The Kaleidoscopic City

Hong Kong, Mission, and the Evolution of Global Pentecostalism

Alex R. Mayfield

The Kaleidoscopic City explores the development of Pentecostalism in Hong Kong between 1907 and 1942. Focusing primarily on Pentecostal missionaries and the Chinese leaders who worked alongside them, Alex R. Mayfield analyzes how changes within the social structures and ideological frameworks of global Pentecostalism dramatically impacted the movement within the colony. As such, Mayfield helps us to better understand both the spread of Pentecostalism in China and the evolution of global Pentecostalism in the first half of the twentieth century.

Throughout the book, Mayfield delves into specific facets of Pentecostalism’s development in the colony. First, he explores how Pentecostals’ changing relationship to the space of Hong Kong reflected both historical happenstance and deep-rooted evangelical narratives. Second, Mayfield traces how the move from faith mission models to denominational models in Hong Kong marked a dramatic shift in Pentecostal aims, identities, and approaches. Third, he examines the ways Pentecostal evangelistic practices remained, for the most part, “un-Pentecostal” in their conformity to evangelical missionary norms. Fourth, Mayfield considers how Pentecostal spirituality gradually evolved to better respond to the competitive religious marketplace of Hong Kong. Finally, he studies the important roles of Chinese and Western Pentecostal women in Hong Kong and how their perceptions and enactments of gender changed as they fulfilled those roles.

ISBN 978-1-4813-1897-6

$59.99 | Hardcover

284 pages

6 x 9

November 1, 2023

33 b&w illustrations

“Clear, compelling, and wide-ranging, this book offers a powerful new interpretation of Senghor’s life and legacy. Ngong offers a model of excellence in theological scholarship, inviting readers to think in important new ways about Christian faith.“

VINCENT LLOYD, Professor and Director, Center for Political Theology, Villanova University

With each turn of the kaleidoscope a different vision comes into view. In some places, Pentecostalism looked like standard evangelicalism; in others, it was a radical, ecstatic departure. It was urban one moment and rural the next; it was liberating for women but also not; it was a move of the Spirit and it was careful planning. This unique volume marks a step forward in the attempt to make sense of the paradoxical early Pentecostal movement in China concentrated in the vibrant colonial city of Hong Kong.

“This text offers an important vantage point for re-understanding the history of Pentecostal missions—its theology, institutions, and gender dynamics among other aspects—both locally and globally. A must-read for historians of Christianity in Hong Kong and global Pentecostalism.”

NAOMI THURSTON, Assistant Professor, Divinity School of Chung Chi College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

“This groundbreaking and innovative study pushes the history of Pentecostalism in new, fresh, and compelling directions. By combining qualitative and quantitative data, focus on the spatial, network theory, and close reading of historical texts, Alex Mayfield maps the chronology of Pentecostalism as a transnational movement in the first half of the twentieth century.”

DANA L. ROBERT, William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor, Boston University

Los Bautistas a través de los siglos (Segunda Edición)

La historia de un pueblo global

David W. Bebbington

translated by Javier Elizondo

Los Bautistas a través de los siglos ofrece una clara introducción a la historia y la teología de este pueblo influyente e internacional. David W. Bebbington, un destacado historiador bautista, analiza los principales desarrollos en la vida y el pensamiento bautistas desde el siglo XVII hasta el presente. La segunda edición de este probado libro de texto amplía el alcance con capítulos sobre tres partes del mundo donde los Bautistas se han vuelto particularmente numerosos: América Latina, Nigeria, y las colinas de Naga en la India. Cada capítulo también destaca temas regionales que han presentado nuevos desafíos y oportunidades para los Bautistas: la misión holística en América Latina, la experiencia de renovación carismática y el encuentro con el Islam en Nigeria, y las demandas de pacificación en las colinas de Naga. A través de esta nueva edición, Bebbington orienta a los lectores y amplía su conocimiento de la comunidad bautista a medida que continúa floreciendo en todo el mundo.