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Arlene M. Sanchez Walsh provides a thematic overview of Pentecostalism in America, covering Pentecostal faith and practices, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, trends and offshoots, and the future of American Pentecostalism. She also places it in context within the larger narrative of American religious history.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Pentecostal Faith and Practice
2. Pentecostal Innovators
3. Gender, Sexualities, and Pentecostalism
4. Pentecostalism and Popular Culture
5. “Laundry Talk”: Race, Ethnicity, and the Construction of an American Pentecostal Identity
6. Outliers: Heresy and American Pentecostalism
Epilogue. A Whole New Thing—The Future of Pentecostalism in America
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Arlene M. Sánchez Walsh is associate professor of religious studies at Azusa Pacific University. She is the author of the award-winning Latino Pentecostal Identity: Evangelical Faith, Self, and Society (Columbia, 2003).
Summary
Pentecostalism is one of the most significant modern movements in global Christianity today. A mixture of ecstatic expression and earnest piety, metaphysical nuance and embodied spirituality, it is far more than the stereotype of a supernatural sideshow. In this presumably secular era, Pentecostalism continues to grow, adapting to a diverse religious marketplace and becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Originally an American phenomenon, it is now a globe-spanning religion.
In this book, Arlene M. Sánchez Walsh provides a thematic overview of Pentecostalism in America, covering Pentecostal faith and practices, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, trends and offshoots, and the future of American Pentecostalism. She also considers Pentecostalism’s spiritual lineages, examining colorful leaders, ordinary adherents, and prominent outliers, as well as its deep roots in American popular culture. She examines Pentecostalism as a narrative performance, aiming to explain what Pentecostalism is through the experiences and stories of its adherents. Sánchez Walsh treats this Christian movement with the critical eye it has often lacked, and places it in context within the larger narrative of American religious history. An indispensable introduction to Pentecostalism, rich with insights for experienced readers, Pentecostals in America is an essential study of a vibrant religious movement.
Additional text
Pentecostals in American is a very readable text that should be of interest to both scholars in and outside of the field of Pentecostal studies, and it will be especially useful for undergraduate and graduate courses in religious studies, American studies, and more,