Pentecostalism: The World Their Parish (Religion and Modernity)

Rating:
Summary: Still the road to the middle class
Review: Ten years ago in 'Tongues of Fire' David Martin introduced educated readers to the astonishing explosion of Pentecostalism in Latin America. Now he updates the story with fieldwork done by his proteges and others in the 1990s. And he shows how Pentecostalism is burgeoning in Africa, Korea, and China. It's simple really. Enthusiastic Christianity is still the best bridge between the instinctive, fatalistic life on the land and the directed, purposeful life in the city.

This is an important book for anyone trying to grasp the meaning and the future of religion in the modern world. See also Steve Bruce 'God is Dead' and Stark & Finke, 'Acts of Faith' for opposing views on the vigor of religion in the west.