Peter Marina, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, takes an approach to sociology that incorporates the dialectic of history and biography allowing him to penetrate and interact with a wide range of culturally diverse social groups — public high school youths, street kids, religiously inspired residents of the inner-city, and most recently, police officers of a large metropolitan police force — in a quest to understand both empirically and theoretically this rapidly changing, surprising and highly contradictory late-modern world. He received his PhD in sociology from the New School for Social Research in New York City and his M.A. in sociology from the University of New Orleans. He has previously lectured at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY). His research interests include urban sociology, urban ethnography, community studies, Latino immigration, race and ethnicity, and youth resistant subcultures, among others. Professor Marina instructs classes in urban sociology, conflict, qualitative research methods, problems in urban community, ethnic and minority relations, sociological writing, masculinities, gender studies, and power, ideology, and social movements.

This four-year ethnographic study of a small African American church in Brooklyn, a revision of the author's PhD dissertation, is exceptionally well organized. Sociologist Marina highlights what he sees as "exotic" aspects of Pentecostal worship, and is most interested in the processes of religious conversion, which he relates to speaking in tongues. He uncovered tremendous diversity of opinion within church members' thoughts concerning glossolalia. Earlier researchers examined glossolalia as a form of altered states of consciousness, but Marina offers mainly sociological explanations and ultimately argues that church members understand tongue speaking primarily as a form of social empowerment. He also insightfully analyzes church organization, outlining the formal and informal structures of the Holy Ghost Church with attention to charismatic authority. Earlier studies of Pentecostalism predicted that church authority would become increasingly bureaucratic over time, but Marina convincingly argues that leaders in smaller Pentecostal congregations are better able to maintain their claims to charisma. The author's presentation is clear, his attention to ethnographic detail exemplary, and his scholarship sound. A significant contribution to the study of African American Pentecostalism. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.

• IntroductionPart 1Chapter 1: A Brief Overview of Global PentecostalismChapter 2: Brownsville, BrooklynChapter 3: Holy Ghost Church Organizational StructurePart 2Chapter 4: The Main CharactersChapter 5: The Pentecostal Scene and its MusicChapter 6: Becoming a God HunterChapter 7: Getting SavedChapter 8: Speaking in TonguesPart 3Chapter 9: The Future of the Black Tongue Speaking ChurchChapter 10: Individual Consequences to Becoming a Pentecostal

Peter Marina, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, takes an approach to sociology that incorporates the dialectic of history and biography allowing him to penetrate and interact with a wide range of culturally diverse social groups — public high school youths, street kids, religiously inspired residents of the inner-city, and most recently, police officers of a large metropolitan police force — in a quest to understand both empirically and theoretically this rapidly changing, surprising and highly contradictory late-modern world. He received his PhD in sociology from the New School for Social Research in New York City and his M.A. in sociology from the University of New Orleans. He has previously lectured at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY). His research interests include urban sociology, urban ethnography, community studies, Latino immigration, race and ethnicity, and youth resistant subcultures, among others. Professor Marina instructs classes in urban sociology, conflict, qualitative research methods, problems in urban community, ethnic and minority relations, sociological writing, masculinities, gender studies, and power, ideology, and social movements.

This four-year ethnographic study of a small African American church in Brooklyn, a revision of the author's PhD dissertation, is exceptionally well organized. Sociologist Marina highlights what he sees as "exotic" aspects of Pentecostal worship, and is most interested in the processes of religious conversion, which he relates to speaking in tongues. He uncovered tremendous diversity of opinion within church members' thoughts concerning glossolalia. Earlier researchers examined glossolalia as a form of altered states of consciousness, but Marina offers mainly sociological explanations and ultimately argues that church members understand tongue speaking primarily as a form of social empowerment. He also insightfully analyzes church organization, outlining the formal and informal structures of the Holy Ghost Church with attention to charismatic authority. Earlier studies of Pentecostalism predicted that church authority would become increasingly bureaucratic over time, but Marina convincingly argues that leaders in smaller Pentecostal congregations are better able to maintain their claims to charisma. The author's presentation is clear, his attention to ethnographic detail exemplary, and his scholarship sound. A significant contribution to the study of African American Pentecostalism. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.

• IntroductionPart 1Chapter 1: A Brief Overview of Global PentecostalismChapter 2: Brownsville, BrooklynChapter 3: Holy Ghost Church Organizational StructurePart 2Chapter 4: The Main CharactersChapter 5: The Pentecostal Scene and its MusicChapter 6: Becoming a God HunterChapter 7: Getting SavedChapter 8: Speaking in TonguesPart 3Chapter 9: The Future of the Black Tongue Speaking ChurchChapter 10: Individual Consequences to Becoming a Pentecostal

Peter Marina, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, takes an approach to sociology that incorporates the dialectic of history and biography allowing him to penetrate and interact with a wide range of culturally diverse social groups — public high school youths, street kids, religiously inspired residents of the inner-city, and most recently, police officers of a large metropolitan police force — in a quest to understand both empirically and theoretically this rapidly changing, surprising and highly contradictory late-modern world. He received his PhD in sociology from the New School for Social Research in New York City and his M.A. in sociology from the University of New Orleans. He has previously lectured at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY). His research interests include urban sociology, urban ethnography, community studies, Latino immigration, race and ethnicity, and youth resistant subcultures, among others. Professor Marina instructs classes in urban sociology, conflict, qualitative research methods, problems in urban community, ethnic and minority relations, sociological writing, masculinities, gender studies, and power, ideology, and social movements.

This four-year ethnographic study of a small African American church in Brooklyn, a revision of the author's PhD dissertation, is exceptionally well organized. Sociologist Marina highlights what he sees as "exotic" aspects of Pentecostal worship, and is most interested in the processes of religious conversion, which he relates to speaking in tongues. He uncovered tremendous diversity of opinion within church members' thoughts concerning glossolalia. Earlier researchers examined glossolalia as a form of altered states of consciousness, but Marina offers mainly sociological explanations and ultimately argues that church members understand tongue speaking primarily as a form of social empowerment. He also insightfully analyzes church organization, outlining the formal and informal structures of the Holy Ghost Church with attention to charismatic authority. Earlier studies of Pentecostalism predicted that church authority would become increasingly bureaucratic over time, but Marina convincingly argues that leaders in smaller Pentecostal congregations are better able to maintain their claims to charisma. The author's presentation is clear, his attention to ethnographic detail exemplary, and his scholarship sound. A significant contribution to the study of African American Pentecostalism. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.

• IntroductionPart 1Chapter 1: A Brief Overview of Global PentecostalismChapter 2: Brownsville, BrooklynChapter 3: Holy Ghost Church Organizational StructurePart 2Chapter 4: The Main CharactersChapter 5: The Pentecostal Scene and its MusicChapter 6: Becoming a God HunterChapter 7: Getting SavedChapter 8: Speaking in TonguesPart 3Chapter 9: The Future of the Black Tongue Speaking ChurchChapter 10: Individual Consequences to Becoming a Pentecostal