Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2016
Abstract
From their inception in 1901, Pentecostal preachers were convinced that they were doing and experiencing something entirely new. “A new dispensation is dawning upon us,” claimed one Pentecostal journal in 1908. They spoke of their call to ministry as the “new work” that the Holy Spirit was doing. Even familiar tasks like reading the bible were changed for Pentecostal practitioners. “The Bible becomes a new book,” wrote Azusa Street Revivalists in 1907, “to those baptized with the Holy Ghost.” Pentecostal preaching was no different. “Many have received the gift of singing as well as speaking in the inspiration of the Spirit,” claimed first-generation Pentecostals. “The Lord is giving new voices.”
Pentecostal preachers were not the first inhabitants of the New World to claim that God was doing a novel thing through their voices. Indeed, North American religionists are known for their innovation and creativity. This chapter argues that first- and second-generation North American Pentecostal preachers performed in a way that was simultaneously innovative and derivative. Early Pentecostal preachers borrowed holiness theology and revivalist practices and combined them in innovative – and often peculiar – ways. In spite of (or perhaps because of) their particularities, Pentecostal preachers, initially derided, went on to influence celebrity preachers of all denominational affiliations in North America.
Recommended Citation
Payne, Leah, ""New Voices": Pentecostal preachers in North America, 1890–1930" (2016). Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary. 181.
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/gfes/181