Upolu Luma Vaai

Within the pages of this book, an international group of Methodist scholars are united in the belief that another church and another world are not only necessary but possible. Holiness traditions, even though at times addressing matters too narrowly and at other times to triumphantly, are in agreement that the status quo in both church and world can be improved upon significantly. The question is not whether but how does this happen and how far does it go. Amidst ongoing discussions of reforms, reformations, and revolutions, this volume argues that comprehensive transformations are afoot. Our expectations are not built on shallow optimism or wide-spread beliefs in progress; they are built on evangelical expectations and holiness histories as they have shaped up since the beginnings of evangelical holiness movements. Recent decades, in particular, have rekindled broader perspectives that push beyond reductionistic focuses on individuals, closed communities, or particular church bodies. The hope of the gospel that is at the heart of the Methodist evangelical holiness traditions needs to be tested and verified in concrete transformations, which will be spelled out in the chapters of this book.

"This book celebrates without apology the fact that indigenous spirituality lives and breathes in our Pacific person and personhood. In so doing, it celebrates what is core to indigeneity in the Pacific: our names and our naming; our knowing, being and seeing; and our identities and sense of belonging. It exposes how our grip on our own search for how we should understand the many dimensions of our Pacific-ness is slipping, and it offers a thoughtful conversation on how we can get better traction on it and really own it." - Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta'isi Efi, Former Head of State of Samoa.