ABSTRACT
There is a standard chronology of the movement in the three-wave model of Pentecostal history, which differentiates between classical Pentecostalism, Charismatics, and Neo-Pentecostals and has proliferated through countless introductory texts. A critical deconstruction of the denominational category of “global Pentecostalism” must begin with statistics about the movement, given the role that numbers often play in justifying the significance of research into the movement. Rather than focus on the universalizing spread of Pentecostalism as a modern twentieth century form that diffuses from America to the entire world, scholars need to give serious attention to globalization as a cultural factor and with that the pluralization of Pentecostalism throughout the world. For many decades the history of global Pentecostalism has been dominated by arguments about whether the “true origins” of the movement lie in the Azusa Street Revival, the inherited “theological roots” of its evangelical predecessors, or the joining up of simultaneous outbreaks of revivalism around the globe.
