a contextual missiology of the spirit - eTheses Repository ...

Indian revivals, without the influence of western Pentecostals, had almost all the
characteristics of the Asuza Street Revival in the beginning of the twentieth
century. Therefore, the term ‘Pentecostal-like movements’ should be seen as an
example of the deliberate unwillingness of Euro-centric advocates to give Indian
Pentecostal revivals their due place in history.
2.3.2. The Significance of Multiple Jerusalems Theory
The current research employs Anderson’s ‘many Jerusalems’ theory for the
origins of Global Pentecostalism to understand the Pentecostal beginning in India
as well as in Rajasthan, as it seems to be the best explanatory mode. 115 He
critiques the overarching theory of the genesis of the Pentecostal Movement
shaped by North Americans, and he restricts the ‘Azusa Street origin’ to North
American Classical Pentecostalism, which is contrary to the popular notion of
Global Pentecostalism. Anderson argues that the Global Pentecostal Movement is
not the child of the Azusa Street revival only, but the product of many indigenous
revivals in diverse parts of the globe. According to Shenk, the shift from ‘being
Eurocentric to polycentric’ is a dynamic reality of the third millennium, and he
urges that ‘the task of historical interpretation must be brought into line with this
new reality.’ 116
The present study recognizes the significance of Pulikottil’s voice in the writing
of Indian Pentecostal history, for he argues that ‘there is a great need to
understand the historical consciousness of the native.’ 117 The ‘multiple Jerusalems
theory’ serves historiography in various ways. First of all, as David Daniels
115 Anderson, Introduction to Pentecostalism.
116 Shenk, ‘Introduction,’ xi-xiii.
117 Pulikottil, ‘East and West Met,’ 22.
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