Social Engagement in the Holiness and Pentecostal Movements

Pentecostal communities are often characterized as focused on personal salvation to the exclusion of engagement with society and culture at large. But as the contributions to this volume show, there is an astoundingly diverse array of traditions that identify with the Holiness, Radical Holiness, or Pentecostal movements, and each brings with it a long and complex history of social engagement—and, at times, disengagement—that needs to be examined in historical context.

Accordingly, this volume explores how churches (and individuals) influenced by Holiness and Pentecostal thought have offered aid to the needy, advocated for social justice, and situated themselves politically, all while navigating their own marginalization as religious communities. The chapters plumb histories of abolition, racial justice, rescue missions, and cultural politics—from African Methodism as a fulcrum for Black liberation to the Pentecostal practice of providing sanctuary for undocumented migrants, the Salvation Army’s fraught internationalism, and the development of blues, jazz, and gospel in the Sanctified churches. The book does not offer a single theological vision but rather unfurls for readers the richness of the Pentecostal, Holiness, and Radical Holiness movements’ pluralistic engagements with societies in their various contexts.

In addition to the editors, the contributors to this volume include Rebecca Carter-Chand, Dale M. Coulter, Dara Coleby Delgado, Dennis C. Dickerson, Amanda Koch, John Maiden, Priscilla Pope-Levison, Daniel Ramírez, and Randall J. Stephens.

“Among the many assumptions about the Holiness and Pentecostal movements, one prevalent one has been that these folk are ‘heavenly minded and no earthly good.’ The contributions in this important volume, instead, demonstrate there has been intentional and effective involvement in issues of social justice.; just as the movements themselves are diverse, so have been the approaches. What is particularly striking is the ways in which race all but predicts which issues will be addressed, as well as the approaches taken. This book not only challenges the popular myth, but opens the door to much-needed further conversation.”—Kimberly Ervin Alexander, author of Pentecostal Healing: Models of Theology and Practice

David Bundy is Associate Director of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre. He is the author of Keswick: A Bibliographic Introduction to the Higher Life Movements and Visions of Apostolic Mission: Scandinavian Pentecostal Mission to 1935 and coeditor of Holiness and Pentecostal Movements: Intertwined Pasts, Presents, and Futures. He is the founding editor of the Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association, now Journal of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity.

Geordan Hammond is Associate Professor of Methodist and Wesleyan Studies at Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He is the author of John Wesley in America: Restoring Primitive Christianity; coeditor of Holiness and Pentecostal Movements: Intertwined Pasts, Presents, and Futures; George Whitefield: Life, Context, and Legacy; and Religion, Gender, and Industry: Exploring Church and Methodism in a Local Setting; the founding editor of Wesley and Methodist Studies; and the associate general editor of the Wesley Works Editorial Project.

David Han is Director of Accreditation at the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada and an Honorary Fellow of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre. He is coeditor of Holiness and Pentecostal Movements: Intertwined Pasts, Presents, and Futures.

History

           History of Religion

Religious Studies & Religion

           History of Religion

Sociology

           Sociology of Religion

           Comparative Religions