A Spirit of Revitalization: Urban Pentecostalism in Kenya (Studies in World Christianity)

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About A Spirit Of Revitalization: Urban Pentecostalism In

Product Description Perhaps more than anywhere else in the world, Africa has generated unique expressions of Christianity that have, in their rapid development, overtaken older forms of Christianity represented by historic missionary efforts. Similarly, African Christianity has largely displayed its rootedness in its social and cultural context. The story of Pentecostal movements in urban Kenya captures both remarkable trends. Individual accounts of churches and their leaders shed light on rich and diverse commonalities among generations of Kenya’s Christian communities.   Exploring the movements’ religious visions in urban Africa,  A Spirit of Revitalization: Urban Pentecostalism in Kenya highlights antecedent movements set against their historical, social, economic, and political contexts. Kyama Mugambi examines how, in their translation of the gospel, innovative leaders synthesized new expressions of faith from elements of their historical and contemporary contexts. The sum of their experiences historically charts the remarkable journey of innovation, curation, and revision that attends to the process of translation and conversion in Christian history. While outlining a century of successive renewal movements in Kenya between 1920 and 2020, the study also delves into features of recent urban Pentecostal churches. Readers will find a thorough historical treatment of themes such as church structures, corporate vision, Christian formation, and theological education. The longitudinal and comparative analysis shows how these Pentecostal approaches to orality, kinship, and integrated spirituality inform Kenyans’ reimagination of Christianity. Review Written with all the strengths of an in‐ sider who can speak to transnational theoretical debates, A Spirit of Revitalization is rich in ground-level detail while remaining conversant in current interventions from Europe, the Americas, and elsewhere in Africa.... A Spirit of Revitalization is imperative reading both for scholars of African religion and world Christianity. -- Paul G. Grant ― H-Net Reviews Review Africa's great cities are a major laboratory for twenty-first century Christianity. This important and impressive book tells us much about Christian activity in a major urban centre, deepening our understanding of the influences shaping it. It also reflects how wide a range of phenomena can properly be comprehended under the heading ‘Pentecostalism.’ -- Andrew F. Walls, University of Edinburgh, Liverpool Hope University and Akrofi-Christaller Institute, Ghana About the Author Kyama M. Mugambi is Associate Researcher in the Centre for World Christianity at Africa International University.