evaluation of the Pentecostal movement’s original and ongoing theological “essentials.” What is Pentecostal theology really all about anyway? This volume realizes that Pentecostal theology is at its heart a working theology undergirding and energizing believers’ worship of God in prayer and praise, in holy living, and in witness to a personal experience of the risen Lord and Savior manifested in the continuing power of the Holy Spirit. Authentic implementation, if not explicit articulation, of fervent Pentecostal theology often occurs in the vitality of local churches, house fellowships, and various mission settings in America and around the world. Birthed in the fires of revival movements, essential Pentecostalism, including Pentecostal theology, continues to burn brightest wherever it is fueled most directly.

In this profoundly innovative book, Ashon T. Crawley engages a wide range of critical paradigms from black studies, queer theory, and sound studies to theology, continental philosophy, and performance studies to theorize the ways in which alternative or “otherwise” modes of existence can serve as disruptions against the marginalization of and violence against minoritarian lifeworlds and possibilities for flourishing. Examining the whooping, shouting, noise-making, and speaking in tongues of Black Pentecostalism—a multi-racial, multi-class, multi-national Christian sect with one strand of its modern genesis in 1906 Los Angeles—Blackpentecostal Breath reveals how these aesthetic practices allow for the emergence of alternative modes of social organization. As Crawley deftly reveals, these choreographic, sonic, and visual practices and the sensual experiences they create are not only important for imagining what Crawley identifies as “otherwise worlds of possibility,” they also yield a general hermeneutics, a methodology for reading culture in an era when such expressions are increasingly under siege.

This volume brings Pentecostal intuitions to bear on the task of reconceptualizing the process of ethical methodology in a pluralistic world, applying a Pentecostal sensibility to the study of social ethics.

In The Spirit of Praise, Monique Ingalls and Amos Yong bring together a multidisciplinary, scholarly exploration of music and worship in global pentecostal-charismatic Christianity at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The Spirit of Praise contends that gaining a full understanding of this influential religious movement requires close listening to its songs and careful attention to its patterns of worship. The essays in this volume place ethnomusicological, theological, historical, and sociological perspectives into dialogue. By engaging with these disciplines and exploring themes of interconnection, interface, and identity within musical and ritual practices, the essays illuminate larger social processes such as globalization, sacralization, and secularization, as well as the role of religion in social and cultural change. Aside from the editors, the contributors are Peter Althouse, Will Boone, Mark Evans, Ryan R. Gladwin, Birgitta J. Johnson, Jean Ngoya Kidula, Miranda Klaver, Andrew Mall, Kimberly Jenkins Marshall, Andrew M. McCoy, Martijn Oosterbaan, Dave Perkins, Wen Reagan, Tanya Riches, Michael Webb, and Michael Wilkinson.

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.