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The New Canadian Pentecostals takes readers into the everyday religious lives of the members of three Pentecostal congregations located in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Using the rich qualitative and quantitative data gathered through participant observation, personal interviews, and surveys conducted within these congregations, Adam Stewart provides the first book-length study focusing on the specific characteristics of Canadian Pentecostal identity, belief, and practice.
Stewart asserts that Pentecostalism remains an important tradition in the Canadian religious landscape - contrary to the assumptions of many Canadian sociologists and scholars of religion. Recent decreases in Canadian Pentecostal affiliation recorded by Statistics Canada are not the result of Pentecostals abandoning their congregations; rather, they are indicative of a radical transformation from traditionally Pentecostal to generically evangelical modes of religious identity, belief, and practice that are changing the ways that Pentecostals understand and explain their religious identities.
The case study presented in this book suggests that a new breed of Canadian Pentecostals are emerging for whom traditional definitions and expressions of Pentecostalism are much less important than religious autonomy and individualism.
List of contents
- The New Canadian Pentecostals by Adam Stewart
- List of Tables
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- The Canadian Decline of the World's Fastest Growing Religion
- The Transformation of Pentecostalism in Canada
- Methodology
- Outline of the Chapters
- Chapter 2: The Pentecostal Tradition
- Defining Pentecostalism
- Pentecostal Beginnings
- Traditional Canadian Pentecostal Identity, Belief, and Practice
- Conclusion
- Chapter 3: The Churches and Their Pastors
- Freedom in Christ
- Elmira Pentecostal Assembly
- Elevation
- Conclusion
- Chapter 4: Generically Evangelical Religious Identity
- Generic Evangelicalism
- Traditional Denominational Identifiers
- Latent Denominational Identifiers
- Nondenominational Identifiers
- Conclusion
- Chapter 5: Spirit Baptism and Speaking in Tongues
- Ignorance and Confusion Regarding Spirit Baptism
- Spirity Baptism and the Question of Subsequence
- Speaking in Tongues as Evidence of Spirit Baptism
- The Purpose of Spirit Baptism
- Conclusion
- Chapter 6: Healing, Miracles, and other Supernatual Phenomena
- Divine Healing
- Miracles
- Angels, Demons, and Exorcism
- Conclusion
- Chapter 7: Conclusion
- Notes
- References
- Index
About the author
Adam Stewart holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Waterloo. He is the editor of the Handbook of Pentecostal Christianity (2012).
