Roots of Pentecostalism

Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism, 2nd ed., Chapter 2 "Background and context". Each step shows what the movement believed, how it began, where it broke away, and what it led to.

  1. 0 Gifts at the marginsEarly church to 1800s
  2. 1 Pietism and Moravians1600s to 1700s
  3. 2 Wesley and Methodism1738 onward
  4. 3 Holiness movement1835 onward
  5. 4 Revivalism and Keswick1820s to 1900
  6. 5 Premillennialism1860s to 1900
  7. 6 Divine healing1800s to early 1900s
  8. 7 Charles Parham1901
  9. 8 Revivals in Wales, India, Korea1904 to 1908
0

Gifts at the margins

Early church to the 1800s

What they believed
The early church had prophecy, healing and tongues (Acts; 1 Cor 12 and 14).
How it started
Montanism (2nd century) claimed the gifts were restored. Later bursts: Quakers, the Cévennes "little prophets", Edward Irving's circle (1830s), Russia and Armenia (1855).
Breakout or conflict
Montanism was rejected. In the West the gifts were limited to bishops and saints; Luther and Calvin said they had ceased. The East kept them in monasteries.
1

Pietism and the Moravians

1600s to 1700s

What they believed
A personal experience of God ("new birth" by the Spirit) over "mere head knowledge", with emphasis on emotion and a changed, morally ascetic life.
How it started
A movement within Lutheranism that produced the Moravians under Zinzendorf. At Herrnhut in 1727 the Spirit was said to have been outpoured, and a round-the-clock prayer meeting lasted a hundred years.
Breakout or conflict
None described here. Anderson notes Pietism also drew on Catholic mysticism and revived the priesthood of all believers.
2

John Wesley and Methodism

1738 onward

What they believed
A "second blessing" after conversion: entire sanctification, "Christian perfection" or "perfect love".
How it started
The Methodist revival, which grew into the largest denomination in nineteenth-century America.
Breakout or conflict
John Fletcher called the second blessing "baptism with the Holy Ghost"; Wesley found that unacceptable. In America, Methodism split between those who held the perfection teaching and those who did not.
3

The Holiness movement

From 1835; camp meetings from 1867

What they believed
Biblical literalism, personal conversion, and the moral perfection of the individual Christian. Phoebe Palmer taught sanctification as an instantaneous experience for every Christian.
How it started
Palmer led the revival from 1835 as editor of Guide to Holiness and a travelling preacher. A revival in 1857 to 1858 linked the second blessing to a worldwide "latter rain".
Breakout or conflict
Methodist leaders denounced the second blessing, so separate Holiness churches formed. More than twenty denominations appeared in 1895 to 1905, including the Nazarenes, Church of God and Church of God in Christ.
4

Revivalism and Keswick

Finney (1821), Keswick Convention (1875), Moody, Torrey

What they believed
Spirit baptism is a distinct experience that gives power for service and testimony, not a step in holiness.
How it started
Charles Finney's own "baptism of the Holy Spirit", then D. L. Moody and R. A. Torrey. Keswick was more Reformed and saw sanctification as progressive.
Breakout or conflict
Keswick caused a breach with Wesleyan perfectionism.
5

Premillennialism

From the 1860s (Darby; Moody's Northfield conferences from 1880)

What they believed
Christ's return is imminent and will be preceded by a worldwide "latter rain" revival.
How it started
Taught by Darby of the Plymouth Brethren; spread through prophecy conferences and Keswick.
Breakout or conflict
Opposed by several Wesleyan Methodist and Holiness leaders. It replaced the optimism of postmillennialism.
6

The divine healing movement

Nineteenth century to the early 1900s

What they believed
Healing is provided in the atonement. Some rejected medicine.
How it started
Healing homes in Europe (Blumhardt, Trudel), then North America (Cullis, A. B. Simpson, Carrie Judd Montgomery, Maria Woodworth-Etter). Simpson founded the Christian and Missionary Alliance with a "fourfold gospel".
Breakout or conflict
John Alexander Dowie built Zion City, then declared himself "Elijah the Restorer"; it went bankrupt in 1905. Frank Sandford's Shiloh community held Anglo-Israelism, a racist theory.
7

Charles Parham

Topeka, Kansas, 1 January 1901

What they believed
Tongues are the evidence of Spirit baptism, understood as real languages (xenolalia) to evangelize the world before the end.
How it started
Students at Bethel Gospel School studied Acts; Agnes Ozman spoke in tongues at the new year's watch-night.
Breakout or conflict
Few accepted the experience for two years. Anderson says Parham was ultimately rejected as founder by almost the entire North American movement. He notes beliefs at odds with later Pentecostal doctrine (Anglo-Israelism, annihilation of the wicked) and his increasingly racist views. He failed to gain control of Azusa Street in 1906 and lost most supporters after an unproven 1907 charge.
8

Revivals in Wales, India and Korea

1904 to 1908

What they believed
The Welsh revival was declared an end-time Pentecost. In India tongues were not seen as essential for Spirit baptism.
How it started
Wales 1904 to 1905 (Evan Roberts). India: Khasi Hills (1905) and Pandita Ramabai's Mukti Mission (1905 to 1907), with tongues reported in April and June 1906, before news of Azusa reached India. Korea: Pyongyang, 1907 to 1908.
Breakout or conflict
Evan Roberts, influenced by Jesse Penn-Lewis, later discouraged tongues and ecstatic manifestations. In India and Korea, national evangelists (such as Ik Du Kim) probably took the revival in a more "Pentecostal" direction than the missionaries would have been comfortable with.

By 1900: three Holiness camps

Anderson says that by the turn of the century there were three distinct groups of Holiness adherents. They differed on how many experiences follow conversion and on what "baptism with the Spirit" is for.

1. Wesleyan

Position
"Entire sanctification" or "perfect love" is the second blessing, and is the baptism with the Spirit.
Experiences
Conversion, then one more: the second blessing.
Where it came from
Wesley's doctrine of a crisis experience after conversion. Fletcher linked it to "baptism with the Holy Ghost"; Wesley himself seemed to teach that the Spirit was received at conversion. Phoebe Palmer later called holiness "the full baptism of the Holy Spirit".
What it stressed
Holiness and moral perfection.

2. Keswick

Position
Baptism with the Spirit is an enduement with power for service.
Experiences
Two: the "new birth", then the "fullness of the Spirit".
Where it came from
The Keswick Convention (England, from 1875), shaped by Reformed teachers such as Andrew Murray Jr. They taught sanctification as possible but progressive. Torrey wrote that Spirit baptism is separate from regeneration and "always connected with testimony and service", with nothing to do with sanctification.
What it stressed
Power for service. Keswick accepted premillennialism early, being Reformed evangelical in origin.

3. Third blessing

Position
Sanctification is the second blessing. Then comes a third, a "baptism with fire", which is also an enduement with power.
Experiences
Three: conversion, sanctification, then Spirit baptism.
Where it came from
Some Holiness teachers late in the 1800s separated Spirit baptism from sanctification. Most Holiness leaders rejected this. Parham's teaching was in this framework.
What it stressed
The first US Pentecostals followed this position but equated the third blessing with "baptism in the Spirit", usually evidenced by speaking in tongues.

Anderson also traces a shift in the phrase itself: increasingly in the Holiness movement, "baptism with the Spirit" came to mean the "second blessing", and by the end of the century it was understood as empowering for service rather than holiness (Torrey).