Best Sources for Apostolic Pentecostal History

Several of you have asked me about the best sources for Apostolic (Oneness) Pentecostal history. Without a doubt, the 2 best books for this study are

*David Reed's "In Jesus' Name: The History and Beliefs of Oneness Pentecostals" (Deo Publishing, 2007).

*Talmadge French's "Early Oneness Pentecostalism, G. T. Haywood, and the Interracial Pentecostal Assemblies of the World" (2011 Ph.D. dissertation from the University of Birmingham).

Reed—Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Theology and Research Professor at Wycliffe College, Toronto, Canada—offers the best comprehensive look at the roots of Oneness Pentecostalism in Pietism and late 19th-century evangelicalism as well as the formative of years of the new movement between the Azusa revival (1906-07) and the "New Issue" in the Assemblies of God (1914-16). His insights about the influence of William Durham on early Oneness leaders like Frank Ewart, Glenn Cook, Robert McAlister, and Franklin Smalls are original and invaluable. Because of this work, I realize the need to go back and read Durham's published work and periodical articles from 1908 to his untimely death in 1911 and to better address the special challenge of separating later remembrances of Oneness leaders from the contemporary witness of primary documents, especially the abundant, but not always easily accessed, Pentecostal periodical literature of 1900-20. Reed also includes a survey of Oneness teachings under the banner: “The Theology of Oneness Pentecostalism.”

French, an Atlanta pastor and former UPCI Bible college instructor (and my old compatriot from Apostolic Bible Institute), offers an astounding amount of information I have never seen before about the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World—both before and after its embrace of Jesus' name baptism and the "one God" message. The short-lived movement of the New Issue men into the PAW after their exit from the Assemblies of God in 1916, their subsequent departure, and the ensuing independent trajectory of the PAW's history (in contrast with the predominantly white Oneness organizations we are familiar with through Clanton's "United We Stand") are all eye-opening. The dividing power of race and the impact of Jim Crow laws and attitudes among southern Pentecostals make for an interesting backdrop of controversy in contrast to the tales of "unity out of confusion" that are usually told (not only in the denominational "histories" (hagiographies), but also in William Menzies' thesis of white Oneness consolidation and black Apostolic diffusion that informed my earlier research). In French's hand, the founders of Oneness Pentecostalism become three-dimensional men that show shortcomings amidst greatness and greatness amidst shortcoming. He has produced a very readable work despite the often confining form of a dissertation.

While I do not agree with every detail of these two works, I endorse them wholeheartedly as well-documented, thoroughly informative works and as the springboards for all such future research. Whatever shortcomings you might find, their benefits will far outweigh any reservations you might have.

Both books are available at Amazon.com

P.S. I have not read Daniel Seagraves’ dissertation, “Andrew D. Urshan: A Theological Biography.” David Reed holds this work in high regard.

Review: "One Nation Under God"

Good afternoon, my friends.  It was so good to see you in Nashville.  I was reminded of how much I have missed your company. We need to find a way to get together again soon.  There were many conversations we did not get to finish.   ( I was also reminded of the things I remember fondly about my time at JCM and, well, those I do not.  The reunion was a microcosm of my experience in Jackson. But that is a different email.) 

We had a brief conversation on Friday evening before dinner about the relatively new book One Nation Under God by Kevin Kruse.  I recalled a pretty good review of it by John Fea in Christ & Culture (linked here http://www.booksandculture.com/articles/2015/julaug/one-nation-under-god.html and attached above).  I have not yet read the book.  So, my comments are tentative.  But if Fea has summarized at all accurately, I suspect that I am in agreement with the general thesis, namely that the modern notion of America as a “Christian Nation” is a fairly recent creation of post-New Deal political conservatives and evangelical leaders working in tandem to save the US from the twin evils of socialism and religious liberalism.  This was no conspiracy of a secret cabal; it was done publicly and overtly in the light of day by trusted leaders.  We saw a clear resurgence of this religious nationalism around the bicentennial, prompting responses by historian Robert Handy A Christian America: Protestant Hopes and Historical Realities and evangelical scholars Mark Noll, Nathan Hatch, and George Marsden in A Search for Christian America.  The rise to prominence of the religious right saw new expressions of this idea in the culture wars of the 80s and 90s, and again recently in the debates over same-sex marriage and Obamacare. Ironically, Kruse’s argument seems to parallel the one made by Matt Hedstrom in The Rise of Liberal Religion, which traces the ascendancy of “mainline” Protestantism through a systematic and effective use of the print culture. (This is one of those rare books that will actually change the way I teach.  It is a very good book.) 

Fea points out, rightly I think, that Kruse is in danger of overplaying his hand. The Age of Eisenhower, Nixon, and Graham was not the first time that we have heard such rhetoric.   Sixteenth-century Puritans, early nineteenth-century Methodist revivalists, antebellum abolitionists, and Gilded Age progressives all waved some version of the “Christian America” flag.  And although the Constitution was a decidedly secular document, the vast majority of citizens then and now have strongly affirmed their Christian identity.   Kruse, however, seems to think that something is different in this rendition of the "We are a City on a Hill” sermon,  newly framed as it is by a particular political and economic vision.  From my reading of other literature on the topic, I think that he is probably right. But then, maybe that merely reflects my own discomfort with the current rhetoric of American exceptionalism and evangelical politics.  I keep hearing the voice of the prophet Amos, “Woe to those who are ease in Zion!”

Peace,

Larry