89 ARTICLES "The Charismatic Wiggle": United Methodism's Twentieth-Century Neo-Pentecostal Impulses Michael T. Girolim
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89 ARTICLES "The Charismatic Wiggle": United Methodism's Twentieth-Century Neo-Pentecostal Impulses Michael T. Girolimon In July, 1978, Harold K. Bales, Director of Evangelization Development of the United Methodist Board of Discipleship, cheerfully acknowledged to the participants of the Conference on the Holy Spirit and Church Growth at the First United Methodist Church in Jonesboro, Arkansas that the Charismatic Renewal had directly impacted the spiritual experience of many in the denomination. Yet, he also cautioned against exaggerating these revitalizing trends: "What we have casually called a 'charismatic movement' is more like a 'charismatic wiggle.' In the context of this whole great body, United Methodism, these stirrings are rather localized, spasmodic twitches." Nevertheless Bales expressed the desire that these forces might one day coalesce into "a great movement."' This article will attempt to trace the main contours of the development and nature of the impulses of the neo-Pentecostal or Charismatic Renewal within the United Methodist Church from the early 1950s through the late 1980s. Around 1960, the Charismatic movement, with its Pentecostal-like theology and praxis, erupted within virtually all Christian traditions in America, including Methodism.2 Given the absence of any detailed historical treatment of their ' The author would like to thank Professors Edwin S. Gaustad and Robert J. Williams for their careful reading and critique of this manuscript. Harold K. Bales, "Then God Will Have a Movement On His Hands," Manna: Newsletter of the United Methodist Renewal Services Fellowship 2 (September 1978): 1. 2 Historians of religion in America generally date the start of the Charismatic movement with the spiritual experiences of Episcopalian priest Dennis J. Bennett of Van Nuys, California in 1960, although it can be traced back into the 1940s and 1950s with the inter-denominational healing revivals typically, but not exclusively, led by Pentecostals. Bennett's report of his experiences can be found in his Nine O'Clock in the Morning (Plainfield, NJ: Logos Publishing, 1970). Interpretations (theological, historical, and sociological) of the Charismatic movement and its distinct denominational varieties are numerous. For an extensive bibliography, see Peter D. Hocken, "Charismatic Movement," in Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, eds. Stanley M. Burgess and Gary B. McGee (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1988), 160-161. 90 relationship, an examination of this interaction will enlighten our understanding of an overlooked aspect of American 3 Pentecostal-Charismatic history.3 Origins of Charismatic Impulses in Methodism The origins of the forces that later metamorphosed into the Charismatic movement within mainline Methodism can be reliably traced to Tommy Tyson (1922- ), then pastor of Bethany Methodist church, Durham, North Carolina, in 1952. A graduate of Duke University (B.A.) and Divinity School (M.Div.), Tyson was among the first prominent members of the Methodist Church to profess a Pentecostal-like post-conversion Spirit-baptism experience accompanied subsequently by speaking in tongues or glossolalia.4 Tyson was just one of many mainstream Protestants before 1960, the generally accepted date for the beginning of the Charismatic Renewal, to embrace a semi-Pentecostal notion of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Pentecostalism's theological distinctives extended beyond the borders of its classical denominations in the 1940s and 1950s through the assiduous efforts of its itinerant and often independent "tent" evangelists such as William Branham, Oral Roberts, Gordon Lindsay, T.L. Osborn and hundreds of other lesser-known ministers.' Tyson's ' Few substantive works directly address the relationship of the Methodist Churches in America and the Charismatic movement, and none from a historical perspective. Howard A. Snyder's and Daniel V. Runyon's Divided Flame: Wesleyans and the Charismatic Renewal (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986) is self-consciously theological and advocatory in tone, not historical (8). Vinson Synan's The Twentieth-Century Pentecostal Explosion: The Exciting Growth of Pentecostal Churches and Charismatic Renewal lvfovements(Altamonte Springs, FL: Creation House, 1987), contains only a brief and sketchy chapter on the subject (11). David D. Bundy has written a helpful historical essay on the topic, "United Methodist Charismatics," in Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Nfovements, eds. Stanley M. Burgess and Gary B. McGee (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1988), 858-860. Larry D. Hart's "A Critique of American Pentecostal Theology" (Ph.D. Dissertation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1978) devotes a section to the Charismatic movement in major American denominations, but omits Methodism. Two Doctor of Ministry theses specifically examine the issue in local parish settings: Jack Ronald Buskey, `"rhe Charismatic Movement in Relationship to the Church" (D.Min. Thesis, Drew University, 1978) and Charles R Echols, "Re-uniting a Theologically Divided Church by Helping Its Charismatic and Traditional Members Work Together as the Body of Christ" (D.Min. Thesis, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 1988). Needless to say, an extensive critical historical study of Methodism and the neo-Pentecostal or Charismatic movement would fill a lacuna in the existing secondary literature. 4 "Biography of Tommy Tyson," unpublished manuscript, 1. Copies may be obtained from the Tyson organization, New Life, Inc., P.O. Box 17299, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516-7299. ' For the most thorough account of the widespread activity among mid-century Pentecostal healing evangelists see David E. Harrell, Jr., All Things are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Alodern America (Bloomington, IN: .