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Revising Pentecostal History
Scandinavian-American Contributions to the Development of Pentecostalism
Edited by Rakel Ystebø Alegre, Torbjörn Aronson and David M. Gustafson
Foreword by Cecil M. Robeck Jr.
Afterword by David Bundy
Imprint: Pickwick Publications
Modern Pentecostalism in America began around the turn of the twentieth century and most historians of this history have drawn from the available English-language sources. Very few historians of American Pentecostalism knew of source materials in the Scandinavian languages of Norwegian and Swedish. This present volume argues that American Pentecostal history cannot be understood apart from both the texts and the people who participated in and contributed to the Pentecostal movement in America, including first-generation immigrants from Scandinavia and second-generation Scandinavian-Americans.
Revising Pentecostal History describes ways in which Scandinavian-Americans have contributed to and played a role in the development of the Pentecostal movement. The volume presents crucial findings from rarely, if ever, used sources that inform how American Pentecostalism is understood. These findings prompt a revising of Pentecostal history.
RAKEL YSTEBØ ALEGRE is associate professor of church history at Norwegian School of Leadership and Theology, Oslo, Norway, and dean of la Universidad Evangélica in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
TORBJÖRN ARONSON is rector and professor of church history at Scandinavian School of Theology, Uppsala, Sweden, and professor-at-large at Southeastern University, Lakeland, Florida.
DAVID M. GUSTAFSON is professor and chair of mission and evangelism at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois, and affiliate docent at Johannelund School of Theology in Uppsala, Sweden.
“This volume forms one of the most important contributions to the study of (mostly) American Pentecostalism produced in the past decade. Based on deep research in multiple languages, the text is consistently lucid, clearly argued, and responsibly positioned between the heartfelt affection of the insider on one hand and the critical training of the academic outsider on the other. The book’s many virtues include how it shows the ethnic complexity, theological richness, and missional energy of the Scandinavian stream within the Pentecostal tradition. The editors have given us a first-rate anthology entirely worthy of its compelling topic.”
—Grant Wacker, professor emeritus of Christian history, Duke Divinity School
“I know of no other volume that even comes close to addressing this subject. Most of this material is original, generally unknown to historians of the American Pentecostal movement and scholars of Scandinavian-American studies. The volume convincingly argues for an expanded definition of Pentecostal activity, such as among the radical pietists in Europe and the pre-Azuza Street Scandinavian-Americans. I strongly recommend it.”
—Mark A. Granquist, professor of the history of Christianity, Luther Seminary