Charismatics and Postmodernity

Modernism, Postmodernism, and Premodernism in the Church of England's Charismatic Movement

Jitesh K. Patel

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9798385240272
  9798385240289
• eBook ISBN:
  9798385240296
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

Is charismatic renewal a bit too much like postmodernism? With its multiple ways of knowing what is "true," touchy-feely and pragmatic, with an emphasis on personal story and community, why does it look like something dreamt up by postmoderns longing for a church befitting their ideals? This book explores these questions by investigating an example of charismatic renewal, the Charismatic Movement in the Church of England, leading to some surprising results. Appearances can be deceiving, and what seems postmodern about charismatic renewal is a complex mix of modernism, reactions to modernism, and a longing to go back to a time before modernism reared its head. Jitesh Patel helps show how renewal's ongoing life has much still to contribute to the wider church's life once it recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of how it has formed in the context of modernism, and the chapters herein illuminate what its future could look like as a result.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• 1. Introduction and Methodology
• 2. Postmodernism in the Charismatic Church
• 3. Exploring the Charismatic Movement in the Church of England
• 4. Sociological and Anthropological Insights
• 5. Postmodernism and the Early Movement
• 6. Postmodernism and the Later Movement (I)
• 7. Postmodernism and the Later Movement (II)
• 8. Conclusion and Challenges
• Appendix 1: Ecclesial Postmodernism System
• Appendix 2: Categories for Documentary Content Analysis
• Bibliography