Pentecostalism And Politics. Global And European Perspectives

Abstract

The present article aims to explore the complex relation between global and European Pentecostalism and politics. The self-evident scarcity of studies on this particular topic, despite the global prominence and the dynamic growth of Pentecostalism, and the tendency to collapse strikingly opposing tendencies under a generic terminology call for a serious examination of the approaches Pentecostalism adopts in relation to political involvement. Throughout the three main sections of this paper, political, historical, cultural and theological concepts will be employed in order to: firstly, provide a qualitative and quantitative overview of global Pentecostalism; secondly, explore worldwide different political preferences of Pentecostal churches and denominations that range from apolitism, to full-fledged political involvement, or to the preference for an alternative polis; thirdly, to analyse European Pentecostalism and the particularities of its relation with politics.