Making up approximately 20 percent of South India's Protestants, Pentecostals are an influential part of India's Christian culture, yet there is a distinct lack of scholarly focus on this incr
Making up approximately 20 percent of South India's Protestants, Pentecostals are an influential part of India's Christian culture, yet there is a distinct lack of scholarly focus on this increasingly large group. This careful, well-informed study by Michael Bergunder ably fills that gap.
After a brief historical introduction to the worldwide growth of Pentecostalism, Bergunder delves into the history of the South Indian Pentecostal movement in the first section. The second section gives a systematic profile of the current movement in South India, based on a wide range of source materials and on formal interviews with nearly two hundred leading pastors and evangelists. Bergunder finishes his work with prospects for the future. Three appendixes and an extended bibliography offer ample ground for further research.
Allan Anderson
— University of Birmingham, UK
"Michael Bergunder has woven a skillful tapestry of historical narrative from many strands, based on his declared method of establishing diachronous and synchronous networks and on comprehensive fieldwork. His rich theoretical analysis draws extensively from the South Indian religious context. This book will stand as a benchmark in the study of global Pentecostalism for years to come."
Cecil M. Robeck Jr.
— Fuller Theological Seminary
"The study of global Pentecostalism is just beginning to take off. Michael Bergunder is one of the emerging younger scholars who are working on issues related to global Pentecostalism. This book stands in the vanguard of much-needed regional studies that are bringing new light to important facets of the Pentecostal movement that have not previously received adequate attention. . . Bergunder emphasizes the international networks that made the movement possible and argues that Pentecostalism has been a global movement from the beginning. Clearly, this book will find its way into the center of future discussions on the origins, form, and contributions of Pentecostalism to contemporary understandings of Indian Christianity."
André Droogers
— Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
"The publication in English of Michael Bergunder's thorough study of South Indian Pentecostalism, originally published in German, makes a model study available to the English-speaking world. This book is a landmark study. . . Sets a standard for similar studies of Pentecostalism in other regions."
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