In this lively history of the rise of pentecostalism in the United States, Grant Wacker gives an in-depth account of the religious practices of pentecostal churches as well as an engaging picture of the way these beliefs played out in daily life. The core tenets of pentecostal belief--personal salvation, Holy Ghost baptism, divine healing, and anticipation of the Lord's imminent return--took root in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Wacker examines the various aspects of pentecostal culture, including rituals, speaking in tongues, the authority of the Bible, the central role of Jesus in everyday life, the gifts of prophecy and healing, ideas about personal appearance, women's roles, race relations, attitudes toward politics and the government. Tracking the daily lives of pentecostals, and paying close attention to the voices of individual men and women, Wacker is able to identify the reason for the movement's spectacular success: a demonstrated ability to balance idealistic and pragmatic impulses, to adapt distinct religious convictions in order to meet the expectations of modern life. More than twenty million American adults today consider themselves pentecostal. Given the movement's major place in American religious life, the history of its early years--so artfully told here--is of central importance. Pentecostals, or "radical," "primitive" evangelicals, have not only survived but have flourished while embracing beliefs that include personal salvation, Holy Ghost baptism, divine healing, and the anticipation of the imminent return of Christ. They are prospering today, as evidenced by the Brownsville Assembly of God Church in Pensacola, FL, where millions have flocked to a nonstop revival begun in the 1990s. Wacker (history of religion, Duke Univ.), who himself has Pentecostal roots, gives an in-depth, well-researched look at the history, beliefs, and everyday lives of early Pentecostals (1900-25). He discusses their culture, temperament, taboos, use of time, organizational skills, and leadership. While exploring the boundaries that separate the Pentecostals from mainstream U.S. society, he also shows how only a minority fit the stereotype of poor and alienated folk. The genius of the Pentecostal movement, Wacker states, lies in its ability to hold two seemingly incompatible impulses the primitive and the pragmatic in productive tension. Recommended for cultural and theological collections. George Westerlund, formerly with Providence P.L., Palmyra, VA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. Wacker...gives an in-depth, well-researched look at the history, beliefs, and everyday lives of early Pentecostals (1900-1925). He discusses their culture, temperament, taboos, use of time, organizational skills, and leadership. While exploring the boundaries that separate the Pentecostals from mainstream U.S. society, he also shows how only a minority fit the stereotype of poor and alienated folk. The genius of the Pentecostal movement, Wacker states, lies in its ability to hold two seemingly incompatible impulses--the primitive and the pragmatic--in productive tension. Recommended for cultural and theological collections. (George Westerlund Library Journal ) In this remarkable study, Wacker, raised a pentecostal and now a respected historian at Duke University, devastates the standard stereotypes...What emerges instead is a remarkably rich account of the inner lives of ordinary men and women who felt themselves filled with the power of the Holy Ghost. In 15 tightly organized chapters, Wacker offers a comprehensive ethnography of the first generation of pentecostals--their faith, their social attitudes and their politics. He leads the reader through enchanted landscapes populated by angels and demons, pauses to assess reports of xenolalia (speaking in a human language allegedly unknown to the speaker) and surveys the gulfs that have divided charismatics from their detractors. It is difficult to imagine a more judicious treatment of the subject; meticulously researched, lyrically written and continuously illuminating. Wacker's book is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the origins of this influential current in American culture. ( Publishers Weekly 2001-04-23) Even serious, sympathetic studies reinforced the popular impression that Pentecostalism was the expression of poorly educated and socially marginal people, outcasts who grasped an exuberant faith as an escape from their miseries or found in it the meaning and discipline to make that escape effective. Challenging this premise is one of the remarkable accomplishments of Grant Wacker...His meticulous review of the data leads to a different, and in some sense surprising, conclusion: "Contrary to stereotype, the typical convert paralleled the demographic and biographical profile of the typical American"... Heaven Below is a historical ethnography, examining topics like authority, rhetoric, worship and prohibitions, and att