New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, The

Rating:
Summary: Good First Effort But Needs Improvement.
Review: Considering that this is virtually the first attempt (as far as I know) at a Dictionary of the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, this is a good start. It is worth the price for what it does contain but it is not without glaringflaws.The title "International" leads one to expect much more coverage of Pentecost outside of the U.S. Canada, where Pentecostal movements thrived in parallel with those in the U.S., is given very scanty treatment.Some major early Canadian apostles, such as O.J. Lovik, are skipped entirely. There is also too much opportunity given for some controversial movements to propagandize. A balanced article would necessitate an article by an unbiased observer, rather than by the leaders of those movements.Finally, there is too much credence and space given to sociological assessments of a movement that requires, above all else, keen spiritual discernment to separate the wheat from the chaff. That said, I will consult my copy often, for the great amount of useful material it does contain.

Rating:
Summary: Great Reference
Review: This is a great reference book containing a virtually endless source of information regarding terminology, people, events, doctrinal issues, organizations, etc. concerning the Pentecostal/Charismatic movements across the entire world. This book contains many charts, diagrams, pictures, maps, and statistics that would be very useful for those who are doing any sort of research. Whenever possible (which is very frequently) each topic that is presented contains further bibliographical information for further research.

My only complaint with the book is that sometimes some of the various contributors to any number of topics can often be uncritical, and are obviously just writing from a highly biased view point, with little regard to other view points from other charismatic/pentecostal circles are- and this can be deceptive. For example, on "Spiritual Warfare", the author of this topic is writing from what I would regard as a dangerous point of view, and consider it heretical. And the bibliographic references would only lead people to further error, disregarding more balanced, more scriptural views.

However, I have found my own complaint (so far) to be the exception, rather than the rule. Most of what I have read seems to present a balanced view of things...though there are so many things discussed in this book that it would be impossible to independently verify.

This is a must have book for anybody with remotely any interest in pentecostal/charismatic studies.