X. Summary in English
Georg Gustafsson was born on September 4 th 1899 and died on January 6th 1983. He devoted more than 60 of his 83-year life in the service of the Swedish Pentecostal movement. This thesis attempts to describe, analyse and evaluate these 60 years for what they have meant for the Swedish Pentecostal movement and in a wider context for Swedish Christianity. The thesis concerns the person, the lifetime achievement and the context within which the work was carried out. One assumption has been that Georg Gustafsson has best been described and understood from the perspective of the Swedish Pentecostal movement and the Swedish Pentecostal movement from Gustafsson's perspective. This means that in the research both a reflective presentation and an analysis form are used. One assumption – or a point of departure – has been: Gustafsson was for decades, second to Lewi Pethrus, the most important person within the Swedish Pentecostal movement. Primarily, this was the case after the departure of the author Sven Lidman from the movement in 1948 – before which Gustafsson could be considered number three within the movement. Indeed even today, leading persons within the Swedish Pentecostal movement are interesting, and perhaps they should be studied since the Pentecostal revival, in a global context, is the fastest growing branch of the Christian Church. There are more than 300 million Pentecostal in the world. In a historical perspective, the Swedish Pentecostal movement via its missionary work has had extensive and close contact with the world wide Pentecostal revival not least with the successful Pentecostal revivals in South America – most of all Brazil – Africa and Asia. Thus, a study of conditions within the Swedish Pentecostal movement is of interest even from the perspective of the global Pentecostal revival. An important point of departure when studying the lifework of Georg Gustafsson has been to understand his background and roots in the revival in Småland characterized not least by pietism and neoevangelism/Rosenianism. Therefore, in the introduction of this thesis the religious humus, out of which the Pentecostal movement in Småland 386
