This book lives up to its claim to study global Pentecostalism, not because it covers it country by country, but because it is grounded in the places in the world where Pentecostalism has had a major impact on society. These places are Brazil, sub-Saharan Africa, China, Russia and the Ukraine, India and the Philippines. However, the case of the Philippines, the reflections relate mainly to the Catholic Charismatic Movement, the largest Pentecostal/charismatic group in the country.

The book is written from a sociological point of view and the focus is detailing Pentecostalism’s impact on things like economics, community life, and politics. Other issues, such as one’s relationship with God and dealing with the ever-present spirit world in the Majority World, are noted (p. 116) but not considered in depth.

The layout of the book is straightforward and not divided into sections. Following Hefner’s introductory chapter, “The Unexpected Modern—Gender, Piety and Politics in the Global Pentecostal Surge,” there are a total of eight lengthy chapters. (1) “Pentecostalism: An Alternative Form of Modernity and Modernization,” by David Martin. (2) “The Future of Pentecostalism in Brazil: The Limits to Growth,” by Paul Freston. (3) “Social Mobility and Politics in African Pentecostal Modernity,” by David Maxwell. (4) “Tensions and Trends in Pentecostal Gender and Family Relations,” by Bernice Martin. (5) “Gender, Modernity, and Pentecostal Christianity in China,” by Nanlai Cao. (6) “The Routinization of Soviet Pentecostalism and the Liberation of Charisma in Russia and Ukraine,” by Christopher Marsh and Artyom Tonoyan. (7) “Pentecost amid Pujas: Charismatic Christianity and Dalit Women in Twenty-First Century India,” by Rebecca Samuel Shah and Timothy Samuel Shah. (8) “Politics, Education and Civic Participation: Catholic Charismatic Modernities in the Philippines,” by Katharine L. Wiegele. Peter Berger’s afterward then sums up the book excellently by tying the articles together.

As Hefner and others note (p. 9) Pentecostalism focuses much more on personal rebirth or transformation than social structural change. All authors report, however, that the personal transformation also brings positive to change to families and communities. Men no longer visit the bars and brothels and pour their resources into their families instead, providing social lift. Women, who are often oppressed in male dominated societies, find their voices in the Pentecostal Movement. Martin, for example, mentions that women are often used in prophecy (p. 38). Transformed individuals then, do positively impact broader society.

A lot of attention is given throughout the book to the impact of the prosperity gospel in the Majority World. Much of the impact has been positive, although the prosperity gospel in these regions is much less focused on money than its American counterpart and appears to be more along the line of Yonggi Cho’s three-fold blessing prosperity gospel based on 3 John 2.

Doug Beacham, General Superintendent of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, shares a timely challenge about giving an answer for the hope within us.

The year 2008 is shaping up as an unusually violent period of natural disasters around the world. In the United States tornados are destroying homes, business, and in some cases, entire towns, at a record pace. Myanmar (Burma) had the double calamity of a devastating typhoon and a paralyzed police-state response. China continues to crumble from the effects of the earthquake in Sichuan province that left over 60,000 dead and thousands more injured and homeless.

I’ve wondered what the Christian response will be to these contemporary natural problems, as well as our continued response to the front page issues of terrorism, war, poverty, AIDS, malaria, and a host of other issues confronting our troubled world. I pray our response will be similar to what Rodney Stark describes in how Christians in the first three centuries of our era responded. In The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries, Stark showed that when epidemics, fires, earthquakes, and ethnic violence spread through densely populated cities, the Christian commitment to love one’s neighbor gave Christians a reason to stay in the mess, while rulers, philosophers, and pagan religious leaders fled to the countryside. Yes, many Christians died nursing their neighbors, but others became immune and established networks of care, love, and faithfulness.

Stark wrote, “To cities filled with the homeless and impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as hope. To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an immediate basis for attachments. To cities filled with orphans and widows, Christianity provided a new and expanded sense of family. To cities torn by violent ethnic strife, Christianity offered a new basis for social solidarity. And to cities faced with epidemics, fires, and earthquakes, Christianity offered effective nursing services.”¹