The dream of restoring primitive Christianity lies close to the core of the identity of some American denominations---Churches of Christ, Latter-day Saints, some Mennonites, and a variety of Holiness and Pentecostal denominations. But how can a return to ancient Christianity be sustained in a world increasingly driven by modernization? What meaning might such a vision have in the modern world? Twelve distinguished scholars explore these and related questions in this provocative book.

The five-volume Oxford History of Dissenting Protestant Traditions series is governed by a motif of migration ('out-of-England'). It first traces organized church traditions that arose in England as Dissenters distanced themselves from a state church defined by diocesan episcopacy, the Book of Common Prayer, the Thirty-Nine Articles, and royal supremacy, but then follows those traditions as they spread beyond England -and also traces newer traditions that emerged downstream in other parts of the world from earlier forms of Dissent. Secondly, it does the same for the doctrines, church practices, stances toward state and society, attitudes toward Scripture, and characteristic patterns of organization that also originated in earlier English Dissent, but that have often defined a trajectory of influence independent ecclesiastical organizations. The Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions, Volume III considers the Dissenting traditions of the United Kingdom, the British Empire, and the United States in the nineteenth century. It provides an overview of the historiography on Dissent while making the case for seeing Dissenters in different Anglophone connections as interconnected and conscious of their genealogical connections. The nineteenth century saw the creation of a vast Anglo-world which also brought Anglophone Dissent to its apogee. Featuring contributions from a team of leading scholars, the volume illustrates that in most parts of the world the later nineteenth century was marked by a growing enthusiasm for the moral and educational activism of the state which plays against the idea of Dissent as a static, purely negative identity. This collection shows that Dissent was a political and constitutional identity, which was often only strong where a dominant Church of England existed to dissent against.

Taking the influential work of Arthur Huff Fauset as a starting point to break down the false dichotomy that exists between mainstream and marginal, a new generation of scholars offers fresh ideas for understanding the religious expressions of African Americans in the United States. Fauset's 1944 classic, Black Gods of the Metropolis, launched original methods and theories for thinking about African American religions as modern, cosmopolitan, and democratic. The essays in this collection show the diversity of African American religion in the wake of the Great Migration and consider the full field of African American religion from Pentecostalism to Black Judaism, Black Islam, and Father Divine's Peace Mission Movement. As a whole, they create a dynamic, humanistic, and thoroughly interdisciplinary understanding of African American religious history and life. This book is essential reading for anyone who studies the African American experience.

Harrell's connections with these religious movements point to his deeper ongoing concerns with class, gender, and race as core factors behind religious institutions, and he has unblinkingly investigated a wide range of social dynamics.

The ten essays in this volume explore the vast diversity of religions in the United States, from Judaic, Catholic, and African American to Asian, Muslim, and Native American traditions. Chapters on religion and the South, religion and gender, indigenous sectarian religious movements, and the metaphysical tradition round out the collection. The contributors examine the past, present, and future of American religion, first orienting readers to historiographic trends and traditions of interpretation in each area, then providing case studies to show their vision of how these areas should be developed. Full of provocative insights into the complexity of American religion, this volume helps us better understand America's religious history and its future challenges and directions.

This book is intended for all those with an interest in New England Puritanism, American evangelicalism, the history of revivalism, or the history of pastoral ministry.

"Based on impressive research, the author has offered the spiritual heirs of A. B. Simpson, as well as the larger church world, an accurate interpretation of Simpson's spiritual pilgrimage. The information about Simpson's belief in speaking in tongues and the ministries of those who remained or left the Alliance over the issue, provides valuable insights into the close relationship between the organization and emerging Pentecostal movement." -- Gary B. McGee Professor of Church History, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary "It is good news indeed that Charles Nienkirchen's A. B. Simpson and the Pentecostal Movement is being republished. This is a very important and well written work which sheds light not only on A. B. Simpson's quest for the tongues-attested baptism in the Holy Spirit but on the milieu surrounding the early spread of Pentecostalism in America and especially in the Christian and Missionary Alliance. This is a historical treasure." --Vinson Synan, Dean Emeritus Regent University School of Divinity "Simpson has long deserved an in-depth study. A pivotal turn-of-the-century figure who never found full acceptance in any wing of American evangelicalism, this prolific Canadian nonetheless profoundly influenced popular evangelicalism and Anglo-American Pentecostalism. Nienkirchen makes careful use of long-unused primary sources to illuminate Simpson's relationship to early Pentecostalism. The result is a suggestive work that offers perceptive insights into early Pentecostalism and the context from which it emerged." -- Edith L. Blumhofer Project Director Institute for the Study of American Evangelicalism, Wheaton "Nienkirchen provides a splendid study of the relationship of A. B. Simpson to Pentecostalism. This book demonstrates wide knowledge of primary materials and great care in documentation (with about one-third of the text devoted to footnote material). Nienkirchen clearly delineates the major elements in Simpson's religious thought and gives attention to the most significant ways in which his thought changed. His major interest in this book focuses on the ways in which Simpson influenced the formation of early Pentecostalism. Pentecostals accept some elements of Simpson's teaching and rejected or modified others, but Nienkirchen argues persuasively the case for Simpson's importance in understanding Pentecostalism; moreover, he clearly illustrates specific ways -- both direct and indirect -- in which that influence was felt in the complex story of early holiness-pentecostal relationships." -- William Pitts Professor of Church History Baylor University "Charles Nienkirchen has supplied those interested in the history and theology of American Evangelicalism, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, or the Pentecostal movement with an invaluable reference tool and an interpretive lens through which to understand them. This 'must-read' has shown its worth by remaining as relevant, informative and provocative as when it first went to press." --Bernie A. Van De Walle Associate Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology Ambrose University College and Seminary Calgary, AB "In A. B. Simpson and the Pentecostal Movement, Charles Nienkirken has combined prodigious research with mastery of historical and theological sources to produce a superb study of Simpson's relationship with early pentecostalism. This is a most important and useful work." -- Randall Balmer Barnard College, Columbia University

A survey of religious traditions practiced in the United States as of 2002, covering the religious histories of Africans, American Indians, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Spanish-speakers, and Asians. Includes definitions and pronunciations of religious terms.

The Pentecostal Manifestos series aims to speak for and to a rising, outward-looking generation of Pentecostal scholarship. Written by both established and newly emerging scholars, the various "manifesto" volumes are to be creative statements, marked by rigorous theological scholarship, reflecting a distinctly Pentecostal engagement with wider themes and concerns in Christian thought today. --