*Times denoted refer to web version of audio
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Definition of "Pentecost"
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Descent of the Holy Ghost by Albrecht Durer
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Pentecost comes from the Greek word "fiftieth" — meaning the fifty days after Easter. For Jews, the feast, which comes between Passover and Tabernacles, celebrates the giving of the Torah on Sinai.
For Christians, Luke writes in the second chapter of Acts about the significance of the first Pentecost after Jesus' resurrection and ascension into heaven. In the Lukan account, the Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles and is marked by tongues of fire when people present began to speak in other languages. For Luke, Pentecost is a promise of things to come. |
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History of Pentecostal Movement
The first modern Pentecostal was a woman, Agnes Ozman. She spoke in tongues on the first day of the 20th century at the original Pentecostal community in Topeka, Kansas. In 1906, an African-American preacher, William Joseph Seymour, led what became known as the Azusa Street Revival in downtown Los Angeles. This unprecedented gathering of people from every class and race lasted for three years. It's from here that Pentecostalism began to spread across the country and throughout the globe.
Read a concise overview, written by Dr. Vinson Synan, on the origins of the Pentecostal movement. |
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Reference to The Church of God in Christ
Robert Franklin is a member of The Church of God in Christ. Learn more about its history. |
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Franklin Quotes Scripture
In remarking on the status of women as clergy in his church, Franklin says that his church is making progress and hasn't closed discussion because scripture leaves open the possibility of new revelation — something that differentiates Pentecostalism from fundamentalist Christians. Read the second chapter from the book of Acts, from which Franklin quotes verse 17:
In the last day, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. His sons and daughters shall prophesy. |
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United Holy Church of America
Franklin notes that the United Holy Church of America ordained women and had female bishops early in its history. Predominantly a black Holiness Pentecostal Christian denomination, the church was organized as the outgrowth of a Holiness revival sparked by the meetings held by Isaac Cheshier at Method, North Carolina (a suburb of Raleigh), in 1886. In 1900 this body called itself Holy Church of North Carolina, and later, as it grew, the Holy Church of North Carolina and Virginia. In the early 1900s, the church added a Pentecostal understanding to its Holiness emphasis. In 1916, the name United Holy Church of America was adopted, and the church was incorporated on September 15, 1918.
Franklin mentions that Rev James Forbes, Jr., a well-known theologian and senior minister at The Riverside Church in New York City, came from the United Holy Church of America. |
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Franklin References to Prominent Figures
As Franklin discusses the public impact of the neo-Pentecostal movement, he references two well-known theologians: Cornel West and Parker Palmer. Cornel West, a professor of Religion and African American Studies at Princeton University, is a noted social and economic philosopher who took his struggle for racial equity to the national spotlight in 1993 with the publishing of his book, Race Matters. It touched a nerve in the American public and triggered a national debate on issues of race and justice in the United States. The Pragmatism Cybrary provides an extensive list of links to speeches, articles, and audio of Dr. West.
Parker Palmer is a Quaker who is known for his work in education, spirituality and social change in public institutions. He is author of six books, including Let Your Life Speak: Listening to the Voice of Vocation. Hear more of Parker Palmer in the Speaking of Faith show, The Soul in Depression. |
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| Pentecostal church in a village in Brazil. |
Pentecostalism in Brazil
Franklin says the growing popularity in Central and South America has come about because of the innovation that Pentecostalism allows. An article in Christianity Today details Brazil's Surging Spirituality. |
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Definition of Charismatic Christianity
Krista notes that Margaret Poloma practices a Charismatic Christianity. With its roots in Pentecostalism and the Holiness movement, the Charismatic movement began in the 1960s in an Episcopal church and spread to other denominations. The charismatic movement emphasizes that engaging one's heart and emotions in religion is as important as using one's head and intellect.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, the power of the Spirit not only reveals itself in one's personal holiness but in the collective gathering of worship — evident in songs, forms of prayer, and lay participation. In 1973, Pope John Paul VI endorsed charismatic renewal and, two years later, held a mass urging charismatics to share the joy of the Holy Spirit with all people. |
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Reading from Book of Acts
Krista describes a new wave of Pentecostalism, the Vineyard Movement, in which signs and wonders are stressed, as can be found in the book of Acts in the New Testament:
"And in the last days, it shall be," God declares, "that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. Yay, and on my men servants and on my maid servants in those days I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great and manifest day. And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Read the second chapter from the book of Acts, from which the reading was taken. |
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The Toronto Blessing
On January 20th, 1994 in the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church, now known as the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF), the phenomenon of the Toronto Blessing began. Services take place nightly, except for Mondays, and draw pilgrims from across the globe. In Margaret Poloma's book, Main Street Mystics: The Toronto Blessing & Reviving Pentecostalism, she recounts the experience that gave way to the Toronto Blessing:
Like many of the pilgrims who would eventually flock to TACF, John and Carol Arnott reportedly were "dry spiritually" from the intensive demands and limited success of pastoral responsibilities. They saw other ministers who they believed were powerfully anointed for ministry, and they prayed earnestly that they might be similarly empowered. Responding to what they believed was the voice of God, they began to spend their mornings in prayer and to interact with others who were "powerfully anointed." Their quest took them to a revival in Argentina in November 1993 where they attended meetings with some of the Argentine evangelists. It was here that Claudio Freidzon, an Assemblies of God evangelist and a leader of the Argentine revival, singled out John from the crowd asking him, "Do you want the anointing?" As he gave his affirmative response, John reported something "clicking in my heart" and "receiving the anointing and power by faith." It took two months for this power to be experienced in a dramatic way at John and Carol's new church in Toronto—an experience that launched the so-called Toronto Blessing.
In 1996, the TACF was disengaged from the charismatic Vineyard movement for practices considered to be in contravention to policy. |
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Phenomena of Toronto Blessing
The phrases "resting the spirit" and "slain in the spirit" and "carpet time" are used to describe an intense awareness of, and an ecstatic concentration on, God's presence and usually a shutdown of voluntary movements like standing or speech for a short time. |
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Report in Toronto Star
Poloma references an article by Leslie Scrivener in October 8, 1995 edition of The Toronto Star:
The mighty winds of Hurricane Opal that swept through Toronto last week (were) mere tropical gusts compared with the power of God thousands believe struck them senseless at a conference at the controversial Airport Vineyard church. At least with Opal, they could stay on their feet. Not so with many of the 5,300 souls meeting at the Regal Constellation Hotel. The ballroom carpets were littered with fallen bodies, bodies of seemingly straight-laced men and women who felt themselves moved by the phenomenon they say is the Holy Spirit. So moved, they howled with joy or the release of some buried pain. They collapsed, some rigid as corpses, some convulsed in hysterical laughter. From room to room come barnyard cries, calls heard only in the wild, grunts so deep women recalled the sounds of childbirth, while some men and women adopted the very position of childbirth. Men did chicken walks. Women jabbed their fingers as if afflicted with nervous disorders. And around these scenes of bedlam were loving arms to catch the falling, smiling faces, whispered prayers of encouragement, instructions to release, to let go. |
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Charles Kraft
Charles Kraft is Sun-Hee Kwak Professor of Anthropology and Intercultural Communication at Fuller Theological Seminary, an evangelical center of faith and learning in California. |
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Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow was a famous psychologist who, in the 1940s, developed the theory of human motivation, commonly known as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. He noted that some human needs were more powerful than others, and divided those needs into five general categories, from most urgent to most advanced: physiological, safety, belonging/love, esteem, and self-actualization. |
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Reading from 1 Corinthians
Poloma describes charisms as defined in the scriptures. The reading was excerpted from 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, which is considered a pivotal text for Pentecostal Christians:
To each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. To one is given through the spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same spirit. To another faith by the same spirit. To another gifts of healing by the one spirit. To another the working of all miracles. To another prophesy. To another various kinds of tongues. To another the interpretation of tongues. |
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Waves of Pentecostalism
Poloma says a majority of Americans believe they hear from God at sometime during their lives, while about nine percent hear from God regularly. Of this group, Poloma explains, charismatic Pentecostals compose a large number because new "waves" — fresh outpourings of this charisma — keep occurring. It's important to note that these waves are not sequential but overlapping.
The first wave commonly refers to Old Pentecostalism or Classic Pentecostalism. Earlier in the show, Krista refers to two events around the turn of the 20th century: Agnes Ozman — in Topeka, Kansas — receiving the baptism of the Spirit and speaking in tongues, and several years later the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, California where the gift of glossolalia (speaking in tongues) was experienced. The mainline Pentecostal denominations, such as the Assemblies of God, grew out of these events.
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Early meeting of the Roman Catholic Pentecostal Dialogue, which began in 1971 and continues today. Du Plessis played a significant part in the charismatic renewal that swept through mainline Christian churches in the 1960s. Those photographed (l to r) are: J. Rodman Williams, Michael Harper, Arnold Bittlinger, Pierre DuPrey, David du Plessis, Pope Paul VI, Basil Meeking; Justus de Plessis, Robert McAlister and Kilian McDonnell.
Courtesy: American Religion Image Library Project, Vanderbilt Divinity Library
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The second wave is often referred to as the New Charismatic Movement or Charismatic Renewal. A reformist movement in character, Pentecostal churches were renewed from within, beginning in an Episcopal church in Van Nuys, California during the late 1950s. Like Classic Pentecostalism, this wave emphasized gifts such as healing and speaking in tongues, but it took root in many denominations, including all mainline Protestant denominations and in the Roman Catholic church. It's during this wave that the papacy encouraged the movement.
The third wave began in the 1980s with the Signs and Wonders Movement, or Vineyard Movement, in which the charisms of prophecy and healing are stressed. Through these supernatural signs, the power of scripture is explained and demonstrated. |
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