Society for Pentecostal Studies and the Sounds of History

SPS held their annual meeting this past week-end at Lee University in Cleveland. The theme was the Role of Experience, so most plenary sessions focused on that in some way.

David Daniels presidential address was the most provocative, I think. The address focused on the sounds of Pentecostalism as a way of "hearing history". It was illustrated with sound clips of Pentecostal music/preaching/praying. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference!

I just read a recent NY Times article on a Latino Pentecostal storefront in New York City. It reminded me of David's address. The author referred frequently to sounds: shrieks, tambourine jingles, Latin music, cries, tongues. One line particularly captured Pentecostalism I thought. The writer noted, "Children preach like adults and adults wail like children."

I was intrigued by David's historical methodology. I think this approach gives us an even more appropriate vehicle by which to study movements. Obviously this approach cannot be utilized with every movement as we have no recordings or even descriptions of the sounds one would have heard (one can imagine the moans of some of the Desert Fathers....and for those who took "vows of silence" the lack of sound is telling!; we might also imagine sounds of those being persecuted in the Early Church; now, since seeing "Amazing Grace" I will always think of Wilberforce's fight as sounding like the rowdy "discussions" in Parliament). While imagination is a valuable tool for historians, it can't be documented! Fortunately, for those of us who are studying the 20th c. movements, there are plenty of documented sounds.

Athanasius contra mundum

Dear Sir:

Unless the divine power has raised you us to be as Athanasius contra mundum, I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.

Reading this morning a tract wrote by a poor African, I was particularly struck by that circumstance that a man who has a black skin, being wronged or outraged by a white man, can have no redress; it being a "law" in our colonies that the oath of a black against a white goes for nothing. What villainy is this?

That he who has guided you from youth up may continue to strengthen you in this and all things, is the prayer of, dear sir,

Your affectionate servant,
John Wesley

Living in the Spirit

Dr. R. Hollis Gause's monumental work Living in the Spirit has been revised and reprinted by Cafepress.

This is the only Wesleyan-Pentecostal soteriology ever to have been attempted as far as I know. This book is an absolute necessity for your library! At $16.95 it is a theological bargain!!

The uniqueness of this work is that it places Spirit Baptism as a step along the via saludis. The importance of this placement is immediately obvious: Spirit Baptism is salvific, not simply "equipment for service". For those questioning the meaning and placement of this experience, this book is required reading!

Black History Month 3--Charles Harrison Mason

C. H. Mason is arguably the most influential African-American leader of the 20th century. By virtue of the fact that he was Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ from its beginnings in the late 19th century, guiding the church into the Pentecostal movement and leading it through six decades of last century, Mason is largely responsible for the shape of the African-American church. One of his largest contributions is that he encouraged the use of popular music and instruments in worship services. What we know of Black Gospel, we probably know because of Mason's foresight. In this, Mason was being true to his Wesleyan-Holiness tradition.

Black History Month 3

Mahalia Jackson, singing "Didn't It Rain?" at the Newport Jazz Festival, 1958. Without a doubt, she was the Queen of Gospel Music. Born in New Orleans, Mahalia was disciplined in school for humming; when she moved to Chicago, she was "corrected" in the Baptist church for moving while she sang. No matter, she sang out of her heart and out of her soul.

Coming To A Theater Near You

It is estimated that there are 27 million people enslaved around the world. Please join the fight to stop slavery. Go to http://www.theamazingchange.com/campaign.html
to see what you can do.

Making History

What we do today as Christians and ministers will become tomorrow's church history and historical theology. There is no area where the actions of the present have a more direct impact than the Environment. Dr. Cheryl Bridges Johns recently became a part of history once again by being involved in a collaborative effort between scientists and Evangelical Christians. The resulting statement was sent to President George W. Bush and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.