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Ann Arbor, MI 48108-1348 USA 800-521-0600 Early Amerlcan PentecostaUem and the ••sues of Aaee, Gender, War, and Poverty: A History of the Beliet System and Social Witness of Early Twentieth Century Pentecostalism and its Nineteenth Century Holiness Roots Scott Smalridge Faculty of Religious Studies McGiII University, Montreal May, 1998 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts. © Scott Smalridge 1998 National Ubrary Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1 A 0N4 canada canada The author bas granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library ofCanada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or seO reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies ofthis thesis in microfo~ vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur fonnat électronique. The author retains ownership ofthe L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts frOID it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may he printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son penmSSlon. autorisation. 0-612-50572-3 Canad~ i • Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS i ABSTRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter Page 1. THE BELIEF SYSTEM AND SOCIAL WITNESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY HOLINESS MOVEMENT 7 Holiness Movement Before the Civil War 7 Social Witness of the Antebellum Holiness Movement 9 Holiness Movement After the Civil War 14 Social Work in the Postbellum Holiness Movement 16 A Theological Paradigm Shift 19 Conclusions 29 II. THE BELIEF SYSTEM AND SOCIAL WITNESS OF EARLY AMERICAN PENTECOSTALISM (CA. 1900-1913) 31 • Charles Fox Parham and the Apostolic Faith Movement 32 Parham's Pentecostal Social Witness 37 William J. Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival 42 The Prophetic Witness of Azusa Street 47 The Social Witness of Frank Bartleman 52 The Social Witness of Finis E. Yoakum 55 The Social Witness of Carrie Judd Montgomery 56 Historiography and the Question of an early Pentecostal Social Witness 57 Criticisms and Conclusions 62 III. THE HISTORY AND SOCIAL WITNESS OF THE EARLY ASSEMBLIES OF GOD (CA. 1914-1942) 67 Some Early Pentecostal Centres and the Formation of the Assemblies of Gad 67 Theological Controversies During the Formative Years of the Assemblies of Gad 71 The Assemblies of Gad in Transition 72 Early Assemblies of God and Race 73 Early Assemblies of God and Gender Issues 75 • Aimee Semple McPherson 79- ii • Early Assemblies of God and the Issue of War 81 The Assemblies of Gad and Evangelicals 85 Discussion and Conclusions 87 CONCLUSION 89 BIBLIOGRAPHY 92 • • iii Abstract • Early American Pentecostalism had an ambiguous social witness. which contained both radical and conservative elements. The millennarian­ restorationist core of the Pentecostal belief system was prophetie and counter­ cultural in that it inspired adherents to denounce the injustices of the status quo and announce the justice of the soon-coming Kingdom of God. Consequently, in the earliest years of the American movement, many Pentecostals professed and practiced 1) racial equality, 2) gender equality, 3) pacifism, and 4) anti­ capitalism. However, this prophetie social witness co-existed, trom the very beginning, with a strong conservative ethos, which defended the norms, beliefs, and values of nineteenth-century 'Evangelical America' against the apparent religious and cultural 'anarchy' of modern society. As Pentecostal groups (especially white Pentecosta1 groups such as the Assemblies of Gad) organised. institutionalised, and rose in socioeconomic status, the prophetie voices of early Pentecostalism were increasingly ignored, and the conservative ethos grew to dominate Pentecostal social concerns. • Précis Les premiers pentecôtistes américains préchaient un 'témoignage social' ambigu, qui contenait des éléments radicaux et traditionnels. Le coeur de la foi pentecôtiste était de tendence prophétique et contre-culturelle parce qu'il encourageait les fidèles à dénoncer les injustices du statu quo et à annoncer la justice du Royaume de Dieu. Par conséquent, dans les premières années du 'réveil' pentecôtiste, beaucoup de fidèles adoptaient 1) l'égalité raciale. 2) l'égalité sexuelle, 3) le pacifisme, et 4) l'anti-capitalisme. Mais, ce témoignage social coexistait avec un témoignage très traditionnel, qui défendait la foi et la culture de 'l'Amérique évangélique' du dix-neuvième siècle contre 'l'anarchie' religieuse et culturelle de la modernité. Quand les groupes pentecôtistes ont commencé à s'organiser (surtout les Assemblies of God, qui étaient composées principalement de membres de race blanche), le témoignage prophétique a été de plus en plus oublié, alors que la puissance du témoignage traditionnel augmentait, jusqu'à devenir un trait dominant de • l'éthique sociale pentecôtiste. • iv Acknowledgments This thesis could not have been completed without the help of the professors, staff members, and fellow students at McGiII University. In particular, 1am indebted to my superviser, Rev. Dr. William J. Klempa, and to the late Dr. Edward J. Furcha for guiding the development of this project. Others who have provided insight and assistance include Dr. Ogbu Kalu, Father Philippe Thibodeau and his staff at the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism, the staff at the Assemblies of Gad Archives, the staff at the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada Archives, and Dr. Gregory Baum. The Canadian Centre for Ecumenism (Montreal, Cuebec) houses a substantial collection of papers and • periodicals tram the Society tor Pentecostal Studies -- one of the few such collections in Eastern Canada. Father Thibodeau not only provided me with access ta this collection, but aise with encouragement and discussion which proved invaluable to my research. • 1 • Introduction Since Pentecostalism began spreading among the paor and the oppressed of the 'third world', scholars and Christian leaders with a commitment to economic development and social justice have been wondering about the social and political views of the movement. Does Pentecostalism promote social justice or does it support the oppressive status quo? Suspicion of Pentecostalism has been heightened by the fact that, in contemporary America, such 'mainstream' Pentecostal groups as the Assemblies of God have become allies of the political right and defenders of conservative middle-class values. American Pentecostals today seem, at best, apolitical and 'other­ worldly', or at worst, flag-waving patriots and ardent defenders of the status quo. However, since the rise of Pentecostal studies in the 1960s, many Pentecosta1 leaders and non-Pentecostal historians have begun to question whether the Pentecostal movement always possessed such a conservative social witness. 1 Over the past few decades, these scholars have investigated the social and political views of Pentecostalism's earliest proponents, and have debated • whether the early movement might have contained a positive, progressive, or prophetie social witness which was erased through years of accommodation and institutionalisation. In the face of these questions, this thesis will explore the social witness of the early American Pentecostal movement and its immediate predecessor, the 19th century Holiness movement. The study will focus on four key social issues: 1) race and racism, 2) gender and gender inequality, 3) war and pacifism, and 4) poverty. Two rather different perspectives dominate discussion of Pentecostalism's social witness. The first perspective labels the entire movement, in every geographic context and time period, as apolitical and as a deterrent for positive social change. In 1979, Robert Mapes Anderson 1 The term 'social witness' refers to the moral beliefs, social practices, ethical positions, and political actions