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A Sociological Study of the Great Commandment in Pentecostalism: The Practice of Godly Love as Benevolent Service
Author(s): Matthew T. Lee (Author), Margaret M. Poloma (Author)
- Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press Ltd
- Publication Date: 30 Sept. 2009
- Language: English
- Print length: 182 pages
- ISBN-10: 9780773439023
- ISBN-13: 0773439021
Book Description
This sociological study focuses on the Christian “Great Commandment”-loving and knowing God’s love and then reaching out to love others. Qualitative interviews with 101 North Americans who report exemplary experiences of “Godly Love” in a broadly defined pentecostal context demonstrate that self-giving love is paradoxically self-affirming. Doing for others over a lifetime of benevolence in the service of a higher cause–can even to the extent of rishing one’s personal safety- can generate a sense of meaning and purpose that is often lacking in contemporary society. This book will be useful to scholars in a variety of disciplinary specialties with an interest in altruism, religious experience, or attempts to integrate theology and social science.
Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
This sociological study focuses on the Christian “Great Commandment”-loving and knowing God’s love and then reaching out to love others. Qualitative interviews with 101 North Americans who report exemplary experiences of “Godly Love” in a broadly defined pentecostal context demonstrate that self-giving love is paradoxically self-affirming. Doing for others over a lifetime of benevolence in the service of a higher cause–can even to the extent of rishing one’s personal safety- can generate a sense of meaning and purpose that is often lacking in contemporary society. This book will be useful to scholars in a variety of disciplinary specialties with an interest in altruism, religious experience, or attempts to integrate theology and social science.
About the Author
Dr. Lee is Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. He completed his Ph.D in Sociology at the University of Delaware and is author of Crime on the Border: Immigration and Homicide in Urban Communities. Dr. Lee is Co-Director of a $2.3 million research project on the relationship between perceived interactions with God’s love and benevolent service to others. Dr. POloma is Research Professor and Professor Emerita in the Sociology Department at The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. She holds a Ph.D in Sociology from Case Western Reserve University and is author of Blood and Fire: Godly love in a Pentecostal Emerging Church. Dr. Poloma is Co-Director of a $2.3 million research projest on the relationship between perceived interactions with God’s love and benevolent service to others.
