The History of Christianity in America

The History of Christianity in America CH503 LESSON 22 of 24 John D. Hannah, PhD, ThD Experience: Professor of Historical Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas We begin today with the twenty-second in our series of American Religious Thought. Our subject today is a rather large and profound movement called The Rise and Development of Pentecostalism or the Charismatic Movement. Let me begin by first dealing with some introductory matters, and I think the first thing that we must know is that the Pentecostal or Charismatic Movement is really a very complex movement. There is what is called Classical Pentecostalism which has its origin in 1901 or 1906, either in Topeka, Kansas or the great revival at Azusa Street in Los Angeles. And those beginnings brought about what is called Classical Pentecostalism, and we ll describe that. In the late 1950s, there emerged another manifestation of Pentecostalism distinct in its direction, and that is often called Neo-Pentecostalism or the Charismatic Movement or Renewalism. This was because it was a movement largely within mainline denominations. Then in the mid-1960s (1967), there emerged what was called the Catholic Pentecostal Movement. What I would like to do in our few moments in this tape is to look at the varieties of Pentecostalism as to their historical origin and something of their teachings. As to the essence of Pentecostalism, it would seem to me that what the Pentecostal Movement is suggesting to us is a crisis in the doctrine of sanctification, or the crisis in the doctrine of the idea of walking with God. As I see the Pentecostal Movement or Charismatic Movement, it is largely a strong evangelical movement Protestant movement that is not so much raising questions about the doctrine of salvation and the grace of God, but raising very important questions about the manner of how one is to walk with God in power and strength. Now, let s begin and talk about Pentecostalism. First, early expressions of Pentecostalism have suggested to us that the gift of tongues and within at least Classical Pentecostalism, not so much more Renewalists or Charismatic expressions of 1 of 11

Pentecostalism, but in the older movement of Pentecostalism was the apostolic sign of one s post-conversion spirit baptism; after regeneration and after the beginning of life in Christ, one needed a second baptism (a Holy Spirit baptism) with signs following. Those signs following would be the gift of tongues, or glossolalia. Pentecostals have generally looked back through history to find expressions of glossolalia. They have suggested that the gift did not cease with the conclusion of the New Testament era. It continued on, dying out, they would suggest later, in the ancient period of the church in the fourth or fifth century as is witnessed by Augustine and John Chrysostum among others. In that historic assessment, I believe that they are generally true, that the gift of tongues cannot be demonstrated to have ceased with the conclusion of the first century. The Montanist Movement may or may not have been a classically defined Pentecostal movement, though indeed it appears to have been a gifts movement or Charismatic movement. What you do not find until the eighteenth century is the gift of tongues taught as a clear evidence of one s post-conversion Spirit baptism. Tongues is the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The first time in history when you find that connection clearly taught is in the nineteenth century Irvinite Movement in England. The Irvinites followers of William Irvine, a Scot who pastored in the city of London and later one of the founders of the Apostolic Christian Church taught this very fundamental scheme that one is saved and then later empowered. The empowering for the ministry has a sign that follows which is the gift of tongues, the ability to speak in an unlearned earthly language. This brings me to discuss the rise of Pentecostalism as an American phenomenon. My thesis is that I think scholars are agreed the Classical Pentecostalism emerged by and large out of American Methodism. So to understand American Methodism is the place to begin to understand Classic American Pentecostalism, which will emerge in January, 1901. So first, now, are factors leading to the rise of Pentecostalism or the Holiness Movement. My thesis is that within Methodism American Methodism, a very fine, prolific evangelistic zealous movement of the nineteenth century there emerged a movement called the Holiness Movement; it s out of the Holiness Movement that Pentecostalism will emerge. The story goes something like this: Methodism came to America, 2 of 11

one of the last of the mainline denominations. But it was so prolific that it very rapidly became the largest of the American denominations. In the 1830s, however, Methodists to their consternation saw or felt that their denomination was numerically declining. They suggested that while Wesley had given them two messages to preach one message being salvation through Christ and the other stability through perfect love or a second work of grace that Methodists had been good at preaching the first of these messages, but had not preached a message of sanctification that would cause people to remain Christian. There evolved in the 1830s, led perhaps by the very influential Phoebe Palmer of New York, a movement called Tuesday Meetings for the Promotion of Holiness, which became within Methodism the Holiness Movement. That Holiness Movement emerged to become a recognized body in 1867, and it pushed for a great emphasis upon sanctification. It suggested that sanctification was through two steps: that one is sanctified by grace, but later they are sanctified by surrender. Or they are saved by grace, but there is a second crisis that is required, a second door to which one must pass through called surrender. And that surrender, if done with the right attitude, would lead to a state of eradication or perfectionism. Therefore, the struggle with sin would be eliminated or greatly limited. Now, they are called what we might say are two steppers. It takes two steps to walk with God effectively. You must be saved and then you must be sanctified one occurring at your redemption and the other occurring at the second great crisis. The first crisis brings to you justification; the second crisis secures the continuance of your justification. In the late 1880s and 1890s, Methodism, which was increasingly moving toward more of a liberal orientation, found the National Holiness Movement to be troublesome. And to make a long story short, in the 1880s and 1890s, many Methodists of a Holiness persuasion made their way out of Methodism and organized new independent Holiness Churches and denominations. This is why I believe, for instance, Methodism in the 1920s so quietly acquiesced to Liberalism. Much of its conservative strength had been siphoned away either into the Holiness Movement or a movement that grew out of the Holiness Movement called Classical Pentecostalism. But in the 1880s and 1890s, Holiness denominations and churches emerged like the Church of the Nazarene which is probably one of the more famous of these 3 of 11

bodies or the Pentecostal Holiness Church, or the Church of God of Cleveland, Tennessee. Now, many of those denominations simply separated from Methodism and became Holiness independent denominations. However, some of those ex-methodist Holiness denominations adopted a third work of grace from their Methodist heritage. They became three steppers we might say, or Classical Pentecostals. They would suggest that we need three steps to efficiently walk with God. We need to be saved. We need to be sanctified (and that s as far as Holiness teaching would take you). Then we need to be baptized. The sign of that last work would be the gift of tongues, but we re anticipating our story a bit. I am saying that Pentecostalism as a movement a great, prolific third wave movement some have said within American Protestant religion emerged out of Methodism via the coming of the Holiness Movement. Within Methodism emerged the Holiness Movement which was shunned by the Methodist Church at the end of the nineteenth century. Many of Holiness persuasion moved out and formed independent Holiness denominations and churches. That is the background for our study now of the birth of Classical Pentecostalism. The father of Classic American Pentecostalism is an ex-methodist clergyman turned Holiness Revivalist preacher by the name of Charles Fox Parham. Parham, after years as an itinerant Holiness preacher, came to Topeka, Kansas and founded what is called the Bethel Bible Institute. He rented a building in Topeka, a very important building today called Stone s Folly, a very ornate mansion. He rented it from the American Bible Society. And there he opened a storefront sort of Bible Institute in which he began to teach the necessity of three steps first for salvation, second for sanctification (these are emotional experiences with the Lord), and third is an evidence of baptism which is a gift of tongues. Salvation brings you deliverance from your evil and sin. The sanctification gives you victory, and baptism gives you power. These are three distinct steps that one must pass through. So that on January 1, 1901, in response to his teachings, a lady by the name of Agnes Ozman of the Fire Baptized Holiness Church, not only spoke in what was believed to be tongues, but more importantly, used tongues as an evidence of her spirit baptism. That s what makes Pentecostalism distinctive. Charles Fox Parham then traveled as an itinerant into Oklahoma then into 4 of 11

Missouri. There are many fine contemporary books as well as eyewitness accounts describing the movement, but to make a long story short, he opened a Bible Institute in Houston, Texas in 1905. There a black Holiness Baptist preacher by the name of William J. Seymour who came to his teachings. William J. Seymour is prolifically important because he carried Parham s three step methodology from Houston to Los Angeles, California. There he became the great apostle of Azusa Street. So the official beginnings of Classical Pentecostalism should be dated from the Azusa Street Revivals of 1906-1909. The embryonic beginnings certainly are the Bethel Bible Institute in Topeka, but the international beginnings are in Los Angeles. And if you read the story, literally hundreds of people came to Azusa Street from mission fields and other places all over the world where they received their baptism. What they felt was new power and urgency of the Christian life, and many of them returned to become very zealous proponents of the Christian message. They linked the urgency of the coming of the Lord and premillennialism with the power of the baptism of the Spirit as they would say, so that the Azusa Street Revival marks the beginning internationally of Classic Pentecostalism, A movement that may be thought of as Neo-Wesleyanism. It s new emphasis within Wesley s ideas it would seem. Now, the early Pentecostals tended by and large to be of Methodist heritage. So when they came to the gift of power as evidence by the gift of tongues (the Charismatic gift of tongues), they came predisposed that it would be a third work of grace; from their Methodist heritage they had a salvation experience. They had a sanctification experience because salvation and sanctification were separated within the Methodist system. So the baptism of the Spirit for power with tongues would be their third work of grace. However, as many of other more Calvinistic backgrounds came into the great Pentecostal Movement, they did not share in the necessity of separating salvation from sanctification. They felt, as many Baptists would, that salvation and sanctification occurred at the same time, though they would need a work of power with tongues following. This is called in the second decade of the twentieth century the Finished Work Controversy. The Finished Work was a controversy among these emerging Pentecostals whether or not salvation and sanctification occurred instantaneously or were they separated into two steps. Finished 5 of 11

Work people emerged in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1914 as a coalesced movement known as the Assemblies of God. At least that s the largest of the Classical Pentecostal Movements, along with Church of God Cleveland. But the Assemblies of God, this very large and very, very productive Pentecostal movement, tended to be a people of more Baptist heritages. So they would hold that salvation and sanctification occurred at one time so that the gift of your baptism after salvation was not a third work of grace, but was a second work of grace. So if you re of a Methodist Holiness background and become Pentecostal, you held to three distinct steps. If you were of a Baptist or more Reformed or Calvinistic heritage, you would believe that it was the second step or two steppers. And the second step people coalesced into a very large movement called the Assemblies of God. The second theological movement within Pentecostalism occurring in the second decade was what is called the Jesus Only Controversy, sometimes called Unitarianism. In essence, what these Pentecostal people suggested was that one should be baptized in the name of Jesus only, that the terms God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are simply titles referring to Jesus, so that we should worship Jesus only. In that sense, they rejected the notion of a Trinity and that we should worship Jesus who is God and God alone and should be baptized in His name alone. The largest black Unitarian Classical Pentecostal body is probably the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. The largest predominantly white Unitarian Pentecostal body is called the United Pentecostal Church. When you have passed through the Finished Work Controversy and the Jesus Only Controversy, there were very few theological divisions among Classical Pentecostals thereafter. The divisions that emerged, creating splinter denominations, were by and large a function and a product of personality debates. You have a few of these creating new small denominational bodies. The most outstanding figure of Classical Pentecostalism in the earliest period and a founder of one of the newer denominations of Classical Pentecostalism in the 1920s called the Four Square Gospel Church was the predominantly outstanding figure of Aimee Semple McPherson. She was a nationally known preacher and wide traveler; she dominated in the use and pioneering of radio as an expression of Christian message. So in the 1920s, the 6 of 11

newer denominations that would emerge will emerge as a function of someone s dominant leadership. Aimee Semple McPherson will establish the Four Square Gospel Church in Echo Park, Los Angeles, California. A J. Tomlinson will found the Church of God of Prophecy. Florence Crawford will found the Open Bible Standard Churches and so on. Now, for the progress or consolidation of Classical Pentecostals. Non-Pentecostals generally viewed the emergence of Pentecostals negatively and sometimes harshly. That is true in the 1920s and the 1930s. However, in the 1940s a change began to take place. This change may have been precipitated by cultural factors. It may have been precipitated by the meeting of people who were Pentecostal or non-pentecostal. One avenue through which there was an exchange was through the National Association of Evangelicals, where from the very beginning of that important umbrella group some Pentecostals, (certainly of the Assembly of God variety) were made a part of it. In the 1940s, whereas Pentecostals and non-pentecostal evangelicals were polarized against each other, that attitude began to change as Classical Pentecostals were increasingly seen at least many of them as part of mainstream Orthodox Christianity. Part of the polarization to see the wisdom of that view to many was the founding of the World Council of Churches in the late 1940s. I think they saw that with the coming of large caucus groups, powerful groups, that evangelicals should reconsider their quibbling over what might be nonessential issues and join together. Now, I have been trying to describe the first manifestation of Pentecostalism in America Classical Pentecostalism which will be born in 1901 or 1906 depending on whether you pick Charles Parham in Topeka or William J. Seymour and Azusa Street. Either one would be acceptable. They will emerge as a movement. They ll suffer two divisions over theology in the second decade of the twentieth century as they seek to define themselves. One s called the Finished Work Theory out of which will come the huge Assemblies of God. Two years later will come the Jesus Only Movement. In the 1940s, Classical Pentecostalism is brought into the mainstream of American Protestant Evangelicals by many but not all, of course. Now, that s called Classical Pentecostalism, certainly the fastest growing group of denominations in America today. 7 of 11

The second group is called the rise of Neo-Pentecostalism or the Charismatic Renewalist Movement. This movement began in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was a movement characteristically different than old Classical Pentecostalism because the Classical Pentecostals tended to be separatist; they tended to have a comeoutist, separatist mentality. Neo-Pentecostalism seemed to be a movement that wanted to penetrate the mainline denominations; they were suffering from the influence of Liberalism with the new Pentecostal experience. So the Charismatic Movement or the Renewalist Movement or the Neo-Pentecostal Movement as it emerged in mainline American denominations beginning in Van Nuys, California in 1959, sought to bring the revivifying effect of the Charismatic Movement into the mainline, declining denominations in America. The transition between old Classical Pentecostalism and Neo- Pentecostalism actually is in the ministry, I think, of the very crucially important Oral Roberts. The transition between old Classical Pentecostalism in the advent of Neo-Pentecostalism is the healing ministries of the great Pentecostal healers of the late 1940s and early 1950s the Charles Brenhams, the Oral Roberts, and the Asa Allens and many, many of these men. The key, I think, however, is Oral Roberts, who was raised in the Pentecostal Holiness Church. In the 1940s, he organized a ministry called Healing Waters, and through his ministry became certainly very, very influential. In the late 1960s, he left the Pentecostal Holiness Church and joined the United Methodist Church. That joining of the United Methodist Church was really quite symbolic and deeply important as Pentecostals were seeking to bring the great Charismatic experience into the mainline denominations. If Oral Roberts is one of the key important figures in the coming of the Classical Pentecostal Movement or the coming of the Neo- Pentecostal Movement the other important figure is Demos Shakarian. Shakarian was a well-to-do dairyman in California and, through the influence of Oral Roberts and Mr. Shakarian, you had the founding in 1951 of the Full Gospel Businessman Fellowship International. This lay-oriented organization became the spearhead for the emergence of the Neo-Pentecostal Movement, or Protestant Renewalism, essentially a movement that was trans-denominational. It was an attempt to bring the Charismatic experience into the mainline denominations. Out of Methodism emerged (first within it and then out of it) the 8 of 11

Holiness Movement. Out of the Holiness Movement emerged Classical Pentecostalism, both Methodist Holiness varieties and Baptist Holiness varieties. Then about 1950 through the experience of Dennis Bennett, an Episcopalian rector in California who experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit the Pentecostal Movement (Renewalist Movement, Charismatic Movement) penetrated the mainline denominations. Dominant in the Neo- Pentecostal Movement were men like Demos Shakarian and David du Plessis, who in many ways is Mr. International Pentecostal a South African who really became the international proliferator of the Charismatic Movement. There was Katherine Kuhlman who, in many ways, parallels the prolific ministry of Aimee Semple McPherson; Ralph Wilkerson, one of the founders of Melodyland; Michael Harper, a Briton who founded Fountain Trust and important Neo-Pentecostal agency in England; Dennis Bennett, of course, the Episcopalian rector; Gene Stone, among others. The characteristics of the Neo-Pentecostal Movement and I m using the word Neo-Pentecostal and Renewlist and Charistmatic as rough synonyms are used interchangeably. What characterizes Neo-Pentecostalism (or the Charismatic Renewal Movement) from Classical Pentecostalism are things like this: In theology, the Neo-Pentecostal Movement is not so fundamentalist and rigid as Classical Pentecostalism. Classical Pentecostalism would generally advocate that the Canon of Scripture, the revelation of God, has ceased and it s fixed. Within the Charismatic Renewalist Movement one of its characteristics is that the revelation of God is not fixed, but it is continuative even today. There is the letter of the Word of God and there s the Spirit, and the Spirit of God is continually giving us truth today. Old Classical Pentecostals would tend to see the integrity of Scripture as being infallible and verbally inspired. Charismatics would generally see the inspiration of Scripture to be more existential and partial. Classical Pentecostals would tend to describe what Katherine Kuhlman calls emotional excess or the spirit of confusion in her words. But this Neo-Pentecostal Movement would be much more orderly and quiet. She called it the quiet spirit. Old Classical Pentecostalism tended to be sectarian, whereas the Charismatic Movement tends to be ecumenical; it tends to be broad in its religious affiliations. Classical Pentecostalism tended to be weary and leary of education. It had a tendency to be anti-intellectual, whereas the Charismatic Movements today it should be plural 9 of 11

for it ranges from Protestant Renewalism to Catholic Renewalism to the emerging Evangelical Renewalism called the Vineyard Movement tends to be educationally-oriented. In social emphasis, Classical Pentecostals tend to be unconcerned, much like their comrades the Fundamentalists of non- Charismatic persuasion whereas the Charismatic Renewalists tend to be much more socially conscious than before. Classical Pentecostals tended to be of the poor, lower class of American culture, whereas Neo-Pentecostalism or Charismatic Renewalists tend to be more upper or upper-middle class people. Now, so in the late 1950s and early 1960s and continuing today in the mainline churches of America the Pentecostal experience of a baptism has brought meaning and life to many. One characteristic of difference is that whereas the Old Classical Pentecostal insisted that tongues was the evidential sign of one s baptism, in the Charismatic Movement today they are much broader on the necessity of a single gift to be possessed by everyone as an evidence of their encounter with the Holy Spirit. There is much more freedom and much less rigidity than insistence upon one single sign and one single sign alone. A third movement emerged in the 1960s, and this movement occurred within the Roman Catholic community. When we use the word Charismatic Movement as I said, it really should be plural. It should be Charismatic Movements because it embraces a Protestant Charismatic Movement occurring in our mainline denominations; it embraces a Roman Catholic element as well. So the Charismatic Movement is really plural. Within the Roman Catholic Church, the Charismatic Movement really began as a response to turmoil in the church beginning in the 1950s. This continued through Vatican II, and as the church began to grapple with Marxism and Liberalism, social unrest among its constituency which is one of the reasons for the calling of the great Vatican II, Popes often called like Cardinal Roncalli, John XXIII, and Paul VI called for a renewal, healing, and even a baptism of the church. In 1967-68 at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a group of key Roman Catholic leaders Ralph Kiefer, Dorothy and Kevin Ranaghan, and later Edward O Connor began to read some Protestant books of a Charismatic nature. Prominent were Ralph Wilkerson s The Cross and the Switchblade, and John Sherrill s book, They Speak with Other Tongues. Through these 10 of 11

books and contacts with Classical Pentecostals or the Assembly of God vintage at a weekend retreat called the Duquesne Weekend in February 1967, a group of Catholic students underwent a mighty Spirit baptism that occasioned personal renewal. And that sparked the beginning of the Roman Catholic Renewalist Movement that literally spread across America, finally spreading to the Vatican itself. It has become a very large Renewalist Movement within the Catholic Church. So there is what s called Classical Pentecostalism, emerging in 1901 or 1906; there is what is called the Charismatic Movements, which has in it Protestant Neo-Pentecostals or Renewalists which began in the late 1950s; there is a Catholic Movement within the Pentecostal Movement. And there has recently occurred in the 1960s another Renewalist manifestation. This one emerged, not so much in the mainline churches or in the Roman Catholic community, but in the 1970sin the classically non-pentecostal or non-charismatically-oriented Evangelical Separatist Movement. Its prominent leader today is certainly John Wimber, who in the late 1970s founded the Vineyard Movement. They call it the third wave. The first wave was Classical Pentecostalism, the second wave was the Charismatic Movements Protestant and Catholic and the Vineyard Movement is the great third wave. This movement is largely an intrusion into traditionally non- Charismatic evangelical circles with a great emphasis upon renewing the miracle life of the church and the power of the gospel through those miracles to the ends of the world. So today we have several Charismatic Movements Classical Pentecostals, Renewalists(Protestant and Catholic)and the Vineyard Movement. All are very prolific and important components of American Protestantism today. Christ-Centered Learning Anytime, Anywhere 11 of 11