Scandinavian Pentecostal Mission

Visions of Apostolic Mission: Scandinavian Pentecostal Mission to 1935, by David Bundy. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Historico-Ecclesiastica Upsaliensia, 45. Uppsala, Sweden: Uppsala University Library, 2009.

Scandinavian missionaries have played an important role in the spread of Pentecostalism both in Europe and in the southern hemisphere. That is one of the major conclusions of David Bundy’s recently-published dissertation: Visions of Apostolic Mission: Scandinavian Pentecostal Mission to 1935. Among many other things, Bundy underscores the achievements of T.B. Barratt, the Norwegian pastor and Pentecostal pioneer.

The Pentecostal revival spread across the globe following the Azusa Street outpouring in 1906. From the very beginning Scandinavians took part in this process. By 1906-1907 a foothold had already been established for the revival in Sweden and Norway. In contrast to the development of the movement in North America, the advent of Scandinavian Pentecostalism did not initially cause splits and the founding of new denominations. Many viewed the new revival as a continuation of the earlier international Holiness movement, which in the Scandinavian countries was influenced by Lutheran pietists, Methodists and Baptists. In Sweden the largest Baptist denomination became the center of the Pentecostal revival.

Bundy shows how Scandinavian pietism influenced not only the character of Pentecostalism in Scandinavia, but also Pentecostalism in other parts of the world through the work of Scandinavian Pentecostal missionaries. One of the characteristics developed by Scandinavian Pentecostalism was an emphasis on the autonomy of the local church. This peculiarity arose from the heritage of Baptist congregationalism in Sweden. Through the missionary strategy of the emerging leader of Swedish Pentecostalism, Lewi Pethrus, this ecclesiology was exported with remarkable success, particularly to Brazil. Bundy’s research using early Pentecostal primary sources in the native Scandinavian languages is unparalleled. His painstaking scholarship has resulted in a great narrative of early Pentecostal revival and missions and is recommended reading for everyone interested in the formative years of global Pentecostalism.

Reviewed by Torbjörn Aronson, Livets Ord University

Paperback, 562 pages. To order, contact the publisher: Acta@ub.uu.se

Dictionary of Pentecostalism in Norway

Norsk pinsekristendom og karismatisk fornyelse: Ettbinds oppslagsverk (Norwegian Pentecostalism and Charismatic Renewal: One-Volume Dictionary), Geir Lie, editor. Oslo, Norway: REFLEKS-Publishing, 2007.

European Pentecostals are slated to gather in Oslo, Norway the week of September 18-23, 2007 to celebrate the centennial of the Pentecostal movement on that continent (see http://www.azusaeurope.etp.no).

What are the origins of Pentecostalism in Norway? The Azusa Street revival was one of the most prominent roots of European Pentecostalism. Word quickly spread around the world of the revival that began in 1906 at the small African-American gospel mission on Azusa Street in Los Angeles. Thomas Ball Barratt, a Norwegian Methodist minister of British descent, received the baptism of the Holy Spirit on November 15, 1906 while visiting New York. He returned to Norway, where he became that country’s leading Pentecostal expositor. The Pentecostal movement experienced burgeoning growth and, within several years, congregations had sprung up throughout the length of Norway. Barratt and his Filadelfia Church in Oslo were responsible for the spread of the Pentecostal movement to many regions of Europe. Barratt’s missiology — he viewed Pentecostalism as a global movement whose raison d’etre was missions — led hundreds of Norwegian missionaries to launch out across the globe. Today, Norway is home to approximately 300 Pentecostal congregations with 50,000 adherents and Europe has an estimated 4 million Pentecostal believers.

Just in time for the European Pentecostal centennial celebration, a historical dictionary of Pentecostalism in Norway has been published. Norsk pinsekristendom og karismatisk fornyelse, which has been years in the making, is an important achievement for several reasons.

Prosperity Gospel in Norway

Det guddommeliggjorte menneske og den menneskeliggjorte Gud (The Deification of Humanity and the Humanization of Deity), by Kjell Olav Sannes. Oslo, Norway: REFLEKS-Publishing, 2005.

Den nye reformasjonen (The New Reformation), by Lars Olav Gjøra. Oslo, Norway: REFLEKS-Publishing, 2006.

While positive confession theology (also known by the monikers “prosperity gospel” or “word-faith”) originated in America, it has made significant inroads into many segments of the worldwide Christian church. Numerous American authors have attempted theological and historical assessments of this phenomenon. Now, two new books by Norwegian scholars offer critiques of the theologies and personalities involved in the prosperity gospel movement in their own context.

Kjell Olav Sannes, a professor at the Norwegian Lutheran School of Theology in Oslo, Norway, presents and discusses the views of Kenneth E. Hagin in his book, Det guddommeliggjorte menneske og den menneskeliggjorte Gud. Sannes offers a critical theological analysis of the interrelationship between humanity and God in the writings of Kenneth E. Hagin. The title, which in English translates as “The Deification of Humanity and the Humanization of Deity,” reflects the theological issue at hand. The volume’s central thesis is that Hagin “deifies” humanity and “humanizes” God. This confusion of identities, the author avers, leads to two errors: (1) humanity, in particular the “born again believer,” is given status, authority and possibilities which, according to scripture, are reserved for God; and (2) God is viewed as limited in His power and authority in a way that reflects humanity’s own limitations. Hagin’s God looks a lot like Hagin. Ironically, something similar happened when the Jesus Seminar, a group of liberal scholars, determined that Jesus was essentially a twentieth-century western liberal.