EDITORIAL: PentecoStudies  13:1, April 2014

Three of the five articles in this issue were first given as papers at the European Research Network on Global Pentecostalism (GloPent) conference on 1-2 February 2013 at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and have since been revised for publication. The theme of that conference was Pentecostalism and Politics, an intriguing and important subject. The conference was attended by some ninety participants from seventeen countries. Such matters as the impact of the growth of Pentecostalism worldwide on political governance, development, and public debates were discussed. Many scholars usually describe Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians as politically conservative.  Whether this is their default position is certainly debatable, as they are found on all sides of the political spectrum worldwide, as Timothy Steigenga attests here, and it is only in the United States that the majority can be correctly described as belonging to the “religious right”. Interesting questions arise concerning how politicians in Africa, Asia and the Americas have accommodated the increased presence of Pentecostals in the public sphere. But before we can fully understand the complicated relationship between Pentecostalism and politics, we need first to deal with a common, often unconscious, and narrowly-defined assumption of a dichotomy between an apolitical sphere of religion and a “secular” sphere of politics. Such a dichotomy is imaginary and does not exist in most parts of the world. Although only the first article in this issue deals directly with the question of Pentecostals and politics, social and political questions are raised by the other articles too.

The first paper, "Pentecostalization, Politics, and Religious Change in Guatemala" addresses these issues directly and is written by Timothy J. Steigenga, Professor of Political Science at the Florida Atlantic University in south-east Florida. He has done extensive research and publications on religion and politics in Latin America, transnationalism, and migration, his latest books being Living "Illegal": The Human Face of Unauthorized Immigration (2011), and A Place to Be: Brazilian, Guatemalan, and Mexican Immigrants in Florida’s New Destinations (2009). His article reflects on survey research conducted in Guatemala in 1993 and warns us about coming to too facile conclusions about the role of Pentecostalism in politics. He argues that what he terms “pentecostalized religion” is political inasmuch as it mobilizes opinions around community, national and international issues that affect the daily lives of its participants. He challenges conventional wisdom in studies on Pentecostalism in Latin America (and elsewhere) that have at their base a Weberian concept of the “Protestant ethic” leading to economic advancement and upward social mobility. These earlier studies also posit the idea that Pentecostals are either politically conservative or quiescent. Steigenga’s research in Guatemala, while showing how “pentecostalized” all forms of Christianity had become, demonstrates that Pentecostals were not significantly more or less politically conservative than other religious groups, even though there was a correlation between religious conservatives across all groups and the tendency towards quietism. Interestingly, the research also shows that pentecostalization improves the quality of gender relations and egalitarianism. There are some surprising results in this research and important methodological considerations, which I will not spoil for you before you have read the article!

Healing has historically been one of the main reasons for the attraction of Pentecostalism. Candy Gunther Brown, a religious historian and ethnographer and Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Indiana, Bloomington writes the second paper, "Pentecostal Power: The Politics of Divine Healing Practices", focussing on healing as an alternative to socio-political power. Candy has written several pioneering studies on Pentecostal and Charismatic healing, her latest books being Testing Prayer: Science and Healing (2012) and The Healing Gods: Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Christian America (2013). Her article here focuses on the dimension of healing as power to mobilise spiritual power and complement or replace political power. Pentecostalism in many parts of the Majority World appeals to the politically powerless, including women, and those relatively poor or uneducated. It promises individuals and communities a better life, but above all, it gives them a sense of empowerment denied them by the prevailing social and political system. Brown makes the key point that Pentecostalism grows because prayer for healing gives people a sense of both physical and social restoration, and this prayer most often occurs in out-of-the-way, humble places rather than in large crowds attracted to flamboyant and controversial healing evangelists. Pentecostals believe that divine empowerment gives them instant answers to social and political challenges in a world where they have no access to the material sources of power.

The third article, "A Megachurch in a Megacity" is jointly authored by Mark J. Cartledge and Andrew Davies from the Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham, UK. Mark is the former editor of PentecoStudies and author of several books on Pentecostalism, the latest being Testimony in the Spirit: Rescripting Ordinary Pentecostal Theology (2012) and Practical Theology: Charismatic and Empirical Perspectives (2003). Most recently, Mark and Andrew head a research project on megachurches in London, and this article may indicate some of the research agenda for that project. The authors explore the concept of “megachurch” (defined as a congregation of over two thousand worshippers) by looking at the leading example in Western Europe, the Kingsway International Christian Centre in London and its internet projections. This is a predominantly Nigerian “prosperity gospel” church and the largest congregation in the UK, whose leader Matthew Ashimolowo personally embodies the success, “health and wealth” ethic of the church. The article explores issues that not only relate to the rather new field of megachurch studies, but also discusses the importance of studies on cyber religion, identity formation, globalisation, and the relationship between religion and culture. This article points to the need for further research on these issues and their importance for understanding religion and society in a rapidly changing Europe.

Torsten Löfstedt is Associate Professor in religions in the Department of Cultural Sciences at Linnaeus University in Sweden. This is one of several articles he has written on Russian Pentecostalism. But here in "Countering Exorcistic Excess in Russia", he compares the beliefs of two Christian denominations: the dominant Russian Orthodox Church, and the largest Pentecostal denomination, the Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith. Their beliefs about demons, curses and exorcism are remarkably similar, despite there being counter accusations of demonic activity within the other denomination! But the extent of the threat of demons and curses differs widely. The official views of both denominations tend to use what Löfstedt calls a “medical metaphor”, that exorcism is part of a holistic healing ministry that works together with other health professionals; but within both denominations is also found a dualistic “military metaphor” that talks of spiritual warfare against demons as agents of Satan to be cast out of individuals. This article is certainly of great interest to those of us familiar with exorcism practices in other parts of the world, and the contrast between Russia and Western Europe on the popular religious belief level is striking.

Last but not least, another article from Sweden, "To Live the Biblical Narrative", this time from Greger Andersson, Professor of Comparative Literature at Örebro University. Long ago, Walter Hollenweger described Pentecostals as having a narrative (or oral) theology and witness. In his absorbing study on the testimony narratives, biographies and autobiographies of Swedish Pentecostals, Andersson traces how they refer to the narratives of Acts to justify their Pentecostal experiences, while at the same time allowing their experiences to interpret those biblical narratives. In particular he focuses on the experience of Spirit baptism, which Pentecostals relate back to passages in Acts, and consequently use their experience to interpret the same passages, a reciprocity that is common in classical Pentecostalism throughout the world. The narratives are taken from a nineteenth century revivalist, Charles Finney, two early Scandinavian Pentecostals, T.B. Barratt and Lewi Pethrus, and Dennis Bennett, an American Episcopalian Charismatic leader from the 1960s. In comparing these four narratives of their Spirit baptism, Andersson is able to trace narrative patterns that are affected by and affect the narratives in the Book of Acts. I hope this introduction will have whetted your appetite and leave the rest of this and the other articles in this issue for your personal enjoyment and critique.