Description:
The phenomenal growth of Pentecostalism and evangelicalism around the world in recent decades has forced us to rethink what it means to be religious and what it means to be global. The success of these religious movements has revealed tensions and resonances between the public and the private, the religious and the cultural, and the local and the global. This volume provides a wide ranging and accessible, as well as ethnographically rich, perspective on what has become a truly global religious trend, one that is challenging conventional analytical categories within the social sciences.
This book informs students and seasoned scholars alike about the character of Pentecostalism and evangelicalism not only as they have spread across the globe, but also as they have become global movements. Adopting a broadly anthropological approach, the chapters synthesize the existing literature on Pentecostalism and evangelicalism even as they offer new analyses and critiques. They show how the study of Pentecostalism and evangelicalism provides a fresh way to approach classic anthropological themes; they contest the frequent characterization of these movements as conservative religious, social, and political forces; and they argue that Pentecostalism and evangelicalism are significant not least because they encourage us to reflect on the intersections of politics, materiality, morality and law. Ultimately, the volume leaves us with a clear sense of the cultural and social power, as well as the theoretical significance, of forms of Christianity that we can no longer afford to ignore.Brief description: Rosalind I.J. Hackett is Professor and Head of Religious Studies, the University of Tennessee, where she is also adjunct Professor in Anthropology and Faculty Associate at the Howard H. Baker, Jr. Center for Public Policy. She has received fellowships from Harvard University, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Pew Foundation. She has published extensively on religion in Africa, notably in the areas of new religious movements, art, gender, media, and conflict.
Review Quotes: "As I would expect from two such accomplished editors, this volume is an outstanding contribution. . . . The introduction alone is worth the price of the book."--Brian Howell, Wheaton College