Anderson - An Introduction to Pentecostalism (Introduction to Religion)

Pentecostalism has become the fastest growing Christian movement, particularly outside Europe, and Allan Heaton Anderson is one of the foremost scholars of this phenomenon. His innovative interpretation of Pentecostalism focuses on the serious contribution made by both western and Majority World participants in its development. In this second edition of his leading introductory course book, Anderson presents an updated global history of the movement, which addresses significant events and changes in recent years, and surveys important theoretical issues such as gender and society, as well as politics and economics. The book also offers a comprehensive explanation of the significance of Charismatic Christianity throughout the world, plus its effect upon the globalization of religion and its transformation in the present century. This new edition will be an important resource for those studying Pentecostalism, Charismatic Christianity, theology and religion.

ALLAN HEATON ANDERSON is Professor of Mission and Global Pentecostal Studies at the University of Birmingham. He is the author of Zion and Pentecost (2000), African Reformation (2001), Spreading Fires (2007) and To the Ends of the Earth (2013).

I am extremely grateful for the worldwide reception accorded the first edition of this book, and for the opportunity given me by Cambridge University Press to update and improve it. The first edition was the result of two processes in particular. First, my appointment to what was the Selly Oak Colleges in October 1995 gave me a unique opportunity to do research in a stimulating environment and the space to develop teaching programmes in Pentecostal and Charismatic studies. This was further stimulated by personal interaction with Professor Walter J. Hollenweger in June 1996 during a seminar I coordinated at Selly Oak. The resulting postgraduate lectures I began the following year were the foundation of the first edition and have been developed ever since. Second, my involvement in postgraduate supervision at the University of Birmingham has been one of the great learning experiences of my life and an immense privilege. I want to express my appreciation to over thirty doctoral candidates (most of whom have now graduated) whose research I supervised. Their research has exposed me to some of the unexplored areas in Pentecostal and Charismatic studies. I am indebted to the stimulating interactions with these co-learners, from whom I have gained much that will be reflected here. Then there are those other fine scholars whose work I have drawn on both consciously and unconsciously there are now far too many to name in particular.

I am grateful to the Filadefia Pentecostal Fellowship Church for permission to use the photograph on the cover. I am also thankful to the Donald Gee Centre in Mattersey, England and its former director David Garrard who allowed me to peruse the early periodicals housed there, and the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Centers website and digital copies of early periodicals were extremely useful.

The book is dedicated to my Salvation Army officer parents, Gwenyth Anderson (19162006) and Keith Anderson (19172006), and to my loving and supportive grown-up children, Matthew and Tami.

Finally, I hope that the many friends and scholars I have been closely associated with over the past forty-five years in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the UK, and those in the other countries I have visited in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas, will recognize something of their dynamic spiritual heritage in this modest offering.