Christian churches and groups within Anglo-American contexts have increasingly used popular music as a way to connect with young people. This book investigates the relationships between evangelical Christianity and popular music, focusing particularly on electronic dance music in the last twenty years. Author Stella Lau illustrates how electronic dance music is legitimized in evangelical activities by Christians discourses, and how the discourses challenge the divide between the secular and the sacred in the Western culture.

Unlike other existing books on the relationships between music cultures and religion, which predominantly discuss the cultural implications of such phenomenon, Popular Music in Evangelical Youth Culture examines the notion of spirituality in contemporary popular electronic dance music. Lau s emphasis on the sonic qualities of electronic dance music opens the door for future research about the relationships between aural properties of electronic dance music and religious discourses. With three case studies conducted in the cultural hubs of electronic dance music Bristol, Ibiza and New York the monograph can also be used as a guidebook for ethnographic research in popular music.

A Contoversial Spirit offers a new perspective on the origins and nature of southern evangelicalism. Most recent historians have focused on the differences between evangelicals and non-evangelicals, leading to the perception that during the "Era of Awakenings" American evangelicals constituted a united front. Philip N. Mulder dispels this illusion by examining the internal dynamics of evangelicalism. Although the denominations shared the goal of saving souls, he finds they disagreed over the correct definition of true religion and conversion. Examining conversion narratives, worship, polity and rituals, as well as more formal doctrinal statements in creeds and sermons, Mulder is able to provide a far more nuanced portrait of southern evangelicals than previously available, revealing the deep differences between denominations that the homogenization of religious history has until now obscured.

This book brings the theme of prayer into anthropological discussion. Across diverse significant ethnographic case studies, five anthropologists attend to prayers and how they are performed and seen to intervene in the social world. The studies include Pentecostals in Zambia, Charismatic Christians in Ghana, Protestants in Scotland, Eastern Orthodox Christians in Romania, and Catholics in Syria. Across these ethnographic cases, the book argues that focusing on the social life of prayer offers a significant way to engage with matters close to people. Prayers are a way to map affect and the affective relationships people hold in what they are oriented towards and care about. Taking its cue from Marcel Mauss, the book invites us to go beyond the individual and see how prayers always point to a broader social landscape of obligation and affective investment. Focusing on the social life of prayers, the book posits, accordingly entices a particular form of situated comparison of diverse Christian traditions that pushes the scholarly conversation on Christianity to consider central questions of agency, responsibility and subjectivity. Taking up prayer as the object of study, this book offers novel anthropological perspectives on Christian life and practice. The chapters in this book were originally published a special issue of Religion.

This book investigates a puzzling and neglected phenomenon - the rise of English Arminianism during the decade of puritan rule. Throughout the 1650s, numerous publications, from scholarly folios to popular pamphlets, attacked the doctrinal commitments of Reformed Orthodoxy. This anti-Calvinist onslaught came from different directions: episcopalian royalists (Henry Hammond, Herbert Thorndike, Peter Heylyn), radical puritan defenders of the regicide (John Goodwin and John Milton), and sectarian Quakers and General Baptists. Unprecedented rejection of Calvinist soteriology was often coupled with increased engagement with Catholic, Lutheran and Remonstrant alternatives. As a result, sophisticated Arminian publications emerged on a scale that far exceeded the Laudian era. Cromwellian England therefore witnessed an episode of religious debate that significantly altered the doctrinal consensus of the Church of England for the remainder of the seventeenth century. The book will appeal to historians interested in the contested nature of 'Anglicanism' and theologians interested in Protestant debates regarding sovereignty and free will. Part One is a work of religious history, which charts the rise of English Arminianism across different ecclesial camps - episcopal, puritan and sectarian. These chapters not only introduce the main protagonists but also highlight a surprising range of distinctly English Arminian formulations. Part Two is a work of historical theology, which traces the detailed doctrinal formulations of two prominent divines - the puritan John Goodwin and the episcopalian Henry Hammond. Their Arminian theologies are set in the context of the Western theological tradition and the soteriological debates, that followed the Synod of Dort. The book therefore integrates historical and theological enquiry to offer a new perspective on the crisis of 'Calvinism' in post-Reformation England.

Baptized in the Spirit creatively examines the most recent trends in Pentecostal and charismatic theology, especially with regard to the displacement of Spirit baptism as Pentecostalism s central distinctive. The author begins by focusing on the significance of the Holy Spirit in reciprocal and mutual work with the Son in fulfilling the will of the Father. He also shows how the pneumatological emphases in Pentecostal and charismatic theology can help to correct the tendency in Western Christianity to subordinate the Spirit to the Word."

Stories of contemporary exorcisms are largely met with ridicule, or even hostility. Sean McCloud argues, however, that there are important themes to consider within these narratives of seemingly well-adjusted people-who attend school, go shopping, and watch movies-who also happen to fight demons. American Possessions examines Third Wave evangelical spiritual warfare, a late twentieth-, early twenty-first century movement of evangelicals focused on banishing demons from human bodies, material objects, land, regions, political parties, and nation states. While Third Wave beliefs may seem far removed from what many scholars view as mainstream religious practice in America, McCloud argues that the movement provides an ideal case study for identifying some of the most prescient tropes within the contemporary American religious landscape; namely "the consumerist," "the haunted," and "the therapeutic." Drawing on interviews, television shows, documentaries, websites, and dozens of spiritual warfare handbooks, McCloud examines Third Wave practices such deliverance rituals (a uniquely Protestant form of exorcism), spiritual housekeeping (the removal of demons from everyday objects), and spiritual mapping (searching for the demonic in the physical landscape). Demons, he shows, are the central fact of life in the Third Wave imagination. McCloud provides the first book-length study of this influential movement, highlighting the important ways that it reflects and diverts from the larger, neo-liberal culture from which it originates.

To this day, churchgoing Mormons report that they hear from their fellow congregants in Sunday meetings that African-Americans are the accursed descendants of Cain whose spirits-due to their lack of spiritual mettle in a premortal existence-were destined to come to earth with a "curse" of black skin. This claim can be made in many Mormon Sunday Schools without fear of contradiction. You are more likely to encounter opposition if you argue that the ban on the ordination of Black Mormons was a product of human racism. Like most difficult subjects in Mormon history and practice, says Joanna Brooks, the priesthood and temple ban on Blacks has been managed carefully in LDS institutional settings with a combination of avoidance, denial, selective truth-telling, and determined silence. As America begins to come to terms with the costs of white privilege to Black lives, this book urges a soul-searching examination of the role American Christianity has played in sustaining everyday white supremacy by assuring white people of their innocence. In Mormonism and White Supremacy, Joanna Brooks offers an unflinching look at her own people's history and culture and finds in them lessons that will hit home for every scholar of American religion and person of faith.

Readers will learn how to identify and defeat dream thieves - the people and circumstances that keep Christians from fulfilling their divine destiny A great book for those who are discouraged, tired, or burned out in their ministry or their walk with the Lord.

One dictionary definition of miracles is that they are 'remarkable and welcome events that seem impossible to explain'.But can they still happen today?Should we expect them? Jesus certainly encouraged his disciples to anticipate miraculous accompaniments to their proclamation of his good news. In Mark 16:17-18 he emphasizes five signs that 'will accompany those who believe' (v17). So if we accept that miracles do happen today How might we see more of the miraculous in the twenty-first century?How can they be experienced?Just what kind of faith is needed for them to happen?Are there hindrances that can stop them occurring and if so, what are they? Perhaps you need a personal miracle. Maybe it's a desire to help someone else receive one.

You might even be longing for both.

With the Christian church in the west in decline, some churches are undergoing difficult transitions as they seek to become relevant, to both themselves and their surrounding cultures. Evangelicalism and the Emerging Church details an ethnographic study of a Vineyard congregation making sense of their Vineyard roots and their growing relationship with the self-proclaimed "emerging church" network. Through a rich account of congregational life and tensions, universal issues are raised such as relating to religious parentage, creating safe places for spirituality, Christian growth and maturity, communication with contemporary culture, and the challenges of identity reconstruction. This book is the first to conduct an academic study of a Vineyard congregation in the United Kingdom.

Small though it may be, Unitarian Universalism has had a big impact not only on its members but also on the world around it. Rejecting the constraints of other Christian denominations, it sought tolerance for itself and, surprisingly, freely granted tolerance to others. Evolving in its principles and practices over a relatively short lifetime, it shows every sign of developing further, reaching beyond Christianity to embrace what is good in other, more diverse religions. Unitarian Universalism has also regularly been at the forefront in fighting for social causes, including abolition, temperance, women's suffrage, pacifism, educational reform, environmentalism, and others. Unitarian Universalism has also spread with time. First developed in present-day Romania and Hungary, its center shifted early to England, but its most successful story is the way it grew and flourished in the United States. This reference covers numerous subjects, both historical and contemporary, with entries on the places where the church was present, many more on significant leaders, and an impressive number on causes and issues. All the important people, events, and ideas in this religion are included, as well as important late-20th-century battles, including racism and new principles and purposes.

This book examines the complex and multifaceted nature of African Pentecostal engagements with genders and sexualities. In the last three decades, African Pentecostalism has emerged as one the most visible and profound aspects of religious change on the continent, and is a social force that straddles cultural, economic, and political spheres. Its conventional and selective literal interpretations of the Bible with respect to gender and sexualities are increasingly perceived as exhibiting a strong influence on many aspects of social and public institutions and their moral orientations. This collection features articles which examine sexualities and genders in African Pentecostalism using interdisciplinary methodological and theoretical approaches grounded within traditional African thought systems, with the goal of enabling a broader understanding of Pentecostalism and sexualities in Africa.

How does university turn students into who they become? Why are student evangelicals such a significant and controversial force at so many universities? In many countries, university has become the main Rite of Passage between the child and adult worlds. University can be enjoyable and fascinating but also life-changing and traumatic. And at the exact time when a student's identity is the most challenged and uncertain, student evangelical groups are highly organised on many university campuses to offer students a powerful identity so that the world makes sense once again. For some, these groups will protect them from the university's assault on their faith. For others, they will challenge and even change who they are. Meeting Jesus at University explores universities in six countries. Drawing upon detailed fieldwork, it examines the largest student evangelical group at each university in order to understand in depth the relationship between the student evangelical group and the university which it aims to convert. Meeting Jesus at University offers an original contribution to the discussion of Rites of Passage, examining what is experienced at university and how university breaks down and remoulds young people. It explores why student evangelicals are so active, particularly at Britain and America's most prestigious and identity-challenging institutions meaning that students at these places are the most likely to find themselves meeting Jesus at university.

Redeem Your Timeline!

Haunted by your past? Anxious about the future? The omnipotent God of the Bible is not confined by the limits of time. He is not ashamed of your past or uncertain about your future. Every moment of your life is always held in the palm of His hand.

Troy Brewer – pastor of OpenDoor church, founder of Troy Brewer Ministries, and dynamic prophetic voice – shares a revolutionary teaching on your relationship to time.

As a believer, you can invite Jesus into your personal timeline to supernaturally redeem your past and miraculously prepare your future. Because past sins have been erased, the pain of trauma, abuse, and heartbreak can be redeemed. Future fears can be put to rest, as stress, anxieties, and uncertainties are surrendered to Him.

Redeeming Your Timeline guides you through a personal encounter with Jesus to…

• Overcome paralyzing guilt and shame.
• Conquer the crippling fear of failure.
• Silence the whispers of anxiety.
• Break free from the bonds of childhood trauma.
• Experience freedom from panic attacks.
• Discover deep, lasting inner peace.

Why do thousands of Mormons devote their summer vacations to following the Mormon Trail? Why does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Day Saints spend millions of dollars to build monuments and Visitor Centers that believers can visit to experience the history of their nineteenth-century predecessors who fled westward in search of their promised land? Why do so many Mormon teenagers dress up in Little-House-on-the-Prairie-style garb and push handcarts over the highest local hills they can find? And what exactly is a "traveling Zion"? In Pioneers in the Attic, Sara Patterson analyzes how and why Mormons are engaging their nineteenth-century past in the modern era, arguing that as the LDS community globalized in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, its relationship to space was transformed. Following their exodus to Utah, nineteenth-century Mormons believed that they must gather together in Salt Lake Zion - their new center place. They believed that Zion was a place you could point to on a map, a place you should dwell in to live a righteous life. Later Mormons had to reinterpret these central theological principles as their community spread around the globe, but to say that they simply spiritualized concepts that had once been understood literally is only one piece of the puzzle. Contemporary Mormons still want to touch and to feel these principles, so they mark and claim the landscapes of the American West with versions of their history carved in stone. They develop rituals that allow them not only to learn the history of the nineteenth-century journey west, but to engage it with all of their senses. Pioneers in the Attic reveals how modern-day Mormons have created a sense of community and felt religion through the memorialization of early Mormon pioneers of the American West, immortalizing a narrative of shared identity through an emphasis on place and collective memory.

This book provides a comprehensive explanation of how the Mormons have transformed from a hated and persecuted fringe group to a well-established world religion with viable candidates for all levels of American government. The Mormon tradition is unfamiliar and mysterious to most Americans outside of the religion, and understandably generates much curiosity. Mormons in American Politics: From Persecution to Power provides an intellectual foundation of Mormon development and emergence in politics, comprehensively examining significant issues and developments from historical, theological, cultural, and modern perspectives. The work analyzes diverse, contemporary topics including Mormons in popular culture, Mormon understandings of the Constitution, the Mormon welfare program, Mormon opposition to same-sex marriage, and the global expansion of Mormonism. The book is ideal for scholars and students of American politics, history, and culture; Mormon studies; religious studies; and religion and politics; as well as general readers who are interested in Mormon religion and culture or the rise of Mormon figures in mainstream American politics.

The Pentecostal movement has had an incredible impact on the shape of worldwide Christianity in the past century. Estimates are that Pentecostals and charismatics make up approximately one-fourth of Christians worldwide, and the numbers are only expected to grow. With these developments comes the need for thoughtful Christians of all persuasions to better understand Pentecostal theology. In fact, Amos Yong believes that Pentecostal theology can be a great gift to the church at large.
Yong presents a thoroughly Pentecostal theology of salvation, the church, the nature of God, and creation. He also provides a fascinating survey of the state of worldwide Pentecostalism, examining how Pentecostal theology is influencing Christian churches in other countries.

HONOURING THE DECLARATION provides academic resources to help The United Church of Canada and other Canadian denominations enact their commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and offers a framework for reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. Featuring essays from scholars working from a range of disciplines, including religious studies, Indigenous legal studies, Christian theology and ethics, Biblical studies, Indigenous educational leadership within the United Church, and social activism, the collection includes both Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices, all of whom respond meaningfully to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action. The texts explore some of the challenges that accepting the UN Declaration as a framework poses to the United Church and other Canadian denominations, and provides academic reflection on how these challenges can be met. These reflections include concrete proposals for steps that Canadian denominations and their seminaries need to take in light of their commitment to the Declaration, a study of a past attempt of the United Church to be in solidarity with Indigenous peoples, and discussions of ethical concepts and theological doctrines that can empower and guide the church in living out this commitment.

In recent years the rapid growth of Christian charismatic movements throughout sub-Saharan Africa has drastically reconfigured the region's religious landscape. As a result, charismatic factions play an increasingly public role throughout Africa, far beyond the religious sphere. This book uses a multi-disciplinary approach to consider the complex relationship between Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity and the socio-political transformation taking place throughout this region. Each of this text's three main sections helps in understanding how discourses of moral regeneration emanating from these diverse Christian communities, largely charismatic, extend beyond religious bounds. Part 1 covers politics, political elites and elections, Part 2 explores society, economies and the public sphere, and Part 3 discusses values, public beliefs and morality. These sections also highlight how these discourses contribute to the transformation of three specific social milieus to reinforce visions of the Christian citizen. Examining contemporary examples with high quality scholarly insight, this book is vital reading for academics and students with an interest in the relationship between religion, politics and development in Africa.

A personal retreat. We've never needed it more. We run from one place to the next--from meetings and appointments to our kid's soccer practice, from class to work to choir rehearsal, from the grocery store to small group--and then drop into bed later than we hoped, exhausted and dreading the morning. We want to slow down but don't know how and don't really believe that we can. And often, the idea of a personal retreat--time for solitude and silence--makes us feel as anxious as all our frenzied rushing. What in the world would we do with an hour, an afternoon or (gulp ) a whole day of solitude with God? But what is the cost of our frantic pace? What are we missing by not slowing down for reflection and meditation on Scripture? What kind of toll does our anxious running take on those around us--and, even more deeply, on our own soul? In Resting Place, retreat speaker Jane Rubietta addresses soul matters with retreat topics such as dealing with our fear of abandonment, wrestling with discontent, overcoming our attempts to control others and fulfilling our deep desire to be loved. These retreats help us enter Psalm 23 rest, a place of true rest and trust in our loving, gentle Shepherd. Full of quotes to contemplate, Scripture to meditate on, questions, prayer and journaling ideas, and ideas for creativity, Jane Rubietta leads us to and through times of silence and solitude that will follow us into our everyday world as we learn to allow Jesus to guide, comfort and restore us. Come to the Shepherd, and find the true rest your soul is longing for.

When approaching the most public disagreement over predestination in the eighteenth century, the 'Free Grace' controversy between John Wesley and George Whitefield, the tendency can be to simply review the event as a row over the same old issues. This assumption pervades much of the scholarly literature that deals with early Methodism. Moreover, much of that same literature addresses the dispute from John Wesley's vantage point, often harbouring a bias towards his Evangelical Arminianism. Yet the question must be asked: was there more to the 'Free Grace' controversy than a simple rehashing of old arguments? This book answers this complex question by setting out the definitive account of the 'Free Grace' controversy in first decade of the Evangelical Revival (1739-49). Centred around the key players in the fracas, John Wesley and George Whitefield, it is a close analysis of the way in which the doctrine of predestination was instrumental in differentiating the early Methodist societies from one another. It recounts the controversy through the lens of doctrinal analysis and from two distinct perspectives: the propositional content of a given doctrine and how that doctrine exerts formative pressure upon the assenting individual(s). What emerges from this study is a clearer picture of the formative years of early Methodism and the vital role that doctrinal pronouncement played in giving a shape to early Methodist identity. It will, therefore, be of great interest to scholars of Methodism, Evangelicalism, Theology and Church History.

'Secularization' has been hotly debated since it was first subjected to critical attention in the mid-sixties by David Martin, before he sketched a 'General Theory' in 1969. 'On Secularization' presents David Martin's reassessment of the key issues: with particular regard to the special situation of religion in Western Europe, and questions in the global context including Pentecostalism in Latin America and Africa. Concluding with examinations of Pluralism, Christian Language, and Christianity and Politics, this book offers students and other readers of social theory and sociology of religion an invaluable reappraisal of Christianity and Secularization. It represents the most comprehensive sociology of contemporary Christianity, set in historical depth.

The purpose of this book is to provide valuable anthropological data on the identity construction of a rapidly growing Chinese Christian population in the United States. As more and more Chinese of different generations and varying cultural backgrounds practice evangelical Christianity, the meaning of Chinese American will change accordingly. The book provides significant linguistic data for a nascent but important area of anthropological research. The scope of the book encompasses Asian American homiletics, discourse analysis and prosody, types of sermons and roles of men and women in a diverse, multilingual church. Parallels between Confucianism and Christianity and the role of "gradual evangelism" in identity construction are discussed. These elements are contextualized within current sociocultural and economic spheres and address the implications of the "model minority" and Asian patriarchy. The book provides original linguistic data of sermons in Mandarin, Cantonese and English. The book posits that the Chinese of the Boston church have developed an ethno-Christian identity and this identity demonstrated through ethnically marked prosodic cues, unites the congregation in the ethnic church. This position challenges some current approaches to identity construction and the role of religion in immigrant communities.