Between the advertising industry and a handful of scholars, this issue has nearly come to ruin.

Let's begin with advertisers, who have destroyed the very words that should litter this issue. What can you do with sensational after it's been used to describe the results of facial cream, or phenomenal, when it's been describing the ride of a new car. When I use such words to describe early Pentecostalism, they sound trite.

But they remain two of the best words to describe it. It was sensational: it created a sensation and (with tongues, laying on of hands, and slayings in the Spirit) touched the senses of its adherents. It was also phenomenal: it shocked America and was filled with spiritual phenomena. So we've decided to use these and other Madison Avenue adjectives—though sparingly. But when we do use them, please note we mean them. Really.

On the other hand, as we prepared the issue, we were warned by some scholars not to highlight the sensational but to remember that Pentecostalism is a ...

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