Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies

Pentecostalism, one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the world, has reshaped Christianity through its emphasis on direct spiritual experience, charismatic worship, and lay-centered biblical interpretation. Scholars examine how these features have taken root in dramatically different cultural contexts — particularly across Africa, Latin America, and the Global South — raising questions about how local traditions transform a movement even as the movement transforms them. Active research probes the tension between Pentecostalism's decentralized, grassroots character and its increasingly transnational institutional structures, including how missionary networks and media have accelerated its spread while generating new theological hybridities. Open debates persist around how Pentecostal hermeneutics challenge classical church authority, what role the movement plays in social and political mobilization, and whether its explosive growth signals a fundamental reorientation of Christianity's center of gravity.

Works

151,115

Total citations

102,534

Keywords

PentecostalismBiblical InterpretationAfrican ChristianitySpiritualityHermeneuticsChurch History