During the 1970s, Pentecostal seminarians who were fed a steady diet of the monographs by James D.G. Dunn and F. Dale Bruner were often co-opted by magisterial traditions. It was time for a new generation of Pentecostal scholars where Pentecostals could themselves address issues brought to the forefront of their movement. This volume became one of the first books of its kind to crest the new wave of an emerging Pentecostal scholarship. Contemporary Pentecostal pneumatology was often regarded as a historically contributed and artificial novelty from the modern period and scores of Pentecostals were persuaded to forsake their heritage. Spirit Baptism: A Pentecostal Alternative sought to ask the question if there was canonical evidence for a Charismatic dimension in the Christian pilgrimage. An answer in the affirmative inspired a scan of Christian figures through the centuries who have embraced this theological reality. The book ends with a theological synthesis that suggests an openness to various ways the Charismatic Spirit becomes a manifest reality in the lives of believers. Since the release of Spirit Baptism: A Pentecostal Alternative in 1983, much significant work has been accomplished in this field by Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal scholars alike. Yet this original groundbreaking work remains relevant as researchers around the world face for the first time theological issues that go to the heart of Pentecostal identify.
