Empowered Voices: Scandinavian Women in Early Pentecostalism
Ebook
Overview
The invisibility of women in historical research is a problem that requires dedicated attention and concrete efforts to overcome. This book aims to make a small contribution toward this goal by shedding light on the significant contributions of Scandinavian women in early Pentecostalism. The authors of this volume bring to light the stories of mostly unknown female Pentecostal pioneers and how they shaped their respective movements and Pentecostalism internationally. The stories range from key leaders, like Laura Barratt and Anna Larssen Bjorner in Norway and Denmark, to obscure "apostles" in the Arctic regions, like Alma Halse and Gerda Astrom, to missionaries in Africa and Brazil, like Hilda Backlund, Linnea Halldorf, Ingrid Lokken Chawner, and Frida Vingren. The stories provide a window into the challenges and possibilities of Pentecostal women at the turn of the twentieth century. These "empowered voices" have finally received an audience that they so deeply deserve.
“This is a stimulating, much-needed book. The role of Scandinavian women in the early development of Pentecostalism into an international and worldwide movement has often been ignored and never documented as it is in this collection. The authors and editors have done a tremendous service to the history of Pentecostalism.”
—Allan H. Anderson, professor emeritus, University of Birmingham
“The careful and reflective research represented in this volume demonstrates, once again, that women in the Pentecostal movement don’t just ‘stand behind good men’ as supports or provide the ‘backbone of the church.’ What these authors recover is more evidence of the feminine root of the Pentecostal movement, where women are leaders: apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists—in Scandinavia as in the global movement, then and now.”
—Kimberly Ervin Alexander, director of academics and RU Online, Ramp University, Hamilton, Alabama
Rakel Ystebø Alegre is associate professor at The Norwegian School of Leadership and Theology, Oslo, Norway.
Jan-Åke Alvarsson is professor emeritus of cultural anthropology at Uppsala University, Sweden.
Nikolaj Christensen is a priest and tutor in the Diocese of Oxford, Church of England.
Tommy H. Davidsson is associate professor at The Norwegian School of Leadership and Theology, Oslo, Norway.