Recent History of Open Bible Churches

Heart for the Harvest, Stories of Vision, Faith, & Courage, by Jeff Farmer and Andrea Johnson. Des Moines, IA: Open Bible Publishers, 2009.

Two Pentecostal groups starting from revival movements in the Northwest in 1919 and in Iowa in 1932 eventually discovered they shared most of the same doctrines and passion for spreading the gospel around the world. After comparing notes, praying, and attending each other’s conferences, they reasoned that they could more effectively minister for the Kingdom together than apart. They consolidated their efforts in 1935, becoming the Open Bible Standard Churches with headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa. Today the group—much larger than in 1935—is known as Open Bible Churches and still operates from the capital city of Iowa.

The Northwest group began when Fred Hornshuh and other young Pentecostal ministers associated with Florence Crawford and her Apostolic Faith group in Portland, Oregon, came to disagreements with the leadership. They struck out on their own as the Bible Standard Mission to evangelize and plant churches. And they soon sent missionaries to foreign fields; created two periodicals: Bible Standard and Bible Standard Overcomers; and launched a Bible school in Eugene, Oregon.

Their evangelizing passion and excitement during the 1920s and the Great Depression apparently knew no bounds. Big game hunter Hornshuh could throw up revival tents, dig church basements, hammer nails, and advertise his meetings as well as he could preach from street corners and crude tent pulpits.

Sixty years after he pioneered as the Bible Standard Mission, Hornshuh reminisced: “We did things on the spur of the moment. We had no higher officer to consult like a district superintendent or board of evangelism. We had to find the mind of God quickly and then move as he directed. When we acted without analyzing all the difficulties, everything fell into line. As we bulldozed ahead, the Lord met us.”

Two of Hornshuh’s “bulldozing” efforts still remembered in Eugene Oregon, are the Lighthouse Temple, built in 1926 to seat 3,000, and Eugene Bible College.

Now, what about the group in Iowa?

Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, had sent graduates of her Los Angeles Bible school to Des Moines. She recognized the leadership abilities of a Kentucky farm boy, John R. Richey, and placed him in charge of her Midwest churches and a Bible school in Des Moines.

But like differences in Portland between Hornshuh and Crawford a dozen years earlier, the Foursquare ministers in the Heartland began to question McPherson’s policies and her personal life. As a result, Richey and others separated from Foursquare in 1932 to form the Open Bible Evangelistic Association. The group named the dynamic Richey as their leader.

Richey and his wife Louise were as energetic as Hornshuh, preaching and teaching almost daily in the former Methodist church building they bought at 19th and Crocker in Des Moines. Their exuberance rubbed off on others, creating excitement throughout the upper Midwest.

The Great Depression was a deterrent to pioneering, but Richey viewed it as a time to trust God rather than a road block. The Foursquare Bible school now became the Open Bible Training School, the Open Bible Messenger magazine was launched, and soon young men and women with “hearts for the harvest” scattered throughout the Midwest and into foreign fields.

One of the organizing ministers of the Open Bible Evangelistic Association, R. Bryant Mitchell recounted the history of the two groups in his Heritage & Horizons in 1982. He and his wife Lucille followed this book in 1995 with a missionary history, Heritage & Harvests.

But as time passed and the founders passed off the scene, a new generation was urged to record history of the movement since 1982. With President Jeff Farmer and editor Andrea Johnson leading the way, Heart for the Harvest began to take shape with original articles and reprints from the Open Bible Message.

The result is a 528-page biographical history of Open Bible Churches—1982-2007. Some might prefer an academic and critical approach with foot or end notes, but the intent is to inspire readers to see how God has led the younger generation to plant churches in the U.S. and foreign countries, see answers to prayer, and bring the fellowship together as a united force for the Kingdom.

Former Open Bible Churches president, Ray Smith, spoke to denominational members when he wrote, “As you read Heart for the Harvest you will be proud

Marcus and Elva Mae Bakke

Marcus and Elva Mae Bakke: On Divine Assignment, by Virginia Dohms. Minot, ND: Grace Publishing, 2008.

North Dakota has produced many outstanding leaders within the Assemblies of God, and Marcus Bakke is one of them. After almost sixty years in ministry, Marcus and Elva Mae Bakke continue to let their lights shine brightly for Jesus. On Divine Assignment is an engaging account of this Norwegian-American couple’s life and ministry in North Dakota, with stories of changed lives and miracles, and vignettes of life in the rural Great Plains worthy of Garrison Keillor. In our age of impermanence and rootlessness, it is remarkable that the Bakkes have had only three ministry assignments: thirty years in pastoral work in Bowman County, nineteen years as District Superintendent, and their current ministry in Selfridge. The Bakkes have served their communities, the Assemblies of God, and their family well, demonstrating warmth, humor, and faithfulness.

–George O. Wood, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God

Paperback, 221 pages. $14.95, plus $4 shipping. Order from dakotabooknet.com or from the author: Virginia Dohms, 701 46th Ave NE, Minot, ND 58703. Contact the author by phone (701-852-2339) or email (dohms@srt.com).

Slavic-American Pentecostal History

The Pentecostal Heritage of Slavic-Americans (Пятидесятнические истоки Славян-Американцев), by Anton Goroshko. [English and Russian language versions both in one volume]  Renton, WA: National Slavic District Council, 2009.

What is the future of Christianity? Demographers predict that it will look more Pentecostal and less Western. While Western Europe and North America long viewed themselves as the center of the Christian world, cultural and religious decline among people of Western European origin, combined with the robust growth of Christianity (and in particular Pentecostalism) among non-Westerners, portend a significant shift in the religious landscape.

American observers do not have to travel overseas to witness these changes. Most U.S. cities are now home to large immigrant communities, and these immigrants have added their own languages, churches, and values to America’s cultural mix.

Slavic immigrants from the former Soviet Union are among those who have been growing in visibility and influence in the United States. Since the 1980s when Mikhail Gorbachev began to allow Pentecostals – who long suffered persecution in the Soviet Union – to leave, many put down roots in America. For the most part, these Slavic Pentecostals initially kept to themselves and did not integrate into the broader American society. They grappled with their newfound freedoms and cultural challenges, reasserting their cultural boundary markers as a means to retain their religious and familial values. Many of these immigrants are now well-established in their communities, and their children who were born and raised in America often feel just as home in America as they do in their ancestral communities.

An estimated 300,000 Slavic Pentecostals now live in the U.S., mostly in congregations that are either independent or loosely affiliated with one of several Slavic Pentecostal unions. Increasing numbers of Slavic Pentecostal leaders are recognizing the value of being in fellowship with non-Slavic Pentecostals in America. In 2002, several Slavic Pentecostal churches in California joined the Assemblies of God and formed the Slavic Fellowship, which provided both a structure for Slavs to organize themselves within the Assemblies of God and also representation on the Fellowship’s General Presbytery. In September 2008, the leaders of the Slavic Fellowship, in addition to other Slavic Pentecostals interested in affiliating with the Assemblies of God, came together in Renton, Washington, and organized the National Slavic District. This new district gives greater strength and visibility to Slavic Pentecostals, both within the Assemblies of God and within the broader society.

Slavic Pentecostals have an important story to tell. American evangelicalism is at a crossroads – its close identification with declining American cultural and political themes has led some to question evangelicalism’s identity and future. However, the character of Slavic Pentecostalism has developed along a quite different trajectory. This story has been largely inaccessible to English-speakers. To help remedy this, Anton Goroshko, a Slavic Pentecostal minister and historian who emigrated from the Ukraine to America in 1990, has written a small book, The Pentecostal Heritage of Slavic-Americans, published by the National Slavic District, in conjunction with the Intercultural Ministries Department of Assemblies of God US Missions and the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center.

The Pentecostal Heritage of Slavic-Americans includes Goroshko’s account in Russian and translated into English, written “at the request of the many Slavic Pentecostals in North America who have expressed a desire to learn about the origins of the faith and ministry of their forefathers” (p. 5). Goroshko begins by placing Pentecostalism within the context of Christian history in the Ukraine. He proceeds to tell the stories of two heroes of the faith – Gustav Herbert Schmidt and Ivan Efimovich Voronaeff.  Both men were born in Slavic lands, immigrated to America about 100 years ago, and returned to Europe as Assemblies of God missionaries. Schmidt helped to organize the Russian and Eastern European Mission and

And the Latter Days…

And the Latter Days…: A History of Oak Cliff Assembly of God…, by J. Naaman Hall. Springfield, MO: the author, 2009.

Oak Cliff Assembly of Dallas, Texas (now The Oaks Fellowship) holds a significant role in the history of the Assemblies of God. Beginning in 1909, evangelists such as F. F. Bosworth, Elias Birdsall, and Maria Woodworth-Etter held revivals in Dallas which helped to lay the foundation for the Oak Cliff congregation. Some of the early members of the church had earlier connections with Charles Parham’s Apostolic Faith movement, the Azusa revival, John Alexander Dowie’s movement, and the organizational meeting of the Assemblies of God.

The church officially began in 1921 under the ministry of evangelist Bill Barney Boland. Some of the later pastors included George Washington Pitts; Milton Summers; Finis Dake; Eddie Coyle; Clifford Andrews; J. C. Hibbard; Carl Alcorn; the much-beloved H. C. Noah, who pastored the church for more than three decades; David Godwin; Allen Groff; and current pastors Tom Wilson and his son, Scott Wilson.

Key people such as evangelists Aimee Semple McPherson, Anna B. Lock, Mildred Wicks, O. L. Jaggers, William Branham, Raymond T. Richey, W. V. Grant, Morris Cerullo, Oral Roberts, Gordon Lindsay, Jack Coe, and A. A. Allen each had an influence on the Oak Cliff congregation in its early years. Musical groups, missionaries, and evangelists such as David Nunn, Sara Sharp and Jerry B. Walker ministered at the church in more recent times.

The church has always been one of the top in Sunday school attendance and world missionary giving. Oak Cliff also helped to host the 1935 and 1969 General Councils which were held in Dallas.

The author has done a thorough job of researching the history of this vital congregation which has connections and ties with many important people in the Assemblies of God and the broader Pentecostal movement. The book is full of interesting testimonies as well as sketches of pastors and founding families of the church. It also includes photographs, bibliographical references, and an index.

Reviewed by Glenn Gohr

Paperback, 424 pages. Available for $20.00 each plus $3.00 shipping and $1.90 sales tax. Send $24.90 by check or money order to: John Hall, 209 North Summit St., Red Oak, TX 75154.

100th Anniversary of the Mülheimer Association

Jahrhundertbilanz: erweckungsfazinierend und durststreckenerprobt: 100 Jahre Mülheimer Verband Friekirchler-Evangelischer Gemeinden, by Ekkehart Vetter. Bremen, Germany: Missionsverlag des Mülheimer Verbandes, 2009.

Ekkehart Vetter, the current President of the Mülheim Association in Germany, in his well-researched book, Jahrhundertbilanz: erweckungsfazinierend und durststreckenerprobt: 100 Jahre Mülheimer Verband Friekirchler-Evangelischer Gemeinden (in English, One Century of Assessment: The Fascination of Revival, Tried Through Difficult Times: 100 Year History of the Mülheimer Association Church in Germany), has presented an extensive historical documentation of 100 years of this early Pentecostal organization in Germany. The Mülheim Association was the first officially recognized “Pentecostal Movement” in Germany, which stemmed from a revival in the city of Mülheim, located in Germany’s industrial Ruhr Valley, where 3,000 conversions occurred over a six week period in 1905. Pentecostal revival spread quickly throughout the Gemeinschaftsbewegung (Fellowship Movement) within the Lutheran Church, which resulted in dividing those who supported this new outpouring from those who strongly disapproved of what was occurring. In 1909, over sixty respected Evangelical leaders signed the Declaration of Berlin, which officially condemned this infant movement, along with its leader Jonathan Paul, as being destructive, demonic, and saturated with false teaching. After being forced out of the Gemeinschaftsbewegung, Jonathan Paul and other leaders, against their original intent, established the Mülheim Association.

Vetter goes to great lengths to trace the genesis and development in the early years by carefully examining Pentecostal periodicals that were prominent during the beginning decades of the twentieth century. Vetter also describes in detail, how in the first decades, the Mülheim Association never intended to be a denomination and was hopeful someday to reunite with the Gemeinschaftsbewegung. After World War II it became apparent that the Mülheim Association became an established denomination. Vetter takes a very critical look at his own church, listing at the end of his volume, ten reasons why the Mülheim Association dramatically declined in numbers over the years. One century later, the Mülheimer Association has evolved to become, as it now describes itself, an evangelical charismatic church that has gradually and gracefully left its Pentecostal roots.

Reviewed by Paul Clark, Assemblies of God missionary to Germany

Hardcover, 528 pages, illustrated. €19,80 plus shipping. Available from Mülheimer Verband

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

Correspondence of Lewi Pethrus

Lewis brev: urval ur Lewi Pethrus korrespondens, by Joel Halldorf. Foreword by Per Olof Enquist. Örebro, Sweden: Libris, 2007.

Sometimes it is not obvious how an investigation should be conducted and what methods are most appropriate for working through subject matter. Sometimes we think that the strict scientific approach is superior. Other times we learn that there are perspectives that can help us reach insights that go beyond what is determinable by scientific method. We might discuss the relative merits of keeping a distance from the subject, or at least attempt to not be too positive towards it. However, some serious scholars and philosophers claim that an inside perspective towards a subject is, in their scientific judgment, a precondition for doing justice to the material. Everything must be understood from the inside.

These thoughts ran through my mind while reading Joel Halldorf’s book, Lewis brev: urval ur Lewi Pethrus korrespondens (in English, Lewi’s Letters: Selections from Lewi Pethrus’ Correspondence), which is based on the correspondence of Swedish Pentecostal leader Lewi Pethrus (1884–1974). Halldorf shoulders a number of roles as author of this book. He unearthed letters to and from Lewi Pethrus that until now had not been public. He places this correspondence in its historical context. And he also conducted journalistic interviews with children and close friends of the correspondents. Halldorf acts as a critical and constructive presenter of the Pentecostal movement of which he himself is part.

This is a beautiful book. By the choice of title and preface-writer it is also connected to Per Olof Enquist’s great novel about Lewi Pethrus. It also works through, with new perspectives, some of those tensions and conflicts documented by Enquist. The book is well-designed, with different fonts for the regular text and the letters, and it also includes a number of pictures and photographs. The author provides commentary alongside the correspondence, and the book also lists the sources used. This demonstrates great care on the part of the author. An investigation of this kind is particularly welcome since the scholarly treatment of the life of Lewi Pethrus was previously limited to one dissertation. Neither are there any reasons to question the author’s insights concerning the material or his willingness to uncover sources. All the stones have been turned.

Also interesting are some of the author’s own comments about the journalistic method he at times employs, in particular because he belongs to the very movement he studied. There is no need for an apology. I think his broad investigation yielded more insights than if he had limited his methods. The journalistic interviews that are included not only shine brightly, but they provide depth to the related comments, due to the author’s ability to link them to both the present day and the his own insights concerning our own times. Halldorf’s connection to the Pentecostal movement often adds color to his comments and makes it possible to see different connections, although at times it runs the risk of becoming “a book inside the book” when the author does not clearly identify his own opinion concerning the early debate on whether to provide education for ministers.

What, then, is the picture of this Pentecostal leader offered through these letters? And how does it complement earlier presentations? I am not sure of the answer to these questions. Here, too, we meet the modernity of Lewi Pethrus to which Carl-Gustav Carlsson introduced us in his dissertation (Människan, Samhället och Gud, Lunds Universitet, 1990). Lewi Pethrus was the man of the great projects. The man who was able to see around the corner, and to make it there, in his building of an empire. He was a leader whose building of the kingdom of God demanded sacrifices, not only of his own personal comfort, but also of friends and colleagues. Nothing important must stand in the way of the most important.

The new things, that we earlier might have guessed but can now see more clearly in this material, are the tenderness in friendship and the awareness of the price of leadership that Pethrus was willing to pay. He does really write to his colleagues in love. His friendship extended also to ordinary people who asked simple questions. He was a center of communication, not only on stage – the stages of the whole world – but he also gave time and room to give advice, counsel and direction, and often in a tender way. It is a beautiful portrait.

Halldorf’s method also demonstrates how this leader lived with and, over time, reflected over his own leadership. He could write a letter on how every leader must be ready to be tried and face challenges in his everyday work, and then in another context view these challenges in darker colors as something that has to be fought and weeded out. The leader Lewi Pethrus had a sense of timing. And when he claimed to be ready to step aside after facing opposition from the wife of one of his colleagues, one really wonders how this was possible. His cause was greater than his own position, at least that was his own view on things. And this might be the salt of every great leader: that the personal comfort, but also the personal position, might have to give room to a greater cause.

Reviewed by Dr. Runar Eldebo, Stockholm School of Theology
This review was originally published in Swedish in Kyrkohistorisk Årsskrift , 2007.
Posted with the permission of the author and publisher.

Hardcover, 359 pages, illustrated. SEK218 plus shipping. Available from Libris.se

Portraits of a Generation

Portraits of a Generation: Early Pentecostal Leaders, ed. by James R. Goff, Jr. and Grant Wacker. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2002.

Portraits of a Generation talks about many of the early Pentecostal leaders. Instead of giving a large, drawn-out list of every leader in the Pentecostal movement, it gives the testimonies and interests of those leaders that maybe weren’t quite as famous. It gives insight into who really had the vision and those who desired seeing those visions put into real life. In this book, they represent leaders from all different walks of life. They differ on areas from ideas about theology, ethnic and social background, and areas of living. There is a common view that Pentecostalism was a movement without structure or leaders, but this book instead shows that the movement had a strong sense of both.

Portraits of a Generation is separated into three sections: “Forerunners,” “Visionaries,” and “Builders.” All of the chapters are about individual early leaders. Many of the contributors are known scholars of Pentecostalism while others aren’t very well known in the academic world.

In the first section, “Forerunners,” the leaders that the editors include are John Alexander Dowie, E. L. Harvey, Charles Price Jones, Frank Sandford, and Alma White. They are all leaders who paved the way toward the formal Pentecostal movement. These leaders were not directly tied with the Pentecostal movement, and some didn’t believe in the same standards that Pentecostals do today, such as speaking in tongues. Though not specifically under the Pentecostal umbrella, they laid out some of the ground beliefs and ideals that were later accepted into Pentecostal doctrines.

In the section on “Visionaries,” there are discussions about Minnie F. Abrams, Frank Bartleman, William H. Durham, Thomas Hampton Gourley, Alice E. Luce, Francisco Olazábal, and Maria B. Woodworth-Etter. These leaders were between the forerunners and the builders. They were the ones who envisioned what the movement eventually became and helped provide for the structure. Francisco Olazábal was one of the main contributors in the growth of Pentecostalism in the Hispanic culture while Minnie F. Abrams, Alice E. Luce, and Maria B. Woodworth-Etter gained popularity in being some of the first female leaders for the Pentecostal movement.

“Builders,” the last section, discusses the leaders Florence Crawford, G. T. Haywood, Charles Harrison Mason, Carrie Judd Montgomery, Antonio Castañeda Nava, Ida B. Robinson, George Floyd Taylor, and A. J. Tomlinson. In this section, Pentecostalism begins to take on the form of classical Pentecostalism. The people included in this section are those who heard and saw what the other leaders were trying to do and started to put their beliefs and ideals into action.

Because the volume is collective, there are some essays that were different in the quality of their sources than others. Some of the arguments had limited sources so are based on suppositions. Overall, the quality of the essays is very professional. All twenty-two chapters looked at Pentecostalism in three different lights: those who came before, those who had the vision, and those who put the vision into action. This gives us a good understanding of the early stages of the Pentecostal movement and how it was viewed by those with whom it began.

Reviewed by Samantha Beck, Evangel University student

Softcover, 430 pages, illustrated. $34.95 plus shipping. Available from amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com

Maria Woodworth-Etter biography

Maria Woodworth-Etter: For Such a Time as This, by Wayne Warner. Gainesville, FL: Bridge-Logos, 2004.

The author, Wayne Warner, has done intense, investigative work to bring his readers Woodworth-Etter’s true life story, and it is a thorough story at that. Maria Woodworth-Etter was a phenomenal woman evangelist who strongly opposed racial and gender discrimination. She believed the only way to be saved from sin was through Jesus Christ and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Not only does he share her accomplishments and successes, but also moments when her faith was weak and when life was not fair. He also displays her with power brought on by the Holy Spirit. Warner compares her in many ways to several important, powerful followers of God in the Bible who also had a calling specifically for that period of time.

The book includes detailed descriptions of significant events in Woodworth-Etter’s career and life along with excerpts from her own book, Marvels and Miracles. The author gathers several newspaper stories and editorials along with descendants’ accounts of her life and her powerful meetings. He gives both the positive and negative newspaper reports. Warner takes several primary sources and even personal accounts and ties them together into a detailed, yet exciting review of Woodworth-Etter’s life and the influences she had during her time. He also includes valuable pictures of her, her meetings, and her family members.

Warner shares of Woodworth-Etter’s struggles before she was able to fulfill her calling as a female evangelist. He also explains, with the help of excerpts from Woodworth-Etter’s book, that the basis of her ministry was her desperate prayers before every sermon. He goes on to describe her ministry extending outside of Ohio and the oppositions that came with this from her family and several others. Most of the time, he goes through her life like he’s following a time line. But there are a few times that he jumps back to a significant event to add or elaborate on it.

Readers are taken on a detailed journey through not only the trials and ministry of Woodworth-Etter but also her heart and influences on her time and those around her. She dramatically changed the view people had of women and their roles in the Church and God’s work. She paved the way for the Pentecostal movement and for many after her, including several women such as Aimee Semple McPherson and Kathryn Kuhlman, and also influenced men like Smith Wigglesworth.

Reviewed by Sarah Ahmed, Evangel University student

Paperback, 359 pages. $12.99 retail. Order from amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com

Fits, Trances, and Visions

Fits, Trances, and Visions: Experiencing Religion and Explaining Experience from Wesley to James, by Ann Taves. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999.

Ann Taves, author of Fits, Trances, and Visions, holds a Ph.D. in History of Christianity and American Religion from the University of Chicago. In her book she discusses the religious experiences of fits, trances, visions, etc. in the church from the Enlightenment to the beginning of the twentieth century. Taves discusses these religious experiences using psychology, religion and popular public opinion of the time.

Fits, Trances, and Visions examines the differing views that the church and the scientific community had on the religious experiences that were rising out of the religious revivals of the Enlightenment and later periods. Examples outlining biblical support and opposition as well as scientific support and opposition for these extraordinary experiences are given to the reader for a broad understanding of why some church denominations supported these out-of-body experiences and why some did not.

One example of a conflict that the church was going through, and a major subject of Taves’ book, is enthusiasm versus formalism Many religious leaders of this time were caught in the middle of a debate as to the validity of these religious experiences; leaders included Chauncy, Edwards, and Hume (p. 46). Enthusiasm and formalism were the two extremes of thought that separated the ones who firmly believed in the reality of these supernatural experiences and those who did not. A few specific examples of these experiences would include speaking in tongues, having dreams, seeing visions, and hearing audible voices (p. 18). Some opponents to these religious experiences attributed these manifestations as being the result of scare tactics by preachers, a general excitement of congregations, and even nervous system diseases (p. 121).

Ann Taves brings together the religious views on these experiences as well as the psychological explanations for these experiences in a way that gives the reader an understanding of the cultural view of these experiences and the influence that both science and the church had on their acceptance or disapproval. This work can be used today as a guide to modern questions about religious views of supernatural experiences, their histories, and how they came to be accepted among some religious groups and rejected by others.

Reviewed by Virginia Dyer, Evangel University student

Paperback, 449 pages. $34.95 list price. Order from amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com