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OF RELIGIOUS PHENOMENON THAT HAVE BEEN deemed both testable and meriting examination, glossolalia ('speaking in tongues') stands out as a brash and unique example of purported religious experience. With strange [...]

The three waves of the demographics of Renewal, namely Pentecostals, Charismatics, and neocharismatics, are examined. The waves are found to have varying dominance in different parts of the world: Pentecostals in the U.S., Brazil and China: Charismatics in Brazil; and neocharismatics in the U.S. and China.

This paper presents a theory of serpent-handling sects (SHS) that uses a psychodynamic theory of symbol to complement Sunden's role theory as developed and popularized in America. The legitimization of serpent handling is described in terms of attributions derived from a literal interpretation of the King James Bible. Psychodynamic symbol theory is used to argue for the universality of the serpent as a source of body projections ultimately linked not simply to the phallus, but to death and resurrection. Role theory explains how SHS emerged from the initial actions of a charismatic figure who first acted out repressions symbolized in texts dealing with the serpent. The cultural transmission of serpent handling as a socially constructed religious practice thus builds upon the universal appeal of the serpent base upon body symbolization. Theoretically grounded empirical studies of the differential attraction to and rejection of serpent handling are recommended both to account for the maintenance of this tradition and for its rejection by groups who once supported the practice.

Italian anthropologist Ernest De Martino (1908-1965) devoted much of his writing to the analysis of 'the crisis of presence,' an existential dilemma evidenced in a disturbed sense of self and often expressed as illness, emotional distress, or 'alienation.' This article describes De Martino's conceptualization of the crisis of presence as a problem of consciousness with moral and emotional dimensions and applies it in interpreting the conversion narratives of three Italian Pentecostal Christians. The resolution of the crisis, for these Christians, entails the construction of a new sense of self, and particularly a new relationship to time and history. [De Martino, Pentecostalism, religion, existential crisis, Italy]

The Pentecostal/Roman Catholic ecumenical dialogues offer the rich opportunity for reflection on the theological promise and challenge of unity in diversity among the churches, even outside the boundaries of these world communions. The tongues of Pentecost may provide a pregnant metaphor for a distinctly Pentecostal reflection on ecumenical exchange with Roman Catholics. The tongues event of Pentecost exposes the scandal of both a complacent sectarianism that offers no need to strive for unity and a complacent catholicism that is convinced such unity already exists. Spirit-inspired tongues also Imply a divine mystery at the core of all confessions of faith that both embraces and relativizes the necessarily diverse confessions surrounding the one gospel of Jesus Christ. Tongues also direct our attention to the final eschatological realization of unity and catholicity and on a current agenda that includes the pressing issues of the world, particularly as they involve hearing and responding to the voices of oppression and suffering., The international Pentecostal/Roman Catholic dialogue began in 1972 between the former Vatican Secretariat for Christian Unity and the Pentecostals. David du Plessis was the organizer of the dialogue from the [...]