Global Christianity's appeal

Alister McGrath is Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford and author of Christianity's Dangerous Idea.

In McGrath's view, Pentecostalism is a "legitimate outcome" of the idea behind all of Protestant faith:  that all people have the right and responsibility to interpret scripture as faithfully as they can.   The expression of Pentecostal type faith in cultures around the world is is not dictated by any American denomination.  They have their own models of worship that work within their culture.

Some Latin American Catholic clergy adopted Marxist theories into their theology several decades ago, calling it "liberation theology."  But McGrath says, "Pentecostalism is replacing Marxism as the solace and inspiration of the urban poor."

That's because, as he puts it, "Far from being oppressive or fraudulent (as Marxism argued), belief in God has been liberating and transforming."