Allan Anderson’s An Introduction to Pentecostalism has made a contribution of immeasurable worth to the C21st Pentecostal community. Its pages overflow with the data necessary to acquire the beginnings of a global Pentecostal perspective. After taking a chapter to properly identify the subjects of his study, namely Pentecostals and Charismatics, Anderson begins part one, which traces the historical development of Pentecostal distinctives on a global scale. Since Anderson begins with the historical and theological background of North American Classical Pentecostalism, I initially thought this book would take on the tone of the vast majority of theological-histories written about the origins and spread of Pentecostalism beginning in such places as Topeka and Los Angeles and spreading from there to the world. Much to my surprise, Anderson dispels the “made-in-the-U.S.A.” notion of Pentecostalism’s origins right from the onset by describing the emergence of several international Pentecostal outpourings. Anderson posits that the origins of Pentecostalism in Europe and the “Majority World” have little to no connection with those North American ones made famous by theologian-historians writing from within the North American context. In part two, Anderson explores Pentecostal and Charismatic theology in its global contexts. Anderson devotes whole chapters to such matters as pneumatology, missiology, eschatology, Pentecostal education, and ecumenism.
Allan Anderson, in his book An Introduction to Pentecostalism, has significantly broadened my perspective of Pentecostalism in three ways: 1) by introducing a more inclusive definition of what it means to be ‘Pentecostal’, 2) by delineating the independent origins of “Majority World”* Pentecostalism, and 3) by identifying the attention given to precise dogma as a classical western Pentecostal phenomenon.
Growing up in the Pentecostalism of rural Ontario and attending a classical western Pentecostal Bible college has contributed to my narrow perspective and definition of what it means to be Pentecostal. As I read Anderson’s global perspective and inclusive definition of the term ‘Pentecostal’ the potential was there for frustration or, at the very least, confusion. Instead, I have been forced to wrestle through some dangerous preconceptions that have emerged as a result of my nationalism and egocentrism.
Anderson puts forward the notion that due to the fact that Pentecostals have defined (and redefined) themselves in so many ways, diversity itself has become a character trait of Pentecostalism (p.10). Indeed, a central theme that emerges all throughout Anderson’s account of the historical development of Pentecostal distinctives is that we cannot accurately discuss ‘Pentecostalism’. Rather, due to the manifold paradigms represented within the worldwide Pentecostal community, it is better to speak of ‘Pentecostalisms’; each identifiable within their own geographical and socio-economic contexts. Amid a framework of these diverse ‘Pentecostalisms’, Anderson defines ‘Pentecostal’ as an appropriate description for all churches and movements that place an emphasis on the charismata (both experientially and theologically) (p.13).
It has been my tendency to view Pentecostalism only through the lens of a classical western Pentecostal who places more emphasis on the specific doctrinal elements that make me Pentecostal by denomination. However, Anderson has helped to broaden my perspective of Pentecostalism to include movements that concern themselves primarily with the experience of the Holy Spirit and the practice of the spiritual gifts (p.14). I believe this understanding of the term ‘Pentecostal’ better recognizes and represents the charismatic community at large.
Much of my previous study into the origins and spread of Pentecostalism has centred around the celebrated American accounts where, at the turn of the C20th, Christian men and women received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at such places as Cherokee County, Topeka, or the Azusa St. revival in Los Angeles. After reading Anderson’s global perspective, I have come to realize that one cannot look only to the United States as the cradle of Pentecostalism. A holistic investigation into the origins and spread of global ‘Pentecostalisms’ involves seeing past the myth of a North American genesis.
A case in point is the emergence of Pentecostalism in Latin America. Anderson reports that some Pentecostal denominations were formed in South America years before the conception of their major counterparts in the United States of America. Latin American Pentecostalism was institutionalizing during the infancy stages of Pentecostalism in the North (p.63). Even though the American outpourings received more media attention at the time, globally conscious theologian-historians like Allan Anderson have now shed light on the birth narratives of worldwide Pentecostalism; accounts that cannot rightfully be interpreted as North American creations or impartations (p.64).
A noteworthy example of the genesis of Pentecostalism in Latin America is the country of Chile, where W.C. Hoover (1858-1936) pastored a Methodist congregation in the city of Valparaiso. In 1907, Hoover learned of a Pentecostal revival taking place in Pune, India, and began to pray and wait for a similar revival to take place in his church. Hoover and his Methodist congregation began to experience ecstatic spiritual manifestations and many were baptized in the Holy Spirit. This is just one of several instances of a Pentecostal outpouring and subsequent revival that occurred autonomously from the commonly perceived American innovation.
Even though I have attended Pentecostal churches my whole life, it was only four years ago that I finally felt comfortable enough to identify myself as a ‘Pentecostal’ by denomination. This ‘conversion’ took place over the course of many class lectures, discussions with my peers, and countless hours spent poring over Pentecostalism’s keynote scriptures. However, Anderson’s An Introduction to Pentecostalism has brought me to a more holistic understanding of the nuances of global charismatic Christianity. Coming to terms with the fact that the Majority World holds experience and practice in higher regard than the precision of dogma (p.237) is difficult for someone whose identification with Pentecostalism rested on doctrinal foundations.
I return briefly to the example of Latin American Pentecostalism. While classical western Pentecostals define themselves along lines of doctrinal distinctiveness, this was not the case in the early Pentecostal revival in Valparaiso, Chile. For instance, “Chilean Pentecostalism did not follow North American Pentecostalism’s doctrine of ‘initial evidence’, but since Hoover’s time it has been speaking in tongues as one of many of the manifestations of Spirit baptism” (p.65). Chilean Pentecostalism is not the only cross-cultural centre of Pentecostalism that does not support the classical western Pentecostal initial evidence teaching. In fact, most non-North American ‘Pentecostalisms’ do not support such teaching. Consequently, I am faced with a question that demands an answer, but will not be confronted in this brief report: “Is the North American Pentecostal doctrine of tongues as the initial evidence for Spirit baptism a contextually structured dogma? That is, is the fact that so few global ‘Pentecostalisms’ share North American Pentecostalism’s standpoint on initial evidence teaching indicative of the colonialist social context of the early C20th, which led Parham (and his contemporaries) to link tongues speech (a missionary sign) with Spirit baptism (a missionary gift)?”
In conclusion, I submit that Anderson has not only provided an introduction to Pentecostalism, as the title suggests, but also that he has reminded North American Pentecostals that they are one of many paradigms of Pentecostalism within the broader charismatic matrix. Indeed, Anderson has contributed both an introduction to Pentecostalism and a fresh insight into North American Pentecostalism’s re-introduction into global charismatic Christianity.
(c) Ben Wright 2008
