Cover: Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture, from Harvard University PressCover: Heaven Below in PAPERBACK

Heaven Below

Early Pentecostals and American Culture

Product Details

PAPERBACK

Print on Demand

$32.00 • £27.95 • €29.95

ISBN 9780674011281

Publication Date: 04/30/2003

Academic Trade

384 pages

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 inches

World

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In this lively history of the rise of pentecostalism in the United States, Grant Wacker gives an in-depth account of the religious practices of pentecostal churches as well as an engaging picture of the way these beliefs played out in daily life.

The core tenets of pentecostal belief—personal salvation, Holy Ghost baptism, divine healing, and anticipation of the Lord’s imminent return—took root in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Wacker examines the various aspects of pentecostal culture, including rituals, speaking in tongues, the authority of the Bible, the central role of Jesus in everyday life, the gifts of prophecy and healing, ideas about personal appearance, women’s roles, race relations, attitudes toward politics and the government. Tracking the daily lives of pentecostals, and paying close attention to the voices of individual men and women, Wacker is able to identify the reason for the movement’s spectacular success: a demonstrated ability to balance idealistic and pragmatic impulses, to adapt distinct religious convictions in order to meet the expectations of modern life.

More than twenty million American adults today consider themselves pentecostal. Given the movement’s major place in American religious life, the history of its early years—so artfully told here—is of central importance.

Awards & Accolades

  • 2002 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion, Historical Studies Category, American Academy of Religion
  • 2002 Christianity Today Book Award, History/Biography Category

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