This also helps us see these groups' connection to popular culture more generally. We still separate religion and popular culture too much, despite all the good studies of American popular religion. There's also an economy of Pentecostal emotion that historians haven't analyzed much. This seems like another crucial lens for looking at American religion. And finally, this kind of practice helps us see once again the enduring significance of healing in American religion, for believers and devotees everywhere.
Pentecostalism is all about healing.
You might almost call it self-help. It's a really therapeutic tradition, and I don't mean that to slight it. Seeing the ways in which therapy and healing are so embedded is crucial for understanding American religious history. As Colleen McDannell and other pioneers have shown us, this attention to material culture reveals the richness and complexity of American religious life in new and challenging ways. A. Scholars tend to interpret Pentecostalism as its own isolated entity.