Promotional Information

Explores how understandings of godly love function to empower believers

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Congregational Overview 2 Charisma and Structure in the Assemblies of God Theoretical Overview 3 Pentecostal Identity and the Charismata Mixed Motivation and Religious Experience 4 Structure and Charisma Doctrine, Power, and Administration 5 Spirit Baptism and Spiritual Transformation An Exercise in Socio-Theology 6 Spiritual Empowerment Pray-ers, Prophets, and Healers in the Pews 7 Law of Love and Love of Law Beliefs, Mores, and Faces of Love 8 Ushering in the Kingdom of God Religious Values, Godly Love, and Public Affairs 9 Covenants, Contracts, and Godly Love (with Matthew T. Lee)

About the Author

Margaret M. Poloma is Professor Emeritus at the University of Akron. She is the author of many books, including Main Street Mystics,and (with Ralph W. Hood, Jr.) Blood and Fire: Godly Love in a Pentecostal Emerging Church (NYU Press, 2008). Ralph Hood, Jr., is Professor of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. He is the co-author of The Psychology of Religious Fundamentalism; The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach; and Measures of Religiosity; and editor of The Handbook of Religious Experience.

Reviews

"An exceptional book in that it tells the story of the failure of a faith-based movement rather than its success. In a richly textured narrative, the authors describe the limitations of religious charisma when it confronts the harsh reality of a business-minded board that requires accountability Donald E. Miller, Executive Director, Center for Religion and Civic Culture, University of Southern California