This book investigates the life and leadership of Lewi Pethrus, a monumental figure in Swedish and international Pentecostalism. Joel Halldorf describes Pethrus’ role in the emergence of Pentecostalism in Sweden, the ideals and practices of Swedish Pentecostalism, and the movement’s turn to professional party politics.

1. Introduction: A Life Bent Towards Politics.- 2. Born and Born Again: The Making of a Counter-Cultural Identity.- 3. Visions of The Polis: From Denominational Bureaucracy to Spiritual Community.- 4. The Capital of Power: Charisma, Friendship, and Institutions.- 5. Escaping the Iron Cage: Pentecostalism and the Malaise of Modernity.- 6. Flirting with Fanaticism: Ecstasy, Authenticity, and Middle-Class Respectability.- 7. Lonely at the Top: The Cost of Leadership.- 8. All About the Money? Saving Souls or Funding CEOs.- 9. Church Politics for Revivalism: How to contain Latter Rain.- 10. Mission In Modernity: Large-Scale Projects and Episcopal Structures.- 11. Dreaming of a Christian Nation: Pentecostal Party Politics.- 12. Epilogue: Swedish Evangelicalism and the American Religious Right (Or: Why Swedish Pentecostals Are Not Trumpists).

This book investigates the life and leadership of Lewi Pethrus, a monumental figure in Swedish and international Pentecostalism. Joel Halldorf describes Pethrus’ role in the emergence of Pentecostalism in Sweden, the ideals and practices of Swedish Pentecostalism, and the movement’s turn to professional party politics.  When Pentecostals in the USA ventured into politics, they became allied with the Republican party, and later Donald Trump. The Swedish Pentecostals took another route: while culturally conservative, they embraced the progressive economic politics of the Social Democratic party. During the 2010s, they have also rejected the nationalism of the growing populist movement. Halldorf analyzes and explains these differences between Swedish evangelicals and Pentecostals on the one hand, and the Religious Right in the USA on the other. 

“The book that enables the author to mine a number of rich interconnected themes which relate to the practices of the Pentecostal movement in Sweden, and of Pethrus’s involvement therein. In so doing, Halldorf succeeds in depicting an image of Pethrus that is respectful of his achievements … . With the creeping spread in certain quarters … the importance of this task at both a scholarly and pastoral level is perhaps more urgent than ever.” (Scott Huntly, Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association, February 18, 2021)

“This book is a compelling account of Lewi Pethrus’s life, ministry and witness. Halldorf shows how Pethrus, a singular and influential figure in Swedish Pentecostalism, developed his distinctive vision and practice and how it contrasts with many popular assumptions about how Pentecostals engage in culture and politics. Along the way, Halldorf portrays how Pethrus advocates for what are often seen as opposed, namely, integrating what it means to be modern with what it means to be Christian, the pursuit of personal holiness with campaigns for social justice, and spontaneous social movements with the slow work of building institutions. This book is an important contribution not just to the history of Pentecostalism but also to the growing body of Pentecostal political theology.” —Luke Bretherton, Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke Divinity School, Duke University, USA   “Joel Haldorf’s book is a sweeping analysis of the rise of Pentecostalism in Sweden.  Lewi Pethrus’ life serves as a hermeneutical lens for interpreting Swedish Pentecostalism’s unique polis in the midst of the politics of a modern, mass society. Haldorf goes beyond the reductionism that is usually found in standard sociological categories. In doing so, he breaks new ground and helps the reader see the multiple dimensions of Pethrus’ larger than life personality.   I was particularly fascinated by the last chapter, in which Halldorf traces the history of U.S. Evangelicalism and compares that to rise of the Swedish Evangelical movement, noting both similarities and stark differences.” —Cheryl Bridges Johns, Robert E. Fisher Professor of Spiritual Renewal & Christian Formation, Pentecostal Theological Seminary, USA

Contributes to the understudied areas of Petecostal and Charismatic studies, including leadership, politics, and public theology Offers the first English language study of Lewi Pethrus Investigates cases of renewal movements within Pentecostalism, an important subject for a movement within the revitalist tradition