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Pentecostalism and the Future of the Christian Churches: Promises, Limitations, Challenges
Richard Shaull and Waldo A. Cesar
Eerdmans, 236 pages, $25

The new kids on the block hardly seem like new kids anymore. Pentecostalism, which by most accounts was birthed in America only a century ago, is now basking in its own Golden Era. Even if, to be cautious, you shave a few million off the number of followers, the movement boasts some pretty impressive figures. Religious statistical guru David Barrett quite comfortably tosses off the statistic of 523 million charismatics and Pentecostals.

For the longest time, most religious pundits in their ivory towers seemed unaware of what was happening down below. The movement has had its own well-trained cadre of scholars, but not until fairly recently have outsiders thrown in their hats. Harvard's Harvey Cox made the biggest splash in the 1990s. Two more scholars, Princeton Seminary's Richard Shaull and Brazilian sociologist Waldo Cesar, have now taken the plunge.

Some have been drawn into the discussion because of the sheer size of the movement. How can you ignore it? Others are fascinated by Pentecostalism's effectiveness. Why and how is it working where others have failed? Pentecostalism is a vibrant faith among the poor; it reaches into the daily lives of believers, offering not only hope but a new way of living. Again, why?

Shaull and Cesar, who have long been concerned about the plight of the poor, think Pentecostalism may just hold the key to the church's future. It is only when you take the vitality of this faith seriously can you hope to grasp its significance, they suggest, for Pentecostalism is no less than a "new expression and form of Christian faith and life" altogether.

What is unique about their approach is not their enthusiasm for the movement but their departure from the standard scholarly practice of compartmentalizing faith when studying religion as a scientist.

They want to study this phenomenon with one eye toward the sciences and the other toward faith itself, through theological, biblical, and personal reflection. Cesar tackles his study in part one by looking at the movement as a sociologist. In part two, Shaull offers theological reflection.

Though neither the title nor the subtitle makes this clear, this is a study of Brazilian Pentecostalism. By the authors' estimation, Brazilian Pentecostals number somewhere between 15 and 20 million, which is 10 to 20 percent of the overall population. Given the incredible growth of such a movement, the Brazilian religious scene makes for an interesting case study.

In that country, Pentecostalism has accomplished something no other religious movement, even liberation theology, has thus far done: it has found a way of overcoming the "hazards" of being poor. Pentecostals are still poor, but they somehow no longer live in a culture of poverty.

This intrigues Cesar, for neither sociological processes nor economics alone can account for this transformation—what he calls their victory.

Pentecostalism is a religion of the disinherited in Brazil. Brazil's distribution of income is among the worst in Latin America (20 percent of the population receives 2.5 percent of the national income, and 20 percent of the wealthiest receives 63 percent), according to a 1999 U.N. report cited by the authors. Pentecostal churches have been the most successful at recruiting its members from the poorest of the poor (unlike other Protestant churches).

How then have Pentecostals broken free from this culture of poverty? The answers lie not in careful budgeting, nor in discovering some disciplined Protestant work ethic. These people are poor before they join Pentecostal churches, and they are poor afterward. In fact, the church's activities almost seem counterproductive. Preachers constantly ask parishioners to give what seem like laughable sums of money; these people tithe 20, 30, and sometimes as much as 50 percent of their income.

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November 13 2000, Vol. 44, No. 13