Protestant Pentecostalism in Latin America: A Study in the Dynamics of Missions

Rating:
Summary: AN IMMENSE CONTRIBUTION
Review: I have read Protestant Pentecostalism, by Dr. Karl-Wilhelm Westmeier, with great enthusiasm. I believe this is an immense contribution to the understanding of missions and Protestant Christianity in Latin America. The book should be required reading for all our seminarians, pastors, denominational leaders and students of Latin American church history. For the Puerto Rican Evangelicals, who reflect on the beginning and development of the Protestant presence before and after 1898, this work represents a critical perspective which should be studied and appreciated by all of us. The bibliographic resources used in the book are stupendous. The bibliography is a contribution in and of itself. From a pedagogical and methodological point of view, the author allows the readers to weight the different positions and come to their own conclusions, yet, in spite of this, is completely transparent as to his own position. His observations on "scientific objectivity" are another great contribution. The reader of this investigative work will immediately become aware of the complexity of the task of finding a "definition" for the reality of Latin American Protestantism, which is of great importance for the ecclesiastic and academic circles. The value of this book lies not only in that it is a work of a scholar in the subject, but that it is also written by a person who is committed to the Gospel and has worked as missionary, pastor and professor in Latin American seminaries. The author's critique of some of the traditional understanding and positions of our Evangelical churches constitute one of his major contributions. I recommend that the book be translated into Spanish so that university professors can incorporate it into their courses. I congratulate the author for his work and am certain that it will become a great blessing to many.