This article analyzes the usage of an object, specifically a rose, by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), a Brazilian Neo- Pentecostal church, in Brussels and London. In the belief that evil spiritual entities infest the world, the church employs, among other rituals, a consecrated rose to combat and expel them. This is aligned with the church’s guideline of spiritual warfare, an incessant battle between good and evil. The rose also offers other spiritual gifts, in line with an institutional interpretation of the Holy Spirit that extends beyond its own members. To analyze its conception of evil and the use of spiritually empowered objects, this paper examines the role of preaching and the process through which members are made potential manipulators of these objects upon others, challenging prevailing perspectives on ritual theory and the materiality of religion.
MAYFIELD, Alex R. The Kaleidoscopic City: Hong Kong, Mission, and the Evolution of Global Pentecostalism. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2023. 279pp. Hbk. ISBN: 9781481318976. €59.99.
HOMEWOOD, Nathanael J. Seductive Spirits: Deliverance, Demons, and Sexual Worldmaking in Ghanaian Pentecostalism. Redwood City, CA: University of Stanford Press, 2024. 292pp. Pbk. ISBN: 9781503637931. $120.
BJÖRKANDER, Martina. Worship, Ritual, and Pentecostal Spirituality-as-Theology: A Rhythm That Connects Our Hearts with God. Leiden: Brill, 2024. xvi + 488pp. Pbk. ISBN: 789004682429. €69.
ALEGRE, Rakel Ystebø, Torbjörn ARONSON and David M. GUSTAFSON (eds). Revising Pentecostal History: Scandinavian-American Contributions to the Development of Pentecostalism. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2024. 378pp. Pbk. ISBN: 9798385222117. $48.
CHAVES, João B. The Global Mission of the Jim Crow South: Southern Baptist Missionaries and the Shaping of Latin American Evangelicalism. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2022. xii + 228pp. Pbk. ISBN: 9780881468366. $35.
ROCHA, Cristina. Cool Christianity: Hillsong and the Fashioning of Cosmopolitan Identities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024. 240 pp. Hbk. ISBN: 9780197673201. £97.00.
I am very grateful to Judith Bachmann and Anna Kirchner for agreeing to edit this special issue, “Pentecostalism and Gender,” in order to make our stimulating Heidelberg conference discussions available to a wider audience. Special thanks go out to the three keynote presenters and their respondents, who have readily agreed to revise and publish their contributions here. The keynotes, responses, and rejoinders printed here superbly capture and continue the Heidelberg conversation, preceded by a brilliant introduction by the editors.
This response to Brendan Thornton’s work on Pentecostal masculinity in the Dominican Republic challenges the analytical frameworks commonly used to study gender in Global Pentecostalism. While affirming Thornton’s aim to broaden horizons in understanding religious gender dynamics, it argues against universalizing Western perspectives on gender and religion that risk “othering” Pentecostals in the Global South. Drawing from postcolonial critique and transcultural studies, the response problematizes established theories like the “Pentecostal gender paradox” and “reformation of machismo” as insufficient for understanding complex gender identities. Instead, it advocates for examining Pentecostal masculinity within broader global discourses and transcultural dynamics. The response concludes by proposing new research questions that consider how local and global religious practices intersect with multiple categories of identity, suggesting that future studies must apply a postcolonial self-critical perspective as well as an interdisciplinary approach to grasp more fully the fluidity of Pentecostal gender identities.
In this rejoinder to Claudia Jahnel’s response to my article “Ethnographic Excursions in the Pentecostal Making and Remaking of Men” I emphasize the (transcultural) fluidity of categories like gender and religion, underscore their social significance and dynamism, and stress the relevance of gender questions to Pentecostal converts globally.
KIRCHNER, Anna. Arabischsprachig und evangelikal in Israel. Identität im Konflikt. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2022. 297 pp. Hbk. ISBN: 9783110738834. €124.95.
KAUNDA, Chammah J. The Paradox of Becoming: Pentecostalicity, Planetarity, and Africanity. Religion and Society in Africa, Vol. 7. New York: Peter Lang, 2023. 252 pp. Hbk. ISBN: 9781636670317. €89.95.
LEPHOKO, Daniel S. Nicholas Bhekinkosi Hepworth Bhengu’s Lasting Legacy: World’s Best Black Soul Crusader. Pretoria: AOSIS, 2018. 350 pp. ISBN: 9781928396529. Open access.
This response discusses Keri Day’s contribution “Queering Azusa” from the vantage point of an Africa-related study of religion. It raises three questions regarding “queer Azusa”: The first is about the generalizability of Azusa as a queer theological resource; the second about the limitations of queering as a liberative register in African Pentecostal contexts; and the third about the im/possibility of constructing a genealogy while considering multiplicity. Acknowledging Day’s decolonial approach, the response points out that a focus on queer Azusa might rather reproduce coloniality by subordinating the multitude of social realities and practices to a single model. It thus argues for the decentering of Pentecostal history and an understanding of multiplicity that emphasizes relationality, emergences and continuous transformations.
EMMETT, David. W. F. P. Burton (1886–1971): A Pentecostal Pioneer’s Missional Vision for Congo. Leiden: Brill, 2021. xix + 330 pp. Pbk. ISBN: 9789004426171. €67.41.
How might a queer reading of the Azusa Street Revival of 1906 in Los Angeles, CA, help one engage with questions of anti-queer sentiment and practice, especially when assessing issues of gender and sexuality within contemporary Pentecostalisms? Drawing on my book Azusa Reimagined: A Radical Vision of Religious and Democratic Belonging, I suggest that Azusa can be interpreted in a queer register, which might assist Pentecostal communities when engaging with questions of gender and sexual difference. Specifically, I argue that the Azusa Street Revival is a queer theological resource, expanding how we understand queer religiosity itself and aiding contemporary Pentecostalisms when addressing questions of gender and sexual difference. To argue Azusa as a queer theological resource, I first briefly define what I mean by queer before offering a constructive queer interpretation of Azusa’s black religiosity. I then turn to historical snapshots of how Azusa operated outside of the constraints of gender performativity (to use feminist philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler’s words), as this community often challenged the biological essentialisms and gender norms of its day. Finally, I offer one way that Azusa’s Pentecostal experiences might empower theology to be a “fugitive” discourse, on the run and taking flight from prevailing norms and rules that disallow and even punish queer identity and experience.
This is a response to two questions scholar Eva Spies raises around my presentation, namely for whom Azusa is a queer theological resource as well as if there are alternative registers for empowerment other than refusal.
In this introduction to the special issue on Pentecostalism and Gender, the editors present new scholarly inquiries in the field, emerging from the 14th GloPent conference in Heidelberg (February 2024). Drawing on the keynote presentations by Keri Day, Brendan Thornton, and Naomi Richman, along with responses by Eva Spies, Claudia Jahnel, and Giovanni Maltese, the authors identify three key areas for advancing beyond Bernice Martin’s influential concept of the “Pentecostal gender paradox”. First, they argue for moving past binary frameworks of oppression versus emancipation by employing the concept of agency to better understand the complex motivations and strategies of Pentecostal actors. Second, they advocate for decentring dominant historiographical narratives, particularly those anchored on the Azusa Street revival, in order to acknowledge Pentecostalism’s diverse global–local entanglements. Third, they critique the “add and stir” approach to studying gender and Pentecostalism as separate entities, instead highlighting how gender is intrinsic to Pentecostal theology, practice, and identity formation. The authors emphasize that gender dynamics within Pentecostalism must be understood within broader global religious histories and transnational gender regimes, rather than solely as negotiations between global Pentecostal logics and local cultural structures. The contributions to this special issue demonstrate how categories like “Pentecostal” themselves carry gendered connotations within colonial and postcolonial contexts, suggesting new avenues for research that examine global entanglements while maintaining attention on local specificities.
RICHIE, Tony. Saved, Delivered and Healed: Introducing a Pentecostal Theology of Salvation. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022. 232pp. Pbk. ISBN: 9781666731439. £27.
BARBA, Lloyd D., Andrea Shan JOHNSON and Daniel RAMÍREZ (eds). Oneness Pentecostalism: Race, Gender, and Culture. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2023. 282 pp. Hbk. ISBN: 9780271094540. $114.95.
