Vazquez, Miguel

The rapid growth of Pentecostalism has drawn significant scholarly attention in recent decades. However, few researchers have utilized sermon transcripts as a data source for understanding the evolution of Pentecostal thinking. An archive of thirty sermons from one United Pentecostal Church congregation is the primary data source for this analysis. Two groups of sermons from different time periods (1976-86, 2000-10) were compared to examine how one minister’s approach to social issues changed over time. The minister’s discourse about education, marriage and divorce, and homosexuality held to a Pentecostal worldview of “good” and “evil” across time periods. However, key shifts in the Pastor’s dualistic discourse suggest how Pentecostals can adapt to societal change over time. This study suggests that Pentecostalism may be significantly more adaptable to external changes than some analysts had predicted, and that longitudinal discourse analyses provides a window into how the Pentecostal dualistic worldview adapts to such changes.

During the 16th century, Spaniards of Muslim heritage, known as Moriscos, were forced to convert to Christianity. As Spanish speakers wishing to preserve their Muslim culture, the Moriscos began to write in Spanish using Arabic script. This writing system, known as Aljamiado, manifests as a distinct new language with its own grammatical idiosyncrasies. This thesis focuses on a 16th century aljamiado manuscript – a religious text containing “teachings of much importance” – and the significance of such teachings from the Morisco perspective. The text emphasizes the rejection of transient worldly phenomena, which lead to suffering, and the importance of servitude to the divine Creator, which leads to peace. This thesis seeks to explain how this type of religious ideology might inspire harmony or adversity depending on the state of the shifting power structures that define a society. Following an analysis of the text, the author includes his edition of the manuscript.