ABSTRACT
The academic study of Pentecostalism has made enormous strides since its pioneers emerged in the 1960s. The situation today is fluid and dynamic. This chapter discusses the question of definition and Pentecostalism's identity with reference to the history and development in scholarly studies, from its theological and historical beginnings to its current diversity. From the early publications on the new Pentecostal movement at the turn of the twentieth century, there was an implied focus on a Pentecostal identity. This is seen in the early literature, especially the many Pentecostal periodicals that make a distinction between the movement and other Christians. Pentecostals themselves have engaged in defining who they were from the earliest stages, as the first periodicals show. After Shumway there was little academic research on Pentecostalism until after World War II. Swedish Lutheran bishop Bengt Sundkler, with many years’ experience in Africa, published Bantu Prophets in South Africa in 1948, with a revised edition in 1961.
