The New Canadian Pentecostals takes readers into the everyday religious lives of the members of three Pentecostal congregations located in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Using the rich qualitative and quantitative data gathered through participant observation, personal interviews, and surveys conducted within these congregations, Adam Stewart provides the first book-length study focusing on the specific characteristics of Canadian Pentecostal identity, belief, and practice. Stewart asserts that Pentecostalism remains an important tradition in the Canadian religious landscape—contrary to the assumptions of many Canadian sociologists and scholars of religion. Recent decreases in Canadian Pentecostal affiliation recorded by Statistics Canada are not the result of Pentecostals abandoning their congregations; rather, they are indicative of a radical transformation from traditionally Pentecostal to generically evangelical modes of religious identity, belief, and practice that are changing the ways that Pentecostals understand and explain their religious identities. The case study presented in this book suggests that a new breed of Canadian Pentecostals are emerging for whom traditional definitions and expressions of Pentecostalism are much less important than religious autonomy and individualism.

This volume sensibly examines whether an inconsistency exists between a Canadian Pentecostal denomination's trinitarian statement of faith and the songs they most commonly sing. Colin Gunton's trinitarian theology is utilized as a framework for this landmark analysis.

The Canadian Pentecostal Experience includes eighteen essays organized into three themes: 1) Historiography and Early Canadian Pentecostalism; 2) Theological Practices and Processes; and 3) Social and Cultural Change. This collection makes a significant contribution to the growing literature of global Pentecostal scholarship. The works are important for the Canadian context but as the editors argue in the Introduction, Canadian Pentecostalism is “glocal” (shaped by both local and global realities). This collection will interest readers drawn from the wider field of religious studies and global Pentecostalism to initiate conversations about how Pentecostalism evolves in both its local and global expressions.

This volume offers a landmark analysis of the trinitarian impulses in contemporary worship music used by the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC). It considers whether the lyrics from the most commonly used PAOC songs are consistent with this Evangelical group’s trinitarian statement of faith. Colin Gunton’s trinitarian theology provides the theological rationale for eight original and qualitative content analyses of these songs. Three major areas are considered—the doctrine of God, human personhood, and cosmology. Making use of Gunton’s notions of relationality, particularity, and perichoresis, along with several key Pentecostal scholars, this book serves as a helpful descriptive and prescriptive theological resource for the dynamic practice of a trinitarian faith.

The New Canadian Pentecostals takes readers into the everyday religious lives of the members of three Pentecostal congregations located in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Using the rich qualitative and quantitative data gathered through participant observation, personal interviews, and surveys conducted within these congregations, Adam Stewart provides the first book-length study focusing on the specific characteristics of Canadian Pentecostal identity, belief, and practice. Stewart asserts that Pentecostalism remains an important tradition in the Canadian religious landscape—contrary to the assumptions of many Canadian sociologists and scholars of religion. Recent decreases in Canadian Pentecostal affiliation recorded by Statistics Canada are not the result of Pentecostals abandoning their congregations; rather, they are indicative of a radical transformation from traditionally Pentecostal to generically evangelical modes of religious identity, belief, and practice that are changing the ways that Pentecostals understand and explain their religious identities. The case study presented in this book suggests that a new breed of Canadian Pentecostals are emerging for whom traditional definitions and expressions of Pentecostalism are much less important than religious autonomy and individualism.

Evangelical pastor, talk-show host, politician. Pentecostal Preacher Woman explores the life of the Reverend Bernice Gerard (1923–2008), one of the most influential spiritual figures of twentieth-century British Columbia, whose complicated blend of social conservatism and social compassion has lessons for our polarized times. Coming out of a difficult childhood, Gerard was attracted to Pentecostalism’s emphasis on direct personal experience of God and the use of spiritual gifts, and she became a widely travelled international evangelist. As a pastor, radio personality, and alderman, she was a compelling communicator for the Christian right and an ardent critic of liberal social mores, yet she supported social justice for refugees, Indigenous people, and Vancouver’s homeless population. She remained rooted in patriarchal religious institutions but practised a kind of feminism and shared her life with a female partner. Based on Reverend Gerard’s personal archives and writings, Pentecostal Preacher Woman traces the complex evolution of a conservative woman’s ideas about faith and society.

Pentecostalism is one of the most significant modern movements in global Christianity today. A mixture of ecstatic expression and earnest piety, metaphysical nuance and embodied spirituality, it is far more than the stereotype of a supernatural sideshow. In this presumably secular era, Pentecostalism continues to grow, adapting to a diverse religious marketplace and becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Originally an American phenomenon, it is now a globe-spanning religion. In this book, Arlene M. Sánchez Walsh provides a thematic overview of Pentecostalism in America, covering Pentecostal faith and practices, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, trends and offshoots, and the future of American Pentecostalism. She also considers Pentecostalism’s spiritual lineages, examining colorful leaders, ordinary adherents, and prominent outliers, as well as its deep roots in American popular culture. She examines Pentecostalism as a narrative performance, aiming to explain what Pentecostalism is through the experiences and stories of its adherents. Sánchez Walsh treats this Christian movement with the critical eye it has often lacked, and places it in context within the larger narrative of American religious history. An indispensable introduction to Pentecostalism, rich with insights for experienced readers, Pentecostals in America is an essential study of a vibrant religious movement.

This volume explores issues and themes related to violence against women. The contributing authors approach the topic from a Pentecostal perspective both in the way they assess the pervasiveness and urgency of the problem and in the solutions they propose.

The story of the consecrated life in Canada since the 1960s should be about much more than numerical decline. Although the falling numbers are significant among Catholic religious in communities that pre-date Vatican II, many communities continue to show stability and even growth. This book provides nuance to that story by adding detailed portraits of movements, communities and institutions. In four parts, this book presents essays from the leading scholars on religious life in Canada that seek to address the state of religious communities dedicated to religious virtuosity normally characterized by formal promises of chastity, poverty, and obedience. The essays examine a broad range of topics related to the general state of consecrated (or “religious” or “monastic”) life in contemporary Canadian Christian and Buddhist traditions. In the first section, the contributors trace the demographics and definitions of religious life in Canada. The second section examines Canadian developments in Catholic religious life during the Vatican II and the post-Vatican II eras. A third section explores trends in contemporary Canadian religious life, while the fourth section describes the consecrated life in other Canadian religious traditions.

The term 'North American Pentecostalism' may now be shelved beside other phrases that have lost their meaning. With the publication of the Canadian Pentecostal Reader, there is Canadian primary source material ready at hand to challenge the prevailing idea of a homogeneous continental Pentecostal experience that originated at the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles. Mittelstadt and Courtney have made available in one book the earliest newsletters of Canadian Pentecostalism (1907¿1925), with each publication introduced by sections on 'The People' and 'The Publication'. The historical background work is commendable and revealing: the authors have uncovered little-known Canadian pioneers and their publications. Within these pages you will hear Pentecostal themes delivered with a Canadian accent. These emphases reflect the northern sensibilities of Canadian Pentecostals influenced not only by those south of their border but also by those across the pond in Britain. Canadian Pentecostalism owes a debt to the authors for their commitment to the painstaking transcription process from original publication to book format. They deliver to us the standard resource for early Canadian Pentecostalism. ¿ Van Johnson, Dean, Master's Pentecostal Seminary and Director of the MTS in Pentecostal Studies, Tyndale University, Toronto, Ontario