Great teachers inspire students to adopt an attitude of life-long learning to probe answers to the significant questions of life. Dr. Althouse has taught students from various walks of life for more than fifteen years and in the process he has learned the craft of passionate teaching, igniting the spark of curiosity and discovery in students to encourage them to explore theological and cultural issues, and to challenge them to integrate the best resources into their own spiritual insight and development.
Much of Dr. Althouse’s professional involvement consists of editorial contributions and leadership to the academy. He has served as co-editor for Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, The Canadian Journal of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity, and co-edited several volumes on Pentecostalism. He has provided professional leadership to different academic societies such as the American Academy of Religion and the Society for Pentecostal Studies, and he has participated in the National Council of Churches, where members addressed the problems of racism and mass incarceration.
Dr. Althouse’s early theological work explores constructive approaches to Pentecostal eschatology, pneumatology, and ecclesiology through interaction with Jürgen Moltmann’s theology of hope. In his autobiography, Moltmann claims that Dr. Althouse is one of “the younger theologians of the Pentecostal movement” who envisions a dynamic eschatology “according to which the gifts and energies of the Holy Spirit which can be experienced here and now are ‘the powers of the future world’ (Hebrews 6:3).” Over the last decade, Dr. Althouse’s interests have turned to exploring different forms of prayer. Working closely with sociologist Dr. Michael Wilkinson, Dr. Althouse investigated soaking prayer, a charismatic form of meditation emerging from Catch the Fire in Toronto, Canada that is linked to heightened charismatic phenomena and a range of altruistic outcomes. Currently, he has been investigating the relationship between inner healing prayers, embodiment, and therapeutic culture. Dr. Althouse has integrated some of these prayers into his spiritual life, meeting regularly with a prayer group to learn and practice them.
Dr. Althouse earned his B.A. in Sociology and English from Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, his M.Rel. in Systematic Theology from Wycliffe College, University of Toronto, and his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Wycliffe College and the Toronto School of Theology, at the University of Toronto. He also earned a Diploma of Ministry from Master’s College, (formerly EPBC) from Peterborough, Ontario.
In his free time, Dr. Althouse enjoys going to the gym, reading science fiction novels, painting, learning new things, and hanging out with his wife Denise and the cat.
A selection of Dr. Althouse’s writings include:
- Pentecostals and the Body. Michael Wilkinson and Peter Althouse, eds. Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, 8; Leiden: Brill, 2017.
- Catch the Fire: Soaking Prayer and Charismatic Renewal (with Michael Wilkinson). DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press, 2014.
- The Ideological Development of Power in Early American Pentecostalism: An Historical, Theological and Sociological Study. Foreword by Allan Anderson. NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2010
- Spirit of the Last Days: Pentecostal Eschatology in Conversation with Jürgen Moltmann. Foreword by Jürgen Moltmann. Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplementary Series, 25; London: T & T Clark International, 2003.
View Dr. Althouse's CV here.