Varieties, Taxonomies, and Definitions

Abstract

This chapter attempts to define Pentecostalism/s, in view of the fact that definitions are often static and prone to generating confusion. The study of Pentecostalism is a developing field, and this chapter attempts to embrace its different methodological and theoretical aspects from a global perspective. The globalization of various kinds of Pentecostalism and their proliferation into complex varieties is bewildering. The chapter seeks to give some clarity to the discussion of ways in which Pentecostalism can be described and analyzed, and it tries to offer direction through the maze of different shifting forms of Pentecostalism. Furthermore, it outlines some of the ways in which this movement can be identified by using the family resemblance analogy. It also looks at the parameters by which categories are made, and it offers a flexible and overlapping taxonomy, examining how various scholars have approached the subject.

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