Difference between revisions of "Pentecostalism"

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Pentecostalism is a spiritual Christian revivalist movement that began within Protestantism and was also accepted by the Roman Catholic Church in the Second Vatican Council. Pentecostalism is generally not regarded as Protestant, however. The movement consists of a focus on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles as described in the Acts of the Apostles and Pentecostals strive to embrace that same spirituality on a weekly or daily basis these days. In sum, Pentecostalism consists of becoming a messenger for the Holy Spirit in modern times. Adherents seek gifts of prophecy and healing, and sometimes speak in different or unrecognized tongues.

Supporters of the movement cite as an obstacle to participation a distrust or diffidence towards the Holy Spirit's ability to achieve today what was accomplished in the first century A.D. Like Methodists, Pentecostals emphasize the necessity of a revival in the church. Their theology is strongly influenced by Arminianism.

Denominations

From a worldwide perspective, the Assemblies of God is the largest Pentecostal denomination. However, the vast majority of its membership is outside of the United States. It has 2.5 million members in the U.S. and 25 million overall.

Second in size is The Church of God in Christ, a predominantly African American denomination. Other of Pentecostal denominations include the Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee; the International Pentecostal Holiness Church; the International Church of the Four Square Gospel; and the nontrinitarian United Pentecostal Church International. There are scores of smaller Pentecostal bodies.^[1] The main Pentecostal denomination is the Assemblies of God. Others include the Full Gospel church.

History

Almost all of the world's half billion Pentecostals and charismatics trace their roots to William Seymour (1870-1922), who held electrifying revivals in 1906 at the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles. This revival was marked by great emotional excitement, relatively brief interracial harmony, and an obsession with speaking in tongues and healing. It was touched off by the preaching of Seymour, an African American who had absorbed the teachings of Charles F. Parham in Texas.

However the origins go back further. Baer (2001) explores the significance of ideas of divine healing to the emergence of Pentecostalism from the radical holiness movement in the late 19th century. The careers and ministries of Maria B. Woodworth-Etter, John A. Dowie, and Charles F. Partham all demonstrate a commitment to notions of divine healing, where faith and belief in Christ and his atoning sacrifice on the cross could bring about a complete healing of the body and the soul.

Pentecostalists participated in a broader evangelical culture in which divine healing was a key element in a program that could include ecstatic religiosity and a belief in Christ's imminent return. Newspapers reported the purported healings of these three ministers in revival meetings during the 1880s-1900s.

Aimee Semple McPherson was an important factor in the spread of Pentecostalism in the first half of the 20th century. Although she always identified herself as Canadian, she built her temple in Los Angeles, from which she hoped to evangelize the world. Before settling down in 1923, however, she experienced unnerving success as a faith healer. Never comfortable with the role, not least of all because she was committed to saving souls, not bodies, McPherson attempted during her secluded final decade to devise a theory of faith healing. Although still celebrated by her followers as a prophet and a healer, she expressed discomfort with both these roles. Physically exhausted, she died in 1944 at the age of 54 from a drug overdose.^[2]

Evangelical response

Wacker (1996) looks at the bitter fight between existing radical evangelical groups and emerging Pentecostals between 1906 and 1916. To outsiders the sides were indistinguishable in their doctrinal beliefs, but to insiders their differences were immense. Pentecostals emphasized the absolute need to exhibit gifts of the spirit, something that most radical evangelicals denied. Strife bitterly divided churches, families, and communities because the opponents had so much in common. Both sides assumed theology to be an exact science, that only one correct interpretation of the Bible was possible, and that the worst sin was a rejection of orthodoxy. A legacy of animosity persisted between the two groups for years after.^[3]

Canada

The Italian Canadian Pentecostal movement began in 1913 among a group of Presbyterian converts in Hamilton, Ontario. From here missionary work spread the movement to other Italian communities in Canada, including Toronto and Montreal. These Italian Pentecostals emphasized biblical fundamentalism, personal conversion, and an independent organizational structure but differed from other Pentecostals in their commitment to Italian identity and tradition. The emphasis on Italian language and community and missionary efforts directed toward other Italians combined with the sometimes unconscious incorporation of Old World traditions set the Italian Canadian Pentecostals apart from both other Italians and the Pentecostal movement in general.^[4]

Women played a major role in the Pentecostal revival movement from the 1900s to the 1940s, founding denominations, preaching, and occasionally acting as pastors. As Pentecostalism aligned itself with mainstream evangelicalism after World War II, women's leadership declined.

Further reading

• Blumhofer, Edith L. Restoring the Faith: The Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture. U. of Illinois Press, 1993. 281 pp. A major schiolarly study.
• Brouwer, Steve, Paul Gifford, and Susan D. Rose. Exporting the American Gospel: Global Christian Fundamentalism (1996), examines the spread of Pentecostalism and the market revolution, as well as the connection between these phenomena, in Guatemala, the Philippines, South Korea, and Liberia. It reads these trends as examples of "Americanization"
• Cox, Harvey. Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century (1995) online edition
• Crowe, Terrence Robert. Pentecostal Unity: Recurring Frustration and Enduring Hopes. Chicago: Loyola U. Press, 1993. 282 pp.
• DuPree, Sherry Sherrod. African-American Holiness Pentecostal Movements: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1996. 650 pp.
• Harrell, David Edwin. Oral Roberts: An American Life (1985) online edition
• Poloma, Margaret M. The Assemblies of God at the Crossroads: Charisma and Institutional Dilemmas. U. of Tennessee Pr., 1989. 309 pp. scholarly study
• Stephens, Randall J. "The Convergence of Populism, Religion, and the Holiness-Pentecostal Movements: A Review of the Historical Literature." Fides Et Historia 2000 32(1): 51-64.
• Synan, Vinson, ed. The Century of the Holy Spirit: 100 Years of Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal, 1901-2001, (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001)

Specialized topics

• Baer, Jonathan R. "Redeemed Bodies: The Functions Of Divine Healing In Incipient Pentecostalism." Church History 2001 70(4): 735-771. in JSTOR
• Goff, Jr. James R. Fields White unto Harvest: Charles F. Parham and the Missionary Origins of Pentecostalism (University of Arkansas Press, 1988)
• Medhurst, Martin J. Filled with the Spirit: Rhetorical Invention and the Pentecostal Tradition," Rhetoric & Public Affairs v7 #4 (2004) 555-572 in Project MUSE

Missions and International

• Cleary, Edward L. and Hannah W. Stewart-Gambino, eds. Power, Politics, and Pentecostals in Latin America, (1997) online edition
• McGee, Gary B. 'This Gospel . . . Shall Be Preached': A History and Theology of Assemblies of God Foreign Missions since 1959. Springfield, Mo.: Gospel, 1990. 358 pp.
• Westmeier, Karl-Wilhelm. Protestant Pentecostalism in Latin America: A Study in the Dynamics of Missions (1999) online edition

Glossolalia

• John Sherrill, They Speak with Other Tongues (Old Tappan, N.J.: Chosen Books, 2004)
• Gary B. McGee, Initial Evidence: Historical and Biblical Perspectives on the Pentecostal Doctrine of Spirit Baptism (Peabody, Mass.: Henrickson, 1991)
• Wade H. Horton, Glossolalia Phenomenon (Cleveland, Tenn.: Pathway Press, 1996)
• Watson E. Mills, Glossolalia: A Bibliography (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1985)
• Speaking in Tongues: A Guide to Research on Glossolalia (Eerdmans, 1986).

External links

• major websites

notes

1. ↑ For a listing of the websites of these and other Pentecostal churches, go to http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~kbanner/pentec.html
2. ↑ Janice Dickin, "'Take Up Thy Bed And Walk': Aimee Semple Mcpherson and Faith-Healing." Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 2000 17(1-2): 137-153. 0823-2105
3. ↑ Grant Wacker, "Travail of a Broken Family: Evangelical Responses to Pentecostalism in America, 1906-1916." Journal Of Ecclesiastical History 1996 47(3): 505-528. 0022-0469
4. ↑ Cumbo, Enrico Carlson. "Your Old Men Will Dream Dreams": The Italian Pentecostal Experience in Canada, 1912-1945. Journal of American Ethnic History 2000 19(3): 35-81. 0278-5927 in JSTOR