Emerging as a spiritual renewal movement in Antebellum America with ties to Methodism and the reform ethos of the era, it grew rapidly and spread internationally during the last three decades of the 19th century. Women including the increasingly well-known Phoebe Palmer were central actors in the Movement and from its origins Blacks were prominent in all aspects of the Movement. Although its most familiar expression is found in the Salvation Army, the movement established a thriving international network of periodicals, camp meetings, rescue missions, and congregations birthing new denominations such as the Church of God (Anderson), the Church of the Nazarene, and the Korea Evangelical Holiness Church while continuing to profoundly shape older Protestant denominations. In the process playing a crucial role emergence of Pentecostalism and even shaping the piety of popular evangelicalism.

Historical Dictionary of the Holiness Movement, Third Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 500 cross-referenced entries on leaders, personalities, events, facts, movements, and beliefs of the Holiness Movement. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about South Africa.