Theological Boundaries The Arminian Tradition

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THEOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES: THE ARMINIAN by Vinson Synan An important composed Arminian tradition. TRADITION* scene is in the sector of the current American evangelical of the several movements which have developed In broad terms, this essay will deal with those groups in the Arminian-Holiness-Pentecostal and charismatic American evangelical Christianity. these movements There will be no attempt axis of to equate since in many ways they are obviously different, but they all stem in one way or another from the Arminian stream. theological Though much of American religious thought has been dominated Calvinist-oriented Protestantism and post-1880 Catholicism, by the Holiness-Pentecostal movements have gained the status of a “third force” in American life since World War II. The recent growth of the charismatic renewal within the historic churches century, this tradition last quarter of the twentieth into a major religious force. indicates that by the is finally maturing Vinson Synan, (Ph.D., University of Georgia), serves as Assistant Superintendent of the Pentecostal-Holiness Church. He is a co-founder and past-president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies and currently serves as Executive Secretary. *This article is a chapter reprinted by permission. It appeared in The Euangelicals: What They Believe, Who They Are, Where They Are Changing, edited by David F. Wells, and John D. Woodbridge, revised edition, 1977, published by Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan. – 38- 1 In general terms, the theologies of this tradition have been shaped by what have been called the three “spiritual i.e., the Lutheran, tradition the Wesleyan, evangelicalism, of salvation backsliding. salvation individual reformations” of the church, and the Pentecostal.1 Those in this by faith as the sine evangelical. Their through the Arminian view of by falling into sin and through which grace. look on Luther’s doctrine of justification qua non of the evangelical faith and that the “new birth” is the con- version experience that admits the believer into the family of God. They are thus heirs of the Reformation and therefore however, was mediated salvation; that is that Christ died for all and that all who accept him as Savior can be saved. Man can exercise his free will and refuse the offer and may even lose his salvation The key to this view is God’s sovereignty is offered to all, and man’s free moral agency whereby the can accept or reject God’s proffered The Wesleyan reformation is looked upon by those in the Holiness churches as a second spiritual reform of the church. From the beginning, societies emphasized following justification, calling for a life of holiness and from the world. Wesley also used the terms “heart purity,” perfection” of and the life of holiness in the believer. The holy life was not reserved only for heaven or for bishops, nuns, or monks alone, but it Wesley’s Methodist blessing” separation “perfect love,” and “Christian sanctification was the birthright Methodists sanctification be contained. emotionalism and obligation phenomenon, the “shouting sanctification as a “second to describe the work of every Christian. For early of to America, the vivid Anglo-Catholic per- a peculiarly American nineteenth-century or a Baptist for and the Holiness people that followed, the experience might come quietly or in a rush of ecstasy which could not When Methodism was transported of the frontier and the mystical fectionism of Wesley combined to produce Methodist.” In America, no one thought it strange to see a Methodist, that matter, falling to the ground “under the power.” Visions, trances, “the jerks,” the “holy laugh,” and the “holy dance,” were signs that the fallen from on high. Perfectionism and enthusiasm were the most visible results of the second reformation. “old time power” had The Pentecostal reformation which appeared went beyond the Wesleyan teaching on entire sanctification. gifts of the Holy Spirit, attention on the supernatural in America in 1901 Centering the early 1 For a treatment of the “Three Spiritual Reformations” theme see the author’s Old-Time Power: A History of the Pentecostal Holiness Church (Franklin Springs, GA: Advocate Press, 1973), pp. 17-26. -39- 2 Pentecostals the Holiness “latter rain” coming of Christ. To the (from which Pentecostalism Pentecostals were sure that theirs was the long expected which would signal the imminent second movement sprang) had been used to “cleanse the temple” so that the Holy Spirit could enter and abide. This “third reformation” the charism this was the “initial with the Holy Spirit and the threshold could enter the life of the Spirit. For thei-4 New Testament of the charismata-especially For the Pentecostals had been rediscovered rival the movements and restored. of a Luther or a Wesley. The Arminian The first Protestants Anglicans who founded Vlassachusetts Separatists brought a restoration of speaking in tongues. evidence” of the baptism through which the believer Christianity A new reformation had begun to Impulse role. The to settle in America were the high-church the Virginia Colony in 1607. Their primary motivation was economic-religion playing only a secondary (1620) and Puritans (1630) brought the first wave of strict Calvinism to America’s shores. The first important of Arminians in this land were the Quakers who settled of William Penn. The second who came almost a century Methodists had their earliest beginnings in New York City in 1766 and were organized nationally in Baltimore in 1784 by their first American in 1681 under the leadership group were the Methodists bishop, Francis Asbury. The Quakers and Methodists American religious life: pacifism group Pennsylvania major later. The promoted two major themes in and perfectionism. The Quakers became the first of the “peace churches” who felt that all wars were sinful and that Christians could not in good conscience in them. The Methodists “entire sanctification” conversion.l taught or “Christian participate the possibility and desirability of perfection” subsequent to Like the other groups which developed out of the Arminian tradition, Rapids, Emory Abingdon Press, 1964). 1 For the Quaker story see Walter R. Williams, The Rich Heritage of Quakerism (Grand MI: .Eerdmans, 1962). An encyclopedic view of American Methodism is found in Stevens Bucke, et aL, The History of American Methodism 3 vols; (Nashville: A popular treatment which includes most of the streams mentioned in this chapter is Charles Ferguson’s Organi.zing to Beat the Devil-Methodists and the Making of America (New York: Doubleday, 1971). – 40- 3 the Quakers and the Methodists Protestant Reformation. considered themselves heirs of the of English evangelicalism, evangelical revival of the continental and Rousseau. Added to “enlightenment” of Voltaire, Methodism Moravians When the Nlethodists Revolution, Both were products the Quakers coming out of the seventeenth-century which arose partly in reaction to the rationalism Diderot, was the influence of German pietism, especially that of the led by Count Zinzendorf. began to grow rapidly they often came into sharp conflict with the “old school” Calvinism that dominated much of American Protestantism after the American through the To the Calvinist claim of “uncondi- to be saved while others are middle of the nineteenth-century. tional election” predestined “conditional election” (predestination of what a person teachings, Synod of Dort, were: “Universal for all and that the effectiveness (some are predestined to be lost), the Methodists answered with the theory of’ will do, not on God’s derived from the Remonstrants’ atonement” grace “goes be saved and can be resisted); salvation, apostasize flourished certain social and economic is based on God’s foreknowledge decrees). Other Arminian disputation in the 1618i (the view that Christ died of his death is limited only by man’s grace” (the view that God’s perseverence” (the land, Arminian theology To many Americans the of Europe of birth to remain in a he could also choose to be individual faith); “natural inability” (the conviction that man cannot do good apart from divine grace); “prevenient before” and accounts for conviction for sin and a desire to and “conditional doctrine that though God’s grace is sufficient, men may neglect their and fall from grace).1 . On the soil of a free land and democratic during the nineteenth-century. tenets of high Calvinism smacked of the old class structures where one was “predestined” by the accident scale; saved or lost, or to ignore religion altogether. A large portion of American religious history developed to “old school” Calvinism. This was true of Unitarianism hand and the “free will” (or Arminian) movements on the other. The revivals in America were conducted in reaction on the one during the first by the Calvinistic Great Awakening. first Methodist Methodist, George Whitefield, However, the Methodist Church movement which spread rapidly over lThe best and only recent life of Arminius is Carl Bangs, Arneinius, A Study in the Dutch Reformation (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1971). A useful treatment of the Arminian tradition vis a vis Wesleyan theology is that of Mildred Bangs. Wyncoop, Foundations of Wesleyan-Arminian Theology (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), pp. 58-69. – 41- 4 the frontier in the nineteenth-century in theology. once been held by Calvinists was overwhelmingly Arminian five-point Calvinism under the leadership In time there were significant breakthroughs without challenge. large number of New England Baptists and organized the “Free Will Baptist of Benjamin The Holiness Perhaps nineteenth of perfectionism According conversion to Finney, into territory that had As early as 1784, a abandoned the last vestiges of Church” Randall and Paul Palmer.1 Impulse Finney. He was converted church but also to a form theology.” the most famous convert to the free-will position in the century was Charles Grandison not only from the Calvinism of his Presbyterian which came to be known as the “Oberlin Prominent with Finney in this movement was Asa Mahan, first president of Oberlin College and author of The Scripture Doctrine of Christian Perfection (1839), which became a classic of the tradition. the purpose of Oberlin was to “make the of sinners and the sanctification of Christians the para- mount work” of the college. For him, the sanctified life was a present reality for all believers. So central was this teaching in Finney’s revivals “Holiness unto the Lord” hung from the center pole of his revival tents. Though he was denounced, different reasons, by such Calvinist luminaries as Lyman Beecher and became the first “professional evangelist” that a banner proclaiming Charles Hodge, Finney and one of the fathers of revivalism Shortly after Finney’s spectacular 1830s, the Methodists albeit for in America.2 revivals in New York City in the of a renewed interest in In New York City, Phoebe felt the first stirrings Wesley’s teaching on entire sanctification. Palmer and her physician husband Walter joined with Phoebe’s sister Sarah Lankford in promoting the “Tuesday of holiness” in 1839. The same year Bostonian Timothy Merritt began meetings for the promotion 1 Damon C. Dodd, The Free Will Baptist Story (Nashville: National Association of Free Will Baptists, 1956). (Cambridge: Belknap 2See Charles Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion, ed. William G. Press of Harvard McLaughlin University Press, 1960); andMemoirs of Reverend Charles G. Finney (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1876). Also see Timothy Smith, Revivalism and Social Reform (New York: Abingdon Press, 1957), pp. 103-113; and William G. McLaughlin, Modern Revivalism: Charles G. Finney to Billy Graham (New York The Ronald Press, 1959). – 42- 5 publication terminology” in Old Testament grace would be received Under the Palmers, that was beginning was a revivalist. Palmer conducted Canada, place, theology Perfection (later the Guide to holiness her “altar blessing.” Since “now and by simple faith.”I in she of the Guide to Christian Holiness) which became the central organ for the Palmer-led revivaL Before the Civil War, Phoebe Palmer also developed for leading believers into the “second worship the temple altar sanctified the sacrifice the moment it was offered, Palmer taught that one need only to offer him- self as a “living sacrifice” on God’s Christian altar and the sanctifying immediately several streams that were to be important the tradition began to emerge. She was first of all a “woman preacher” of holiness and as such something of a pioneer in the feminist movement to stir in America before the war. Secondly, Following the trail already blazed by Finney, Mrs. large and successful revivals in the United States, and England before and after the Civil War. In the third she had a social consciousness which led her to aid in establish- ing the Five Points Mission in New York City in 1850.2 The social reform aspect of the Holiness movement was a natural outcome of the perfectionist impulse which dominated not only the but also the social views of the Wesleyans. Although Palmers were not a part of the abolitionist led by Orange the Methodist Church seemed to be com- on slavery. Scott and his associates wanted a more “evan- stance for the church.3 The by the later Salvation Army (a thorough-going trend among Holiness advocates.4 After the Civil War, the Holiness movement spread far beyond the Church under the impetus of the National Holiness Associ- in 1867 under the leadership York pastor John S. Inskip. Begun as a camp meeting association New York compatriots church in 1844 because promising gelical antislavery” typified the social reformist Methodist ation which was founded Methodist the movement, their western Scott broke with the mother social uplift practiced Holiness denomination) of New 1 Smith, Revivalism and Social Reform., pp. 114-126. Harper 2Ibid., 170-172; Donald Dayton, Discovering an Evangelical Heritage (New York: and Row, 1976), pp. 99-119. Evangelical Heritage, pp. 3L C. Matlock, The Life of the Reverend Orange Scott (New York: C. Prindle and L. C. Matlock, 1847, reprinted by Books for Libraries, 1971); Dayton, Discovering an 73-84. 4Sallie Chesham, Born to Battle: The Salvation Army in America (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1965). – 43- 6 grew during the recon- in Vineland, New Jersey, the NHA movement of a national crusade that cut across struction years to be something many denominational boundaries. traveling evangelists, colleges, Holiness publishing Centering around Methodist camp- an amorphous mass of meetings, Holiness and regional Holiness associa- grounds, the NHA soon grew to encompass annual “holiness” camp houses, tions that spread from coast to coast During the heights of the NHA “holiness crusade” that lasted roughly from 1867 to 1894, the movement into the movement was warmly supported by many bishops. It was during this ideas were introduced people into many church officials including leading Methodist period, however, that many newer theological that were to lead Holiness different directions by the turn of the century. The sine qua non of the movement, however, continued to be the teaching of entire sanctifica- tion as a second work of grace. One might speculate was shaped in reaction Protestant though Christian Nurture. for the nurture and training of the Holiness movement that was introduced into deprecated the traditional and instead called that the mentality to the “gradualism” by Horace Bushnell in his 1847 book entitled In this work, Bushness evangelical concern for a crisis conversion experience of children by the church and family so that they might grow up not knowing a time when they were not Chris- tians.2 This teaching was not only cut the ground out from under the re- vivalists but also from under the second-blessing sanctificationists. Bushnell led many followers into in “gradual” categories rather Through his “progressive orthodoxy,” a way of viewing Christian than the “instant” categories Holiness movements. After 1880, moderate “progressive” sanctification, experience so dear to those in the revivalistic and chose the path of gradual or advo- perfectionists whereas those deeply committed cates of the “second blessing” more and more put all of their eggs into the basket of “instant sanctification.” This emphasis taneous (or crisis) aspect of the “second Rapids: blessing” on the instan- led to a mentality lvinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the United States (Grand Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971), pp. 35-54; Delbert Rose, A Theology of Christian Experience (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, Inc., 1965). 28ushnell’s Christian Nurture, first appeared in 1847 and was reprinted in 1861. The Holiness reaction to any hint of gradualism in Christian experience is seen in numerous works including S. B. Shaw’s Echoes of the General Holiness Assembly (Chicago: S. B. Shaw Publisher, 1901). – 44- 7 mentalistic teachings costalism when it appeared may be appropriated “at of certain funda- to Pente- which eventualy opened the door to the acceptance and to a climate which was receptive in 1901. In this way of thinking, all that God offers to man through the gospel that moment and by simple faith,” in the words of John Wesley. Those in the Holiness-Pentecostal tradition saw little value in waiting for the gradual attainment of any blessing. Thus, in to “instant conversion” and “instant sanctification,” they coming of Christ” were to incorporate add one of their own, that of instant addition added the “instant second healing.” The Pentecostals attested to by speaking in tongues. This insistence on instant baptism and “instant divine these teachings and with the Holy Spirit produced dissension in the of the Holiness movement holiness churches and led to the eventual rejection by the Methodist churches. The 1894 pronouncement by the Southern the church from the Holiness crusade, subsequent Thereafter, to conversion the Holiness as well partisans Methodist bishops, dissociating criticized the idea of experiences as the idea of instant perfection. largely scattered specialize in promoting the “second to found a score or more of denominations which would 1894, though, English evangelicals. blessing.”l Before the period of schism and sect-formation that occurred after there had been introduced into the overall Holiness movement some variations on eschatology The Holiness movement had reached through the medium of the Keswick Conventions by Robert Pearsall Smith. The Keswick “higher life” movement rejected the theory that “second premillennialism, These teachings Holiness advocates. caused blessing” and pneumatology from the England beginning in 1875 led soon sanctification could eradi- and the The Keswick emphasis cate the sin nature and began to stress such themes as faith healing, the “suppression” theory of sanctification, baptism in the Holy Spirit as a means of the victorious Christian life.2 a breach in the ranks of the American The leading Keswick teachers in America by the 1880s were D. L. Moody, R. A. Torrey, A. J. Gordon, and A. B. Simpson. was crystallized in the teachings of Simpson’s Holiness; 1962). lsynam Holiness-Pentecostal Movement, pp. 46-93; Timothy Smith, Called Unto The Story of the Nazarenes (Kansas City, MO: Nazarene Publishing House, Origins 2 Smith, Called Unto Holiness, pp. 24-25; William W. Menzies, “The Non-Wesleyan of the Pentecostal Movement,” Aspects of Pentecostal-Charismatic Origins, ed. Vinson Synan (Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1975), pp. 83-98. – 45- 8 Christian and Missionary . and (4) Coming King.1 This Alliance movement with origins in New York in 1887. Simpson’s “fourfold gospel” included the ideas of Jesus Christ as (1) Savior, (2) Healer, (3) Sanctifier, teaching became the standard format for most of the Holiness denomi- nations that began after 1894 with the major difference meaning of sanctification as a “second groups such as the Church being on the blessing.” The newer Wesleyan the Pilgrim Holiness baptism as an “endowment life of victory.2 2 A great problem “second blessing” testified to its reception. quietness,” “baptism joy. Testimonies of the Nazarene; Church; the Church of God of Anderson, Indiana; and the Salvation Army continued to teach that one was sanctified (cleansed) baptism of the Holy Ghost, while the Keswick teachers of power” for service and for an overcoming through the emphasized the evidences for those who earthquakes” of for the Holiness movement was to define the and to agree on standard For some the Holy Ghost came in “blessed whereas for others the third person of the trinity came in a of fire” with great emotion and “hallelujah were as varied as the persons who gave them. Many Holiness people believed that some demonstration should accompany ‘ the “second blessing,” such as weeping, shouting, or falling into a trance. The more radical wing of the movement, typified by the “Fire-Baptized of B. H. Irwin, postulated to rival those of the Cane-Ridge camp 3 Holiness” followers emotional demonstrations meeting a century earlier.3 The Pentecostal and Los Angeles, California, baptism of fire with Impulse among some Holiness people in after the turn of the the “second blessing” for many. a former The appearance of Pentecostalism Topeka, Kansas, century solved the problems attending The father of Pentecostal Methodist, who found students teaching was Charles Fox Parham, in his Topeka “Bethel Healing School” 1 A. B. Simpson, The Four-Fold Gospel (New York Christian Alliance Publishing Co., 1925). Publishing House, 1959), pp. 2Herbert F. Stevenson, Keswick’s Authentic Voice (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan 13-22. 3Synan, Holiness-Pentecostal Mouemen? 55-76; see also Vinson Synan, The Old- Time Power, pp. 58-61. – 46- 9 biblical references this phenomenon with the speaking in tongues in 1901. Comparing to glossolalia, Parham concluded that the one and only biblical evidence for receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit was speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance. experience repeatable.1 Parham’s with clear biblical antecedents, Here was an easily confirmed and student from Houston, Texas, the black Holiness preacher William J. Seymour, became the catalyst for the worldwide populariza- tion of the Pentecostal experience through his Azusa Street Mission of the religious in Los Angeles. The Azusa revival, which began in 1906 and continued day and night for three years, caught the imagination world. From Azusa Street, Pentecostal “apostles” spread around the United States and the world to found flourishing ments.2 Pentecostal move- The awesome task the Pentecostals set out to accomplish convince the Christian world that the charismata to the believer was to (gifts of the Spirit) in the twentieth-century as This task was begun against the were as much available they had been in the first century. conventional Apostles speaking in tongues to authenticate Scriptures and the fully developed available to all. The relationship wisdom that the age of the miraculous had ended with the and that the church no longer needed as such charisms the gospel, since the completed church with its sacraments were of the Pentecostals to the fundamentalists extremely ambiguous one in the light of the dispensational moted by the fundamentalists and many other evangelicals 1920s. Most Pentecostals though it was diametrically charismata adopted opposed was an scheme pro- during the the dispensational program, al- to the Pentecostal claim that the had been restored to the church. Indeed, the earliest and bitterest opposition to the Pentecostal movement came from the funda- mentalist and Holiness groups that had rejected the tongues-attested 1 Sarah E. Parham, The Life of Charles F. Parham, Founder of the Apostolic Faith Movement (Joplin, MO: The Tri-State Printing Company, 1930). Klaude Kendrick, The Promise Fulfilled. A History of the American Pentecostal Movement (Springfield, MO: James N. Lapsley and John H. Simpson, in Tongues,” The Princeton Seminary Eulledn, LVIII (Feb. 1965), pp. 6-7. Gospel Publishing House, 1961), p. 53ff; “Speaking 2Frank Bartleman’s, How Pentecost Came to Los Angeles (Los Angeles: Privately printed, 1925) is the best firsthand account of the Azusa Street Revival. The worldwide of Pentecostalism after 1906 is best treated in Walter J. Hollenweger’s The Pentecostals: The Charismatic Movement in the Churches (Minneapolis: Augsburg spread Publishing House, 1972). 47 10 Pentecostal experience. World’s Christian Pentecostals, charging scriptural” emphases The break became formal in 1928 when the Fundamentals Association disfellowshipped the them with promoting “fanatical and un- on healing and glossolalia For over a decade and a half the status of Pentecostalism in the context of American evangelicalism Pentecostals considered mentalists, American evangelicalism. the lunatic fringe of American was questionable indeed. Although and even funda- by the mainstream of were assigned to by practically actual violence old fundamentalism represented Jones became American evangelicalism. Association of Evangelicals, forced to choose between the McIntire’s costals represented by such groups Church of God (Cleveland, Church With the determined themselves to be evangelicals this feeling was seldom reciprocated As a rule, the Pentecostals religion and disowned everybody. In the early days of the twentieth-century, was not unknown, especially in the South.2 2 The picture began to change during World War IL By this time, the by such men as Carl McIntire and Bob more and more discredited In 1943, with the organization the leading moderate American Council of Christian by the mainstream of of the National evangelicals were militant fundamentalism of Carl Churches, and the Pente- as the Assemblies of God, the and the Pentecostal Holiness of Harold Ockenga, the newly time, the Pentecostal stream of American Tennessee), support formed NAE chose to admit the Pentecostals to their ranks. Since that movement has occupied a place within the main- 3 evangelicalism.3 The Charismatic Impulse began to have an increasing Following World War II, Pentecostalism impact on American religious life. Around 1947 the “salvation-healing” to America a whole plethora as Oral Roberts, William Branham, Jack Coe, and Katherine movement presented carefully of God (Cleveland, Jr., pp. of faith healers such Kuhlman.4 4 lThe Pentecostal’s relationship to the larger American evangelical community is documented in William W. Menzies, Anointed to Serve-The Story of the Assemblies of God (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1971), pp. 177-227. 2 For examples of violence see Charles W. Conn, Like a Mighty Army Moves the Church TN: Church of God Publishing House, 1955), p. 35; Horace S. Ward, “The Anti-Pentecostal Argument,” Aspects of Pentecostal-Charismatic Origins, 100-122. 3 Synan, Holiness-Pentecostal Movement, pp. 205-207. 4A recent account of the “salvation-healing” or “deliverance” ministry of the 1950s is David Harrell’s, All Things Are Possible-The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America (Bloomington, IN: The Indiana University Press, 1975). – 48- 11 such Pente- in tongues. A strong the Pentecostal churches, costal teachings Pentecostal under the leadership as the Full Gospel Businessmen, Pentecostal message Although these evangelists were controversial both within and without they did much to popularize as divine healing and speaking lay movement also began parallel to the healing evangelists of California dairyman Demos Shakarian. Known nations were impressed The neo-Pentecostal these prosperous men brought the both within and outside the to tongues-speaking of to many people business world. Many ministers and members of the traditional denomi- with what they saw and heard. movement among Protestants first came out of the closet in 1960 with the public testimony Dennis Bennett, rector of the fashionable St Mark’s Episcopal Parish in Van Nuys, California, Well-educated. respectable. and slightly sophis- ticated, Bennett became the prototype ment which began to sweep the Protestant his removal from the Van Nuys parish, Bennett’s from the St. Luke’s where he was sent after being rejected 1960. Despite fluence increased Washington, l bishop, of the neo-Pentecostal move- and Catholic world after in- Episcopal Church in Seattle, by his California well-organized charismatic terian, Episcopal, that most of these new Pentecostals of their denominations. the final bankruptcy evangelical position mediated In the years since 1960, Pentecostalism bounds within the major Protestant communions. fellowships and Mennonite denominations. It was remarkable To many observers, of the old liberalism those groups still dominated has grown by leaps and By 1976, there were within the Lutheran, Presby- Strongest resistance to the neo-Pentecostal by the old fundamentalist the classical Holiness bodies. Leading opponents costalism included the Southern Baptists, the Church of the Nazarene, . came from the more “liberal” wings this development heralded and a genuine turning to an by the Pentecostal movement.2 movement came from mentality and to the new Pente- 1 Dennis J. Bennett, Nine 0’Clock in the Morning (Plainfield, NJ: Logos Press, 1970). Other books giving the origins of the neo-Pentecostal movement in the traditional churches are: John L. Sherrill, They Speak With Other Tongues (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Bo., 1964); Michael Harper, As at the Beginning. The Twentieth Century Pentecostal Revival (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1965); David J. du Plessis, The Spirit Bade Me Go: The Astounding Move of God in the Denominational Churches (Oakland, CA: David J. du Plessie, 1960). ficance of 2 Richard Quebedeaux, The New Charismatics-The Origins, Development, and Signi- Neo-Pentecostalism (Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, 1976), pp. 146-197. – 49- 12 and such institutions Holiness orientation) orientation), as Asbury and Bob Jones both of which denied admittance Theological Seminary (Methodist- University (Baptist-Calvinist to tongues-speakers. For much of the rest of Protestantism, toleration of neo-Pentecostalism terian Church (1969, 1970); however, there was a cautious as indicated by study commissions approved by the American Lutheran Church (1963); the United Presby- the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1965, 1971); and the Lutheran Church in America (1974). Less the Episcopal Dioceses of California (1963) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri positive were reports given to major criticism of the Pentecostals tended to adopt Pentecostal with little concern for creating Episcopal Pentecostal 1 theologies traditions. theology as well as its “cultural authentic Synod (1972). In general, the in these churches was that they baggage” Lutheran, Presbyterian, or that would clash less with their own at Duquesne University The advent of Catholic (Pittsburgh, University of Michigan Pentecostalism 1966); Notre Dame University (South Bend, 1967), and the (Ann Arbor, 1967) brought dimension: to the advance of Pentecostalism in America. Not only was the Catholic movement present, charismatic, an entirely new with the full range of the charisms pro- to lead Catholics tongues). but it was also basically evangelical.2 As the movement gressed, “Life in the Spirit” seminars were developed into the baptism in the Holy Spirit (usually attested to by speaking in of the seven-week program of instruction, the seekers were taken through the “Four Spiritual Laws” (developed In the first part 1 An excellent survey of changing attitudes toward glossolalics by both the traditional churches and psychologists who have studied the movement is Kilian McDonnell’s Charismatic Renewal and the Churches (New York The Seabury Press, 1976). 2Early histories of the Catholic Charismatic Movement include: Kevin and Dorothy Catholic Pentecostals (Paramus, NJ: Paulist Press, 1959); Edward D. The Pentecostal Movement in the Catholic Church (South Bend, IN: Ave Maria J. Massyngberd Ford, The Pentecostal Experience, A New Direction for American Catholics (New York: Paulist Press, 19 7 0). Ranaghan, O’Connor, Press, 1971); 50 13 by Campus Crusade) American bishops the movement tendencies national Charismatic Congress that “the miracle of pentecost charismatic Pronouncements by the to concerns for any extreme for the church a charismatic to insure that they were truly converted, l The reaction of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the United States and in Rome was surprisingly positive. (1969 and 1975) were positive and encouraging while expressing pastoral that might exist. The message of Pope Paul VI to the Inter- that convened in Rome in 1975 stressed should continue in history” and that the renewal might just be the needed “chance and the world.” Of all the churches that have experienced the Roman Catholic has been the most in its 2 open __ _ this represents the that an American evangelical Roman Catholic Church on a mass grass-roots on the part of many Protestant observers renewal movement, official attitude.2 For American evangelicals, Reformation been an amazing attitude which is evident in their acceptance of the evangelical community With the passage they changed the first time since movement has entered the leveL There has also of new Catholic Pentecostals as part that although in the United States. of time, it has become apparent the neo-Pentecostals do not fall behind their fellow classical Pente- costal believers “in any gift,” they have developed theological views on the meaning of the “baptism the gifts of the Spirit, and the relationship their name from “neo-Pentecostal” This was done to distinguish had long ago been forced to leave their churches experience. By the middle of the 1970s most were abandon- altogether Significantly, “charismatic.” Pentecostal ing the term neo-Pentecostal term, charismatic. The %w 7harismatfics trine of “initial were reluctant to adopt evidence,” Le., that glossolalia somewhat differing in the Holy Spirit,” of the believer in the church. to those Pentecostals who upon receiving the and opting for the more neutral __ the Pentecostal doc- was the necessary Donald 1971); Charismatic “Malines lThe emerging theology of Catholic Pentecostalism is best seen in Kilian McDonnell’s s Catholic Pentecostalism: Problems in Evaluation (Pecos, NM: Dove Publications, 1970); L. Gelpi, Pentecostalism: A Theological Viewpoint (New York Paulist Press, and Kilian McDonnell, et aL, Theological and Pastoral Orientations on the Catholic Renewal (Ann Arbor, MI: Word of Life, 1974). This is also known as the Document” See the Life in the Spirit seminar series, available from Word of Life, Ann Arbor, MI. Covenant, 2McDonnell, Charismatic Renewal and the Churches, pp. 69-78. Also see New 5 (July, 1975), pp. 23-25; and Christianity Today, (June 6, 1975), pp. 45-46. – 51- 14 sign of receiving the baptism one may receive the Pentecostal or perhaps in the Holy Spirit To the charismatics, experience and later “yield to tongues” never speak in tongues at alL The charismatics also em- phasized glossolalia as a “prayer language” and a means of “singing in the Spirit” more than the older Pentecostals. issues surfaced with the appearance costalism in those liturgical churches which have a “high” sacramental Deeper theological system. For Catholics, Lutherans, the “baptism in the Holy Spirit” initiation” which includes According to this teaching, of Pente- baptism, a person receives the baptism Spirit at the moment of water baptism. What the Pentecostal ence represents is a “releasing . the laying on of the bishop’s Despite these differences, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians, was part of the overall “rites of confirmation, and eucharist. in the Holy experi- of the Spirit” that one has already re- whereas they although for ceived. The gifts of the Spirit are then “actualized,” had lain dormant in the believer since baptism had been administered as an infants Largely ignored is the rite of confirmation, centuries the church taught that the Holy Spirit was imparted through hand) the Pentecostal-charismatic movement continued to make immense strides socially, theologically, the 1970s. A great volume of psychological research laid to rest earlier in American and numer- and theories that glossolalics deprived. By 1976 it was respectable society. Pentecostalism was as eminent Catholic and Protestant ically throughout sociological were abnormal or economically for one to speak in tongues also more respectable theologically theologians by the rise of the Pentecostal added mature theological reflection to the problems caused As the nation celebrated its two-hundredth was clear that a very important movement birthday in 1976, it and growing part of American evangel- the Holiness and denomin- ations were in the vanguard when more traditional, The charismatic movement icalism was to be found in those groups comprising Pentecostal movements. In fact, the classical Pentecostal of growth in the United States at a time liberal groups were showing alarming declines. represented Pentecostalism’s “fifth column” in these traditional churches. 1 See James D. G. Dunn, Baptism in the Holy Spirit A Reexamination of the New Testament Teaching of the Gift of the Spirit in Relation to Pentecostalism Today (Naperville, IL: AUenson, 1970); and Kilian McDonnell and Arnold Bittlinger, The Baptism in the Holy Problem (Notre Dame: Charismatic Renewal Services, 1972). Spirit as an Ecumenical – 52- 15 By the end of 1976 the pollsters charismatics were paying more attention to the first time in two decades Significant Christians matic renewaL At the least, it was increasingly than ever before. A Gallup poll stated that “the year 1976 could mark the beginning of a new religious revival in America.” For the church attendance in this poll were indications in the traditional churches were 1 participating rose in a typical week that as many as three million in the charis- clear that the Holiness and Pente- were a dynamic, growing, and costal sectors of American evangelicalism part of American religious life. Serious evangelical students saw in the charismatic movement a force to be regarded as a legitimate permanent such as Richard Quebedeaux “beyond faddism” which “ought contemporary force for the renewal of the church.”2 Daily Oklahoman, 1 George Gallup, “Trends Point to Possible U. S. Religious Revival, Survey Says,” The Oklahoma City, Dec. 30, 1976), p. 20. 2Quebedeaux, The New Charismatics, pp. 195-197. – 53- 16