Modernity’s Influence on Pentecostal Development

As well as the Holiness background we must also consider modernity’s influence on Pentecostalism. Timothy Weber claims that modernity pushed many evangelicals into various forms of theological liberalism.41 Biological and sociological evolution theory challenged the existence of God undermining the foundations of Christian belief while higher criticism seemed to undermine the inspiration and veracity of Scripture. The economic uplift of modernity and its emerging middle class resulted in many denominations mainstreaming to appeal to this steadily growing, and influential group. Pentecostalism protested what it considered spiritual sterility, and the accommodation of modernity’s worldview within the mainline denominations.42 Purdy, H. G. (2015). A Distinct Twenty-First Century Pentecostal Hermeneutic (p. 43). Wipf & Stock.