ABSTRACT
The most significant movement of revival over the last hundred years is that of Pentecostalism. Today, it constitutes the fastest growing wing of Christianity and indeed of any expression of religiosity in the world other than Islam. In a very short time, classical Pentecostalism had disseminated itself across the world, revitalizing churches and founding its own with a powerful missionary endeavour. Movements of renewal and revival, both inside and outside the established churches, litter the history of Christianity in the West. Since the Reformation there have been revivals of piety, such as those of the seventeenth-century Puritan movement, and the holiness and Methodist movements of the early eighteenth-century. These movements were by no means limited to Protestantism. Indeed, all over the world Pentecostalism has penetrated just about every Christian tradition with its message of spiritual renewal and revival. The Charismatic movement of today (otherwise known as neo-Pentecostalism) began as a fresh version of an older religious manifestation.
