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This book explores how members of one religious group with a strong apocalyptic tradition — Kensington Temple, a large Pentecostal church in London — reconciled doctrines of the end of the world with the demands of their everyday lives. It is shown that they subjected these doctrines to a process of scrutiny, moderating and marginalizing them in response to a so-called the “Problem of the End”, the tendency of apocalyptic discourse to predict things that do not happen. In doing so, they employed the same subjective rationality that they applied to all manner of risky religious claims, such as those relating to miraculous healing. In effect, they were testing hypotheses not in a scientific fashion, but according to the dictates of common sense. These findings are difficult to reconcile with the notion that there is a single psychological or material cause of millenarianism.

In this work, Anderson Blanton illuminates how prayer, faith, and healing are intertwined with technologies of sound reproduction and material culture in the charismatic Christian worship of southern Appalachia. From the radios used to broadcast prayer to the curative faith cloths circulated through the postal system, material objects known as spirit-matter have become essential since the 1940s, Blanton argues, to the Pentecostal community's understanding and performances of faith. Hittin' the Prayer Bones draws on Blanton's extensive site visits with church congregations, radio preachers and their listeners inside and outside the broadcasting studios, and more than thirty years of recorded charismatic worship made available to him by a small Christian radio station. In documenting the transformation and consecration of everyday objects through performances of communal worship, healing prayer, and chanted preaching, Blanton frames his ethnographic research in the historiography of faith healing and prayer, as well as theoretical models of materiality and transcendence. At the same time, his work affectingly conveys the feelings of horror, healing, and humor that are unleashed in practitioners as they experience, in their own words, the sacred, healing presence of the Holy Ghost.

This book explores and enhances historical understandings of Christian communities, cultures, and institutions within the Indian world from their beginnings down to the present. As one out of several manifestations of a newly emerging World Christianity, in which Christians of a Post-Christian West are a minority, it focuses upon those trans-cultural interactions within Hindu and Muslim environments which have made Christians in this part of the world distinctive. It seeks to uncover various complexities in the proliferation of Christianity in its many forms, and to examine processes by which Christian elements intermingled with indigenous cultures and which resulted in multiple identities, and also left imprints upon various cultures of India. Thomas Christians believe that the Apostle Thomas came to India in 52 AD/CE, and that he left seven congregations to carry on the Mission of bringing the Gospel to India. In our day, the impulse of this Mission is more alive than ever. Catholics, in three hierarchies, have become most numerous; and various Evangelicals/Protestant communities constitute the third great tradition. With the rise of Pentecostalism, a fourth great wave of Christian expansion in India has occurred. Starting with movements that began a century ago, there are now ten to fifteen times more missionaries than ever before, virtually all of them Indian. Needless to say, Christianity in India is profoundly Indian.

This book is the story of the Metropolitan Church Association (MCA) an intentional religious community founded in Chicago and later Waukesha, Wisconsin in the early 1890s. A product of the holiness revival of the late nineteenth century and an important catalyst for Pentecostalism the MCA played a significant role in the twentieth century growth of Pentecostal Christianity and were one of the dozens of evangelical communal societies that flourished between 1890 and 1917. As one of the most controversial communal societies of the era, its members were commonly known as ‘holy jumpers’ because of their acrobatic worship style, or ‘Burning Bushers’ because of their acerbic periodical the Burning Bush. The book shows the MCA’s impact on the lives of such key figures in twentieth century Evangelism as popular evangelists Bud Robinson and Seth C. Rees, and self designated first women bishop, Alma White; and such key figures in Pentecostalism as A. G. Garr and Glenn Cook. The book makes three crucial contributions to an understanding of American religion and culture. First, it provides important background material on the origins of Pentecostalism. Secondly it clarifies the internal struggles within the Holiness Movement. It is precisely these currents that came to dominate in the new churches being organized in America, Africa and Asia. Thirdly, this book demonstrates the ease that holiness radicals embraced and created elements of modern culture from gospel music, art calendars (Scripture Text Calendar) to communication.

In 2006, the contemporary American Pentecostal movement celebrated its 100th birthday. Over that time, its African American sector has been markedly influential, not only vis-à-vis other branches of Pentecostalism but also throughout the Christian church. Black Christians have been integrally involved in every aspect of the Pentecostal movement since its inception and have made significant contributions to its founding as well as the evolution of Pentecostal/charismatic styles of worship, preaching, music, engagement of social issues, and theology. Yet despite its being one of the fastest growing segments of the Black Church, Afro-Pentecostalism has not received the kind of critical attention it deserves. This book examines different facets of the movement, including its early history, issues of gender, relations with other black denominations, intersections with popular culture, and missionary activities, as well as the movement's distinctive theology. The chapters reflect on the state of the movement, chart its trajectories, discuss pertinent issues, and anticipate future developments.

This book examines the dynamic interplay between scripture and society. Kling traces the story of how specific biblical texts have at different times emerged to be the inspiration of movements that have changed the course of history. He selects eight specific texts (sometimes a single verse, other times a selection of verses or chapters, even books) and demonstrates how each shaped the direction of Christian history. These texts include the story of the rich young ruler (Matthew 19: 16–22) as an inspiration for Anthony and the beginnings of monasticism; the “Petrine text” (Matthew 16:18) as the basis for the papacy; the centrality of the Song of Songs in medieval Christendom, particularly as interpreted through the mystical leanings of Bernard of Clairvaux; Romans 1:17 and its influence upon Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation; Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, embraced by Anabaptists as a call to radical discipleship, including pacifism; the varied applications of the exodus motif and Moses figures in African-American history, from slavery to Martin Luther King to liberation theology; the Book of Acts with its references to the outpouring of the Spirit and speaking in tongues as the basis for the rise of modern Pentecostalism; and Galatians 3:28, which has been adopted by feminists as a rallying cry for women’s ordination. Kling’s study demonstrates that scripture has functioned in a dialectical interplay of influences; texts have shaped history and history has shaped the interpretation of texts. Specifically, texts have functioned in at least five ways: (1) as transforming agents to another way of thinking and acting, believing and behaving; (2) as recreated meaning, undergoing multiple interpretations and applications; (3) as comprehending sources, drawing other biblical texts into their thematic orbit; (4) as hermeneutical keys unlocking the essential meaning in or resolving tensions within scripture; and (5) as secondary justifications, legitimizing after the fact to support existing historical realities.