Editorial, issue 23.1
How to Cite:
Haustein, J. (2025). Pentecostalism and Gender. PentecoStudies, 23(1), 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1558/pent.32088
Conferences are the essential glue of any academic community, and the European Research Network on Global Pentecostalism (GloPent), which owns and manages PentecoStudies, is no exception. Arguably, for GloPent, conferences are even more important, as we are not an academic society but a loose network of scholars researching Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. Many researchers do so only for a time, for example in their PhD or postdoc projects, and as a result, we have seen significant fluctuations in our participants over the years. This actually makes our conferences particularly stimulating, as one always encounters new scholars, projects, and ideas.
The most recent GloPent conference, the fourteenth since the foundation of this network twenty years ago, convened in Heidelberg on 9 and 10 February 2024. Hosted by Judith Bachmann, Michael Bergunder, and Anna Kirchner, the successful conference brought together over one hundred scholars from all over the world and from various disciplines in three keynote sessions and twelve parallel panels. The organizers had chosen “Pentecostalism and Gender” as the conference theme, with the explicit purpose of discovering new themes and research on this topic, which has been an important research field in Pentecostal Studies since its inception. While many of the parallel papers addressed this theme, it was the keynotes and responses in particular that attempted to lay out new research avenues and questions in this area.
I am very grateful to Judith Bachmann and Anna Kirchner for agreeing to edit this special issue, “Pentecostalism and Gender,” in order to make our stimulating Heidelberg conference discussions available to a wider audience. Special thanks go out to the three keynote presenters and their respondents, who have readily agreed to revise and publish their contributions here. The keynotes, responses, and rejoinders printed here superbly capture and continue the Heidelberg conversation, preceded by a brilliant introduction by the editors. Judith Bachmann also deserves special recognition, as she has once again curated, commissioned, and edited the book reviews in this issue.
As I write this editorial, the call for papers for the next GloPent conference has already gone out. In June 2025, we will gather in Uppsala under the theme “Pentecostalism in War and Peace.” This promises to be another stimulating and thought-provoking conference. I look forward to seeing many of you there, whether it is for the first time or not!
