Il cristianesimo del futuro? Cenni storici e linee di sviluppo del pentecostalismo contemporaneo

The Next Christendom. The Coming of Global Christianity was the title of Philip Jenkins’ successful essay of 2002 on “Christianity in the 21st century”, which recounted the rise and exponential growth of the new charismatic religious denominations, destined to change the face of Christianity in the third millennium. A controversial and divisive phenomenon, born out of Europe and widespread in what will be the largest Christian countries of our century, Brazil, Congo, the Philippines, Mexico and Nigeria, but also rapidly spreading in the old continent. Not a homogeneous whole but a galaxy of Churches with very different dimensions and roots, ranging from the slums of megalopolis to multinational companies. The research, based on documentation and field surveys, reconstructs the historical evolution and social, political and economic repercussions of these new community forms of intermediation between individuals and globalization societies: “A place to feel at home” (Welbourn and Ogot 1966), or self-referential sects where “prosperity theology” is cultivated