From Piety to Politics: The Political Mobilization of American Pentecostals

FAIN: FT-270742-20

Roger Glenn Robins
University of Tokyo (Komaba, Meguro-ku 153-8902 Japan)

Archival research for a history of the political development of American Pentecostals during the twentieth century.

Over the course of the twentieth century, the American Protestant movement known as Pentecostalism shifted from an apolitical (and often pacifist) stance to its current state of active political engagement. This transition has had a major impact on social and political life in the United States. However, although the fact of that political turn has been noted, and its importance recognized, no comprehensive account of it has yet been given. This project is part of an effort to provide such an account. It will explore the various factors that drove this transformation and will outline the textures and contours of its unfolding. In so doing, it will have significance for many disciplines, but most especially for religious history, political science, and the sociology of religion.