Pentecostalism and other forms of charismatic Christianity have often been absent from survey courses in the history of Christianity. In recent decades, these movements have been transforming the basic narrative of modern Christianity in the two-thirds world, and scholars have begun making efforts to acknowledge their importance. Such interest has begun highlighting particular issues like a paucity of sources and the hagiographic or reductionist character of much published work. With funding from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, the ISAE in April 2004 sponsored an invitational consultation on teaching about the Pentecostal and charismatic movements. How does one deal with these movements' forthright supernaturalism that runs counter to the secularism of the academy? How does one teach sensitively and fairly about radical piety and unverifiable claims? What strategies for the teaching of this subject best allow us to explore on their own terms the varieties of global Christianity that Western Christians tend to label "Pentecostal" or "charismatic"?

Given the explosion of Pentecostalism outside the West, we invited consultation participants to reflect on the connections between origins in specific social contexts in the United States and the movements' present trans-cultural expansion. Each consultation participant prepared a document that will soon be available on this website.

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Continue - I. Introduction