In this book David Martin brings together a coherent summary of his many years of ground-breaking academic work on the sociology of religion. Covering key and contentious areas from the last half-century such as secularisation, religion and violence, and the global rise of Pentecostalism, it presents a critical recuperation of these themes, some of them first initiated by the author, and a review of their reception history. It then reviews that reception history in a way that discusses not only the subjects themselves, but also the academic practices that have surrounded them. As such, this collection is vital reading for all academics with an interest in David Martin’s work, as well as those involved with the sociology of religion and the study of secularisation more generally.
In this book David Martin brings together a coherent summary of his many years of ground-breaking academic work on the sociology of religion. Covering key and contentious areas from the last half century such as secularisation, religion and violence and the global rise of Pentecostalism, it presents a critical recuperation of these themes, some of them first initiated by the author, and a review of their reception history. As such, this collection is vital reading for all academics with an interest in David Martin’s work as well as those involved with the sociology of religion and the study of secularisation more generally.
Conversion and the shifting discourse of violence -- Spreading like fire: the growth of Pentecostalism among tribals -- Taking refuge in Christ: four narratives on religious conversion -- Becoming believers: Adivasi women and the Pentecostal church -- Encountering the alien: Hindutva politics and anti-Christian violence -- Beyond the competing projects of conversion
The Future of Christianity offers a mature assessment of themes preoccupying David Martin over some fifty years, and acts as a complement to his earlier volume, On Secularization. Particular themes of focus include the dialectic of Christianity and secularization, the relation of Christianity to multiple enlightenments and modes of modernity, the enigmas of East Germany and Eastern Europe, and the rise of the transnational religious voluntary association, including Pentecostalism, as that feeds into vast religious changes in the developing world.
The Pentecostal movement has turned the world of religion upside down in the last century but had only sporadic impact on Europe, the traditional centre of Christendom. This book uses Denmark as its case study to work out why.
Cavanaugh challenges conventional wisdom by examining how the twin categories of religion and the secular are constructed. He examines how timeless and transcultural categories of 'religion and 'the secular' are used in arguments that religion causes violence.
Sociologist David Martin has framed the secularization debate, guided Pentecostal studies, and shaped the scholarly study of religion. Martin's work possesses both theoretical depth and global perspective. This reader celebrates his best and most important work. It is essential reading for scholars and students who want to learn more about modernization and cultural change, Pentecostalism and the Global South, peace and violence, religion and sociology, and theology and politics.
This book documents some of the pacifist and social justice convictions of early Pentecostals, many of whom were called traitors, slackers, cranks, and weak-minded people for extending Jesus' love beyond racial, ethnic, and national boundaries. They wrestled with citizenship and Jesus' prohibitions on killing. They rejected nation-worship, war profiteering, wage slavery, patriotic indoctrination, militarism, and Wall Street politics--and many suffered for it. They criticized governments and churches that, in wartime, endorsed the very thing forbidden in their sacred book and civil laws. They recognized the dangers of loving your country too much, even more than Jesus and his words, and viewed nation-loyalty as a distraction from a higher and more inclusive loyalty--devotion to God. These articles, once accessible only to academics, are now available to the public. These voices, often forgotten within today's mainstream Pentecostal history, offer an opportunity to revisit the passions of early Pentecostal leaders and to examine Pentecostalism in fresh ways. ""This edited collection brings together texts that illustrate how a significant number of early Pentecostals criticized instances of institutionalized violence and reflected on various themes surrounding social justice that are still familiar to twenty-first-century readers. These texts were often controversial, some of their assumptions are problematic and rather reactionary, but in the main they provoke necessary reflections for contemporary Christian communities. Presented together, they also constitute a valuable resource for those wishing to study the many writings of early Pentecostal on nonviolence."" --Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, author of Christian Anarchism ""This timely witness to nonviolent peacemaking is a most welcome resource when violence is everywhere around us and 'terror is on every side.' This wide selection of testimony speaks urgently against the long-standing and current illusion of US morality in international affairs. The editors have patiently sorted out valuable and often forgotten voices of courageous truth-telling, not least Frank Bartleman. This choir of witnesses has an immediacy and practicality for our time and place in our season of faith."" --Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary ""When you think of Christians committed to peace and social justice, Pentecostals may not be the first folks who come to mind. But this book is about to blow your mind and shatter your stereotypes. These authors are Pentecostal insiders, and they know their history. Here is a book that shows that not only are peace and social justice compatible with Pentecostalism, they are inseparable from it."" --Shane Claiborne Brian K. Pipkin, MA, MAR, is Academic Affairs and Communications Administrator at Palmer Seminary of Eastern University and works with The Sider Center for Ministry and Public Policy. He is Managing Editor of Pax Pneuma: The Journal of Pentecostals and Charismatics for Peace and Justice (pcpj.org) and co-editor of Pentecostal and Holiness Statements on War and Peace (2013). Jay Beaman, PhD, is a sociologist and administrative faculty member doing research at Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of Pentecostal Pacifism (2009) and co-editor of Pentecostal and Holiness Statements on War and Peace (2013). Beaman manages a website on Pentecostal and Holiness pacifism (pentecostalpacifism.com).
