This book explores the interconnections between Christianity, sexuality and citizenship in sub-Saharan Africa, chronicling the ways in which citizenship in the region has undergone profound changes in recent decades as a result of growing interaction between Christianity and politics, the impact of the HIV epidemic, debates about women's reproductive rights, and the growing visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. Case studies examine the emergence of Christianity, especially in its Pentecostal-Charismatic forms, as a public religion, and how this emergence has meant that Christian actors, beliefs and practices have increasingly come to manifest themselves in the public sphere. The contributors assess how many political and religious leaders are invested in a popular ideology of the heterosexual family as the basis of nation-building, and how this defines narratives of nationhood and shapes notions of citizenship. Additional case studies focus on the emergence of sexuality as a critical site of citizenship and nationhood in postcolonial Africa, and address the difficulties that LGBT communities face in claiming recognition from the state. Offering case studies from across sub-Saharan Africa and spanning several academic disciplines and critical perspectives, this book will be of interest to researchers seeking to understand the complex intersections of religion, sexuality, politics and citizenship across the region. This book was originally published as a special issue of Citizenship Studies.

Most Wesleyan-Holiness churches started in the US, developing out of the Methodist roots of the nineteenth-century Holiness Movement. The American origins of the Holiness movement have been charted in some depth, but there is currently little detail on how it developed outside of the US. This book seeks to redress this imbalance by giving a history of North American Wesleyan-Holiness churches in Australia, from their establishment in the years following the Second World War, as well as of The Salvation Army, which has nineteenth-century British origins. It traces the way some of these churches moved from marginalised sects to established denominations, while others remained small and isolated. Looking at The Church of God (Anderson), The Church of God (Cleveland), The Church of the Nazarene, The Salvation Army, and The Wesleyan Methodist Church in Australia, the book argues two main points. Firstly, it shows that rather than being American imperialism at work, these religious expressions were a creative partnership between like-minded evangelical Christians from two modern nations sharing a general cultural similarity and set of religious convictions. Secondly, it demonstrates that it was those churches that showed the most willingness to be theologically flexible, even dialling down some of their Wesleyan distinctiveness, that had the most success. This is the first book to chart the fascinating development of Holiness churches in Australia. As such, it will be of keen interest to scholars of Wesleyans and Methodists, as well as religious history and the sociology of religion more generally.

Jesus before Pentecost studies the history of Jesus' ministry from William P. Atkinson's Pentecostal perspective. This perspective affects both his method and the book's content. In terms of method, Atkinson puts forward a strong argument for looking carefully at John's Gospel, as well as the synoptic gospels, as a reliable historical source for Jesus' life. In terms of content, his main areas of study follow key Pentecostal interests, summed up in the "foursquare" Pentecostal rubric of Jesus as Saviour, Healer, Baptiser in the Spirit, and Soon-Coming King. The picture that emerges offers fresh insights into Jesus' life: notably, the symbolic meaning Jesus invested in the feeding of the five thousand; the effect that Jesus' approach to healing the sick had on Him; the involvement of God's Spirit in His life and in the lives of those around Him; and, lastly, His enigmatic predictions of his future coming. Overall, the study is both academically rigorous and warmly engaging. It will appeal to anyone who is interested in Jesus, regardless of whether or not they are associated with the Pentecostal tradition.

Leading Scholar Explores Paul's Teaching on the Mind This major work by a leading New Testament scholar explores an important but neglected area of Pauline theology, Paul's teaching about the mind. In discussing matters such as the corrupted mind, the mind of Christ, and the renewal of the mind, Paul adapts language from popular intellectual thought in his day, but he does so in a way distinctively focused on Christ and Christ's role in the believer's transformation. Keener enables readers to understand this thought world so they can interpret Paul's language for contemporary Christian life. The book helps overcome a false separation between following the Spirit and using human judgment and provides a new foundation for relating biblical studies and Christian counseling.

Evangelicals and scholars of religious history have long recognized George Whitefield (1714-1770) as a founding father of American evangelicalism. But Jessica M. Parr argues he was much more than that. He was an enormously influential figure in Anglo-American religious culture, and his expansive missionary career can be understood in multiple ways. Whitefield began as an Anglican clergyman. Many in the Church of England perceived him as a radical. In the American South, Whitefield struggled to reconcile his disdain for the planter class with his belief that slavery was an economic necessity. Whitefield was drawn to an idealized Puritan past that was all but gone by the time of his first visit to New England in 1740. Parr draws from Whitefield's writing and sermons and from newspapers, pamphlets, and other sources to understand Whitefield's career and times. She offers new insights into revivalism, print culture, transatlantic cultural influences, and the relationship between religious thought and slavery. Whitefield became a religious icon shaped in the complexities of revivalism, the contest over religious toleration, and the conflicting role of Christianity for enslaved people. Proslavery Christians used Christianity as a form of social control for slaves, whereas evangelical Christianity's emphasis on ""freedom in the eyes of God"" suggested a path to political freedom. Parr reveals how Whitefield's death marked the start of a complex legacy that in many ways rendered him more powerful and influential after his death than during his long career.

Many twenty-first-century evangelical charismatics in Britain are looking for a faith that works. They want to experience the miraculous in terms of healings and Godsent financial provision. Many have left the mainstream churches to join independent charismatic churches led by those who are perceived to have special insights and to teach principles that will help believers experience the miraculous. But all is not rosy in this promised paradise, and when people are not healed or they remain poor they are often told that it is because they did not have enough faith. This study discovers the origin of the principles that are taught by some charismatic leaders. Glyn Ackerley identifies them as the same ideas that are taught by the positive confession, health, wealth, and prosperity movement, originating in the United States. The origins of the ideas are traced back to New Thought metaphysics and its background philosophies of subjective idealism and pragmatism. These principles were imported into the UK through contact between British leaders and those influenced by American "word of faith" teachers. Glyn Ackerley explains the persuasiveness of such teachers by examining case studies, suggesting their "miracles" may well have social and psychological explanations rather than divine origins.

David Martin is a pioneer of a political sociology of religion that integrates a combined analysis of nationalism and political religions with the history of religion. He was one of the first critics of the so-called secularization thesis, and his historical orientation makes him one of the few outstanding scholars who have continued the work begun by Max Weber and Emile Durkheim. This collection provides the first scholarly overview of his hugely influential work and includes a chapter written by David Martin himself. Starting with an introduction that contextualises David Martin's theories on the sociology of religion, both currently and historically, this volume aims to cover David Martin's lifework in its entirety. An international panel of contributors sheds new light on his studies of particular geographical areas (Britain, Latin America, Scandinavia) and on certain systematic fields (secularization, violence, music, Pentecostalism, the relation between sociology and theology). David Martin's concluding chapter addresses the critical points raised in response to his theories. This book addresses one of the key figures in the development of the sociology of religion, and as such it will be of great interest to all scholars of the sociology of religion.

Most of the early twentieth-century Pentecostal denominations were peace churches that encouraged a stance of conscientious objection. However, since the Second World War Pentecostals have largely abandoned their pacifist viewpoint as they have taken on a more literal Biblical hermeneutic from their interaction with Evangelical denominations. This book traces the history of nonviolence in Pentecostalism and suggests that a new hermeneutic of the Bible is needed by today's Pentecostals in order for them to rediscover their pacifist roots and effect positive social change. The book focuses on how Pentecostalism has manifested in South Africa during the twentieth century. Much of the available academic literature on hermeneutics and exegesis in the field of Pentecostal Studies is of an American or British-European origin. This book redresses this imbalance by exploring how the Bible has been used amongst African Pentecostals to teach on the apparent paradox of a simultaneously wrathful and loving God. It then goes onto suggest that how the Bible is read directly affects how Pentecostals view their role as potential reformers of society. So, it must be engaged seriously and thoughtfully. By bringing Pentecostalism's function in South African society to the fore, this book adds a fresh perspective on the issue of pacifism in world Christianity. As such it will be of great use to scholars of Pentecostal Studies, Theology, and Religion and Violence as well as those working in African Studies.

Scripting Pentecost explores and develops an analysis of worship and liturgy in Pentecostal and Charismatic traditions around the world. It is organized into two main sections: history and theology, and global case studies. The first section considers early Pentecostal traditions, the influence of the Welsh revival, classical Pentecostalism, the Charismatic Renewal movement and subsequent practices up to the present day. It also provides contemporary constructive theological reflections on sung worship, sacramental theology and liturgical practices. The second section offers a selection of global case studies from America, Europe, Kenya, Myanmar, Venezuela and Papua New Guinea. These case studies focus on contemporary worship and liturgical practices and their significance for Pentecostal and Charismatic studies..

The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender is an outstanding reference source to this controversial subject area. Since its founding in 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has engaged gender in surprising ways. LDS practice of polygamy in the nineteenth century both fueled rhetoric of patriarchal rule as well as gave polygamous wives greater autonomy than their monogamous peers. The tensions over women's autonomy continued after polygamy was abandoned and defined much of the twentieth century. In the 1970s, 1990s, and 2010s, Mormon feminists came into direct confrontation with the male Mormon hierarchy. These public clashes produced some reforms, but fell short of accomplishing full equality. LGBT Mormons have a similar history. These movements are part of the larger story of how Mormonism has managed changing gender norms in a global context. Comprising over forty chapters by a team of international contributors the Handbook is divided into four parts: * Methodological issues * Historical approaches * Social scientific approaches * Theological approaches. These sections examine central issues, debates, and problems, including: agency, feminism, sexuality and sexual ethics, masculinity, queer studies, plural marriage, homosexuality, race, scripture, gender and the priesthood, the family, sexual violence, and identity. The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies, gender studies, and women's studies. The Handbook will also be very useful for those in related fields, such as cultural studies, politics, anthropology, and sociology.

Negotiating Respect is an ethnographically rich investigation of Pentecostal Christianity-the Caribbean's fastest growing religious movement-in the contemporary Dominican Republic. Within the context of urban poverty in a barrio of Villa Altagracia, Brendan Jamal Thornton considers the role of religious identity in the lives of young male churchgoers who navigate conversion as a transformative means of status acquisition, authority, and transition out of gang life. Thornton shows that conversion offers both spiritual and practical social value because it provides a strategic avenue for prestige and an acceptable way to transcend personal history.

This major textbook is a newly researched historical study of Evangelical religion in its British cultural setting from its inception in the time of John Wesley to charismatic renewal today. The Church of England, the Church of Scotland and the variety of Nonconformist denominations and sects in England, Scotland and Wales are discussed, but the book concentrates on the broad patterns of change affecting all the churches. It shows the great impact of the Evangelical movement on nineteenth-century Britain, accounts for its resurgence since the Second World War and argues that developments in the ideas and attitudes of the movement were shaped most by changes in British culture. The contemporary interest in the phenomenon of Fundamentalism, especially in the United States, makes the book especially timely.

The Christian idea of a good death had its roots in the Middle Ages with ars moriendi, featuring reliance on Jesus as Savior, preparedness for the life to come and for any spiritual battle that might ensue when on the threshold of death, and death not taking place in isolation. Evangelicalism introduced new features to the good death, with its focus on conversion, sanctification and an intimate relationship with Jesus. Scholarship focused on mid-nineteenth-century evangelical Nonconformist beliefs about death and the afterlife is sparse. This book fills the gap, contributing an understanding not only of death but of the history of Methodist and evangelical Nonconformist piety, theology, social background and literary expression in mid-nineteenth-century England. A good death was as central to Methodism as conversion and holiness. Analyzing over 1,200 obituaries, Riso reveals that while the last words of the dying pointed to a timeless experience of hope in the life to come, the obituaries reflect changing attitudes towards death and the afterlife among nineteenth-century evangelical Nonconformist observers who looked increasingly to earthly existence for the fulfillment of hopes. Exploring tensions in Nonconformist allegiance to both worldly and spiritual matters, this book offers an invaluable contribution to death studies, Methodism, and Evangelical theology.

Evangelical Dissent in the early eighteenth century had to address a variety of intellectual challenges. How reliable was the Bible? Was traditional Christian teaching about God, humanity, sin and salvation true? What was the role of reason in the Christian faith? Philip Doddridge (1702-51) pastored a sizeable evangelical congregation in Northampton, England, and ran a training academy for Dissenters which prepared men for pastoral ministry. Philip Doddridge and the Shaping of Evangelical Dissent examines his theology and philosophy in the context of these and other issues of his day and explores the leadership that he provided in evangelical Dissent in the first half of the eighteenth century. Offering a fresh look at Doddridge's thought, the book provides a criticial examination of the accepted view that Doddridge was influenced in his thinking primarily by Richard Baxter and John Locke. Exploring the influence of other streams of thought, from John Owen and other Puritan writers to Samuel Clarke and Isaac Watts, as well as interaction with contemporaries in Dissent, the book shows Doddridge to be a leader in, and shaper of, an evangelical Dissent which was essentially Calvinistic in its theology, adapted to the contours and culture of its times.

Early Inter-racial Oneness Pentecostalism is a look at what is perhaps the least-known chapter in the history of American Pentecostalism. The study of the first thirty years of Oneness Pentecostalism (1901-1931) is especially relevant due to its unparalleled inter-racial commitment to an all-flesh, all-people, counter-cultural Pentecost. This in-depth study details the lives of its earliest primary architects, including G.T. Haywood, R.C. Lawson, J.J. Frazee, and E.W. Doak, and the emergence of Oneness Pentecostalism and its flagship organisation, Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. This is a one-of-a-kind history of Pentecostalism, seen through the lens of the Jesus' Name movement and the inter-racial struggles of the period, interlinking the significance of Charles Parham, William Seymour and the Azusa Street revival, COGIC, the newly formed Assemblies of God, and dozens of the earliest Oneness organisational bodies. Exploration of the significance of the role of African American Indianapolis leader G.T. Haywood is central, as are the development of the movement's key centres in the U.S. and the ultimate loss of inter-racial unity after more than thirty years. These crucial events indelibly marked the U.S. as well as the global missionary and indigenous expansion of Oneness Pentecostalism worldwide.

New Booklet! A new booklet by Frank Hammond, which unveils one of Satan's gates through which spirits gain entrance into our lives. ?Passivity? enables demonic spirits to establish a legal right and to maintain their stronghold. An aggressive lifestyle is the alternative to passivity. There was a purpose for Israel beyond their escape from bondage, just as there is a purpose that God has for each of us beyond our deliverance. Learn more about the good fruit that comes with an aggressive approach towards living!

Now in paperback, this corrected text is based on the earliest sources and represents the most accurate and readable edition of the Book of Mormon ever published "The product of over two decades of painstaking labor by Royal Skousen . . . this Yale edition aims to take us back to the text Smith envisioned as he translated, according to the faithful, from golden plates that he unearthed in upstate New York."-Stephen Prothero, Wall Street Journal "Will forever change the way Latter-day Saints approach modern scripture. Two hundred years from now... students of the Book of Mormon will still be poring over Skousen's work. What he has accomplished is nothing short of phenomenal."-Grant Hardy, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies First published in 1830, the Book of Mormon is the authoritative scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Over the past thirty years, editor Royal Skousen has pored over Joseph Smith's original manuscripts and earliest editions and identified about 2,250 textual errors, although many of these discrepancies stem from inadvertent errors in copying and typesetting the text. The first edition of The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text, published in 2009 to critical acclaim, contained over 600 corrections that had never before appeared in any standard edition of the Book of Mormon, with about 250 of them affecting the text's meaning. This revised, second edition, issued in paperback, includes additional corrections as well as an illuminating new introduction by Royal Skousen. It will provide a portable, accessible version of this important text.