How does identity survive the passage of time? How can we be sure that our church community in the present is a faithful representation of the originating community in the past ? This book explores how Pentecostalism—the world’s fastest-growing expression of Christianity, since its inception at the beginning of the twentieth century—can identify as the same community that birthed the church in the first century. A community that spans two millennia of church history presents numerous challenges, which raise crucial questions. In the case of Pentecostalism, these questions concern the criteria we might employ in order to recognize various instances of that community: both in the present, and throughout the past. The Pentecostal emphasis on the Holy Spirit as the founding force behind the early church suggests some exciting possibilities. By bringing together Pentecostal theology and hermeneutical philosophy, this volume develops a model which attempts to discern the Pentecostal Spirit from within history. Rather than arriving at a historical survey of various theologies of the Spirit, this book instead advances a historiography which is itself inherently Spirit-oriented: a pneumatology of history . "Through creative and sophisticated engagement with the work of theologian Amos Yong and philosopher Paul Ricoeur, Paul Baker's superb book, Pentecostal Imagination and the Retrieval of Identity , provides powerful new theological and hermeneutical resources for Pentecostals as they grapple with questions of identity, continuity, and apostolicity." --Michael Gladwin, St Mark's National Theological Centre "Paul Baker's new book is a highly imaginative and creative answer to the question: How can the Pentecostal church (or any church for that matter) ensure that they are an authentic expression of the church as it is found in Scripture? A brilliant work that will serve many future scholars of Pentecostal theology as a valuable resource and dialogue partner." --Ockert Meyer, United Theological College "Paul Baker presents a tour de force of Pentecostalism and philosophical hermeneutics to develop his unique pneumatology of history. Drawing on the key interlocutors of Yong and Ricoeur, he skillfully addresses this significant gap in current Pentecostal theology." --Jacqueline Grey, Alphacrucis University College Paul grew up in Hampshire and moved to Australia at the age of eighteen, where his studies in theology and philosophy culminated in a PhD. He has worked in a wide variety of fields including the church, counselling, mediation, HR management, and education. Paul currently lives in Sussex, England with his wife and three children, where he teaches philosophy, religion and ethics. He is the author of Pentecostal Imagination and the Retrieval of Identity .