A Spirit of Revitalization

For many, Pentecostalism in Africa is an unwelcome North American import of televangelist Christianity on the one hand, or an escapist, super-spirituality that cares little about Africa’s social, economic and political needs on the other. Kyama Mugambi moves the narrative of African Pentecostalism beyond these incomplete storylines by giving us a picture of lived Pentecostalism in a key part of Africa today. Those who care about African Christianity and its future would do well to read this book. Readers will come away with an understanding of how the winds of the Spirit are blowing; an understanding that is rich, learned, wise, nuanced, and deeply grounded in the author’s own experience.

~Mark R. Shaw, Director of the Centre for World Christianity at Africa International University and author of The Kingdom of God in Africa: A Short History of African Christianity

Mugambi displays all the advantages of an insider perspective in this rich volume: unparalleled access to the Pentecostal churches he studies, deep knowledge of the social and theological concerns that animate them, and profound insight into their historical antecedents.  A Spirit of Revitalization takes the reader inside the Pentecostal milieu in Kenya.

~Emma Wild-Wood, Senior Lecturer in African Christianity and African Indigenous Religions and Director of Postgraduate Studies, University of Edinburgh

To me what stands out in Mugambi’s work are the stories, names, places, churches, and organizations in which the themes of orality, kinship, and worldview are generously referenced through a representative sketch in each chapter. To most Kenyans, the totality of these narratives constitutes familiar lore, a lot like a much-loved item of clothing. In reading this book then, readers are invited to re-examine the now well-worn garment, not merely to get better acquainted with the energetic spirit of Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity as it has evolved in Kenya through several generations, but also to locate specific elements of this Christianity in Kenya’s changing world through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and hopefully, to orient new generations to figure out their own place in the next phase of the story.

~Wanjiru M. Gitau, author of  Megachurch Christianity Reconsidered: Millennials and Social Change in African Perspective

Africa's great cities are a major laboratory for twenty-first century Christianity. This important and impressive book tells us much about Christian activity in a major urban centre, deepening our understanding of the influences shaping it. It also reflects how wide a range of phenomena can properly be comprehended under the heading 'Pentecostalism.'

~Andrew F. Walls, University of Edinburgh, Liverpool Hope University and Akrofi-Christaller Institute, Ghana

Written with all the strengths of an in‐ sider who can speak to transnational theoretical debates, A Spirit of Revitalization is rich in ground-level detail while remaining conversant in current interventions from Europe, the Americas, and elsewhere in Africa.... A Spirit of Revitalization is imperative reading both for scholars of African religion and world Christianity.

~Paul G. Grant, H-Net Reviews

"...An important and necessary addition to the study of world Christianity."

~Aaron Dunlop, Evangelical Quarterly

... an outstanding book that provides a rich, engaging and compelling account of urban Pentecostalism in Kenya.

~Samuel K. Bussey, Exchange Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context

I enthusiastically recommend the book for all scholars of Christianity, and indeed religion, in Africa.

~Joel Cabrita, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

A Spirit of Revitalization enables us to interpret Christian participation in politics or response to political scenarios in two important ways. The two ways relate to social identity and self-recognition, and a broad understanding of the political in Africa.

~Nimi Wariboko, African Studies Review