Dr. James Taneti will provide an in-depth look into how and why the socially marginalized groups bring together disparate faith traditions to evolve new spiritualities. He will do so by narrating the tale of the Telugu Pentecostals in India with special focus on how these dissident Dalit Christians, at the edges of the Protestant Christianity, drew theological resources from the western Holiness tradition and their own folk worldviews to evolve their own form of Pentecostalism. At the same time, Dr. Taneti will analyze the impact of social aspirations and dominant cultures in the flourishing and warping of these eclectic traditions.

Dr. James Taneti, Director of the Syngman Rhee Global Mission Center for Christian Education and Assistant Professor of World Christianity at Union Presbyterian Seminary, in Richmond, Virginia. Lecture title: Spirit at the Edges: Sanskritization of the Telugu Pentecostals

Free and open to the public