Pentecostalism and Secular Youth Culture: Translatability, Ambiguity and Instability

Abstract

Based on research in the United States, Australia and South Africa, this chapter analyses three particular tensions in Pentecostal engagements with secular youth culture, focusing on popular music and youth sport. The first tension is the limited translatability of Pentecostal beliefs and practices into the worldviews of non-Christian youth. The second tension is the ambiguity of Pentecostal ecclesiology (church organization), which produces multiple sites of incompatible authority on controversial theological and social issues such as sexuality. The third tension is the instability inherent in Pentecostal theology as it emphasizes the importance of personal revelation and ecstatic experience, which has the potential to upset negotiated compromises with secular culture. Show more