Stanley M. Horton: Shaper of Pentecostal Theology

Stanley M. Horton: Shaper of Pentecostal Theology, by Lois E. Olena with Raymond L. Gannon. Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 2009.

The second half of the twentieth century has seen Pentecostal scholarship emerge and thrive. Out of that emergence, few names are more recognizable than Stanley Horton. Called to teach Bible while a chemistry student at UC Berkeley, Horton did the unthinkable and went to Harvard to prepare for ministry as a Pentecostal scholar. The long shadow of Horton’s influence among Pentecostals began humbly and now stretches around the world and into the first decade of the twenty-first century. You may have read his books, but Stanley Horton: Shaper of Pentecostal Theology will tell you “the rest of the story.” As you read, be encouraged and see what a long obedience in the same direction can yield.

–Dr. Byron Klaus, President, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary

I am very happy to see in print this tribute to Stanley Horton, one of my esteemed professors, a model of godliness, sacrifice, and scholarship. I am also delighted to learn more about his life, and through it the history of the Pentecostal movement in North America. All who have been touched by this rich heritage will appreciate this work.

–Dr. Craig Keener, Professor of New Testament, Palmer Theological Seminary

Who has been a greater luminary in the twentieth-century Pentecostal galaxy than Dr. Stanley M. Horton? Many make their mark on but one island of ministry, but heroes impact many. This book shows how this scholar-saint set the standard for Pentecostal scholarship as a model professor, left a unique Gospel witness across the globe, and kept on “getting it right.” In a nation of conflicted social policies and in a church of confusing racial standards, he showed how one man’s life could clearly reveal Christ’s Church. May this volume inform others as much as my teacher Dr. Horton reformed me. Paul said in 1 Timothy 5:17 to give double honor to the elders who rule well; this read is just a portion of such honor.

–Bishop Lemuel Thuston, Kansas East Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, Church of God in Christ

Paperback, 318 pages, illustrated. $19.95 retail. Order from: Gospel Publishing House

Women in ministry

Pastoral Letter to Theo: An Introduction to Interpretation and Women’s Ministries, by Paul Elbert. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2008.

Restricting women from leadership and ministry in the church is, as Church of God Theological Seminary professor Paul Elbert deftly argues, based in faulty exegesis and naive proof-texting. The more serious, underlying issue is that proof-texting combined with dispensational cessationism is ultimately a form of eisegesis, a way of making Scripture say what you want it to say. A more faithful hermeneutic listens to the whole counsel of Scripture and interprets the Bible in its context, but with sensitivity to the contemporary world. Pastoral Letter to Theo is practical and encouraging advice for all ministers and is rooted in a contextually sensitive reading of the New Testament.

Reviewed by Peter Althouse, Instructor in Theology, Tyndale University College and Seminary

Softcover, 97 pages. $15.00 retail. Order from: amazon.com

Charles F. Parham and the Apostolic Faith Churches

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, by Charles F. Parham. Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, [c1944].

Selected Sermons of the Late Charles F. Parham and Sarah E. Parham, Co-founders of the Original Apostolic Faith Movement, compiled by Robert Parham. Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, c1941.

The Everlasting Gospel, by Charles F. Parham. Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, c1930.

The Life of Charles F. Parham: Founder of the Apostolic Faith Movement, by Sarah Parham. Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, c1930. (this volume not pictured above)

Out in the Fields with God: My Life Story, by Pearl Menke. Kingman, KS: The Author, [1970s].

Bible Doctrine, by Jacob Regier. Baxter Springs, KS: Apostolic Faith Bible College, c1963.

The Apostolic Faith Churches, with its headquarters in Baxter Springs, Kansas, holds a unique distinction among Pentecostal churches.

Its founder, Charles F. Parham, provided the doctrinal framework for the young Pentecostal movement. Parham’s identification in scripture of speaking in tongues as the “Bible evidence” (later called the “initial evidence”) of Spirit baptism became a defining mark of the emerging Pentecostal movement. After students at his Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, began speaking in tongues at a prayer meeting on January 1, 1901, Parham, through his Apostolic Faith Movement (later called Apostolic Faith Churches), had some success in promoting the restoration of the gift of tongues. While the Apostolic Faith Movement was largely confined to the south central United States, the 1906 revival at Azusa Street in Los Angeles catapulted Pentecostalism before a worldwide audience.

The Apostolic Faith Churches today consist of several dozen congregations, located primarily in the south central United States. The church also operates The Apostolic Faith Bible College, a ministerial training school located in Baxter Springs. The school does not charge tuition — a common practice among early Pentecostal groups but rare today.

The influence of the Apostolic Faith Churches has extended far beyond its own organization. Most famously, William Seymour, the leader at the Azusa Street revival (1906-09) in Los Angeles, was trained at an Apostolic Faith school in Houston, Texas, in 1905 before he moved to Los Angeles in 1906. The Assemblies of God also has roots in Parham’s Apostolic Faith — the largest group of ministers at the 1914 founding meeting of the Assemblies of God was part of an organization that parted ways with Parham in 1907.

Four extremely important early books by or about Parham have been reprinted by the Apostolic Faith Churches: The Life of Charles Parham, a biography by his wife, Sarah Parham; A Voice Crying in the Wilderness and The Everlasting Gospel, two theological works by Charles Parham; and Selected Sermons of Charles Parham, compiled by his son, Robert Parham. These four book are essential primary sources for serious students of the Pentecostal movement.

Two additional books, important for the understanding of the development of the Apostolic Faith Churches after Charles Parham’s 1929 death, are also available: Bible Doctrine, by Jacob Regier; and Out in the Fields with God, by Pearl Menke. Regier’s book, since its first publication in 1963, has been the Apostolic Faith Churches’ standard doctrinal work. Menke’s autobiographical volume provides firsthand insights from an Apostolic Faith minister, from her recollections of the Parham family to her faith-building experiences as a female preacher in the Midwest.

Spirit baptism

Spirit Baptism: Understanding Pentecostal Theology, by Verna M. Linzey. N.p.: Xulon Press, 2008.

This book is compiled from excerpts taken from my first book, The Baptism with the Holy Spirit. The excerpts themselves are a myriad of tools, lists, and steps toward gaining understanding of Spirit baptism. These tools are good for lectures, speeches, sermons, church men and women, or a quick resource for students’ theses. The tests at the end of the book should be of great use to gauge one’s understanding of Spirit baptism. It may be especially useful for classroom use.

Placing these tools as a separate volume will make their use much more convenient, making the subject matter of the baptism in the Spirit easier to learn and, perhaps, more intriguing to some. I trust that this present volume will assist preachers and teachers in presenting the baptism in the Spirit in a manner easy for parishioners and students to comprehend.

–From Preface

Softcover, 129 pages. $13.99 retail. Order from: amazon.com

Finis Jennings Dake biography

Finis Jennings Dake: His Life and Ministry, by Leon Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Publishing, 2006.

Bible teacher Finis Jennings Dake (1902-87) is known throughout the Pentecostal world for his four-column Dake Annotated Reference Bible which contains numerous notes and commentaries on all the different verses of the Bible. In fact, Charisma Magazine has even referred to it as “the Pentecostal Study Bible.” A notable Pentecostal minister, Jimmy Swaggart, stated that “I owe my Bible education to this man” [Dake], whose works also include God’s Plan for Man (originally designed as a 3-year Bible course), Revelation Expounded, The Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ, and Bible Truths Unmasked among other publications.

Having been introduced to his various books in the early 1980s in Oslo, Norway, I was quite excited when I learned about Mr. Bible’s history on Dake’s life and ministry. The book contains more than 400 pages and is a gold mine of information pertaining to Dake’s life and ministry as an Assemblies of God, Church of God (Cleveland, TN) and independent Pentecostal pastor, as well as a Bible school teacher, radio minister and author.

Admittedly, this is no scholarly biography (despite footnotes and bibliography), but more of a devotional walk through the life of Dake as seen through the lenses of Dake himself and his immediate family. The author portrays himself as an avid Dake reader whose writings he has admired for more than 30 years, and the book is not only endorsed by but also published by Dake Publishing, Inc. However, due to Dake’s continued influence among Pentecostal and charismatic believers, he also deserves scholarly attention. I hope the author’s sympathetic presentation of Dake will spur contributions from the academic ranks to supplement this volume. Personally, I was intrigued to learn that Dake was so well schooled in E. W. Bullinger’s radical form of ultradispensationalism, and academic researchers might be interested in submitting the Dake writings to historical and theological scrutiny in order to find to what extent Dake has Pentecostalized dispensatonalist and ultradispensationalist writings and to what extent his writings might have an original flavor of their own.

Reviewed by Geir Lie, editor of Refleks : med karismatisk kristendom i fokus (Oslo, Norway)

Hardback, 441 pages, illustrated. $19.95 plus shipping. Order through Dake Publishing.

Life and thought of Howard Ervin

Pilgrimage into Pentecost: The Pneumatological Legacy of Howard M. Ervin, by Daniel D. Isgrigg. Tulsa, OK: Word & Spirit Press, 2008.

In Pilgrimage into Pentecost, Daniel D. Isgrigg provides serious students of Pentecostalism two useful services. First, he gives the reader an interesting and detailed accounting of the life of Howard M. Ervin; and second, he outlines the main contours of Ervin’s theology of the Holy Spirit.

The study follows the journey of Baptist preacher/theologian Ervin from his early day as an agnostic through his encounter with God. It traces Ervin’s early pastoral days, and follows him on to his embracing of the Pentecostal message and experience. Isgrigg follows the long tenure of Ervin as a theology faculty member at Oral Roberts University into his current life of retirement. Pilgrimage then points out Ervin’s strong exegetical and theological defense of the classical Pentecostal message of Baptism in the Holy Spirit, as well as his loyalty to his American Baptist roots. The work shows how Ervin engaged in a spirited defense of his theology against a variety of critics and how the unity of the Spirit among Christians was foremost in Ervin’s desires. Isgrigg makes a strong case for the ecumenical ministry of Ervin over the years.

Pilgrimage into Pentecost highlights several key features of Ervin’s theology: Ervin argues persuasively for the “birthday of the Church” being in John 20, not Acts 2. He anchors his belief in evidential tongues for Spirit baptism in the models provided in the Book of Acts; and he departs from most Pentecostal scholars in his advocacy of “one Baptism; one filling.” In each of these issues, the author documents Ervin’s line of argumentation copiously.

It was more than 40 years ago, when I was a young student of Petecostalism, that I first encountered the writings of Howard M. Ervin. His persuasive apologetic for classical Pentecostal theology, even though he was a Charismatic Baptist, powerfully encouraged me. I have noted with pleasure the long years of faithful ministry and writing of Ervin, one who has not altered his views from his early days. He has been a strong advocate against those who would weaken the belief that God has wanted to empower His people for evangelism and missions with the empowerment of the Spirit in a crisis experience of Spirit baptism, accompanied by the sign of speaking in tongues.

In Pilgrimage to Pentecost, Daniel Isgrigg provides Pentecostals and Charismatics — and all interested in this burgeoning international movement of the Spirit — with a well-deserved study of the life and thought of one of its pioneers. Through this work, many can be grateful for the pioneering scholarly ministry of Dr. Ervin and understand his distinctive contribution.

Review by William W. Menzies (from Foreword)

Hardcover, 158 pages. $21.99 retail. Order from: amazon.com

Ivan Q. Spencer on the Faith Life

Faith: Living the Crucified Life, by Ivan Q. Spencer, selected and edited by Edie Mourey. Big Flats, NY: Furrow Press, 2008.

When Ivan Quay Spencer was healed of typhoid fever in 1909, this event set him on a trajectory to become a leader within the emerging Pentecostal movement. He soon identified with Elim Tabernacle (Rochester, NY), the influential Pentecostal congregation led by the Duncan sisters. In 1911 he matriculated at Rochester Bible Training School, which was affiliated with the church. Following several years of pastoral ministry with the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Assemblies of God, Spencer launched out on his own and started Elim Bible Institute at Endwell, NY in 1924. Spencer intended his school to carry on the mantle of the Duncan sisters’ school, which had closed. He began editing the Elim Pentecostal Herald (now called Elim Herald) in January 1931. The following year, Elim Ministerial Fellowship (renamed Elim Missionary Assemblies in 1947, then Elim Fellowship in 1972) was formed to commission and credential graduates of the school.

Spencer charted a course marked by interdenominational cooperation and openness to new revival movements. He attended the constitutional convention of the National Association of Evangelicals in 1943 and served on the board of administration for the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America at its inception in 1948. Spencer also led the school and denomination to accept the New Order of the Latter Rain, a revival movement beginning in 1948 that was rejected by most other Pentecostal denominations. Elim later became a prominent supporter of the charismatic movement. Spencer’s son, Ivan Carlton Spencer, succeeded him as president of the school in 1949 and as chairman of the fellowship in 1954. Elim, while maintaining a strong base in the northeastern states, has made a broad impact through its graduates who have ministered across the globe.

The important story of Ivan Q. Spencer’s life and ministry was told by Marion Meloon in the book, Ivan Spencer: Willow in the Wind (Logos, 1974). Now Spencer’s granddaughter, Edie Mourey, has assembled a book of his writings on the faith life. Mourey’s compilation, Faith: Living the Crucified Life, is important for a number of reasons. First, Spencer’s influence on the Pentecostal movement outstripped the size of his own organization. Many independent Pentecostal ministries drew upon his spiritual leadership. Spencer’s insights into the faith life – culled from his writings published from the 1930s through the 1950s – illustrate theological themes important to a whole segment within Pentecostalism. Second, Spencer’s reflective devotional musings challenge the assumption, held by certain critics, that early Pentecostals lacked theological substance. Third, Faith: Living the Crucified Life could be considered a companion volume of primary source essays to accompany the biography by Meloon.

Encountering God at the Altar

Encountering God at the Altar: The Sacraments in Pentecostal Worship, by Daniel Tomberlin. Cleveland, TN: Center for Pentecostal Leadership and Care, 2006.

 

Since the beginning of the Pentecostal movement, experiencing the Spirit of God has been central to Pentecostals in both private and corporate worship. When it comes to congregational worship, Pentecostals have critiqued what they deem to be dead ritualism devoid of a personal experience of the Holy Spirit. As a result, Pentecostals have questioned many traditional practices relating to the sacraments (often viewed as theologically or historically suspect because of their relation to the Roman Catholic Church) and have opted for the term “ordinances” instead. The latter is often seen to be more of a faith-based means rather then a works-based means of experiencing the Spirit.

 

Daniel Tomberlin, pastor of Bainbridge Church of God (Bainbridge, GA) and chairman of Ministerial Development for the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) in South Georgia, has authored a book that will raise some eyebrows. In it, Tomberlin claims that Pentecostalism and sacramental worship are not mutually exclusive. Rather, he provides a stimulating discussion of how he believes Pentecostal worship is sacramental. This volume, which aims to provide an introduction to the subject for Pentecostal church leaders, is possibly one of the first educational resources of its kind published by a classical Pentecostal denomination.

 

Encountering God at the Altar touches on topics such as Pentecostal worship and spirituality. Tomberlin develops a Pentecostal theology of the sacraments and also explores the practice of the sacraments in Pentecostal worship. In following Church of God theologian Kenneth Archer, Tomberlin argues for the retrieval of the term sacrament over the term ordinance, claiming that the ordinances are sacramental — a “means of grace” where one encounters the Holy Spirit (p. 24). The author rightly points out that Pentecostal spirituality is centered on encountering the Holy Spirit. “Therefore,” Tomberlin states, “the center and focus of Pentecostal worship is the altar” (p. 19).

 

When addressing whether life in the church and the sacraments are essential to salvation, Tomberlin identifies the church and sacraments as “secondary salvific gifts,” compared to the Son and Spirit as “primary salvific gifts” from the Father. At the same time he ultimately admits “that participation in the sacramental life of the church may not be absolutely essential to salvation due to God’s prevenient grace” (p. 27).

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.

PAON View of Divorce and Remarriage

The Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland View of Divorce and Remarriage, by Rick Walston and Clarence Buckle. St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada: Good Tidings Press, 2006.

Rick Walston and Clarence Buckle have collaborated to present a view of divorce and remarriage that will serve as a guiding document for the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland. It is part of a teaching resource for churches. Dr. Walston is president of Columbia Evangelical Seminary, a distance-learning school. Pastor Clarence Buckle is the General Secretary of the PAON.

The book is a tightly written document consisting of eight chapters. The arguments are concise and to the point. The first two chapters introduce and define the issues of marriage and divorce. Chapters three and four summarize the material on divorce from the writings of Paul and the Gospels. Chapters five and six deal with the restrictions and exceptions as related to the remarriage issue. Chapter seven is a discussion of how the matter of divorce and remarriage impacts ministry and membership in the denomination’s assemblies.

The authors are seeking to help people steer a course between the conflicting views on marriage and divorce prevalent in our culture and to determine the biblical principles and scriptural basis for effective pastoral care as it relates to this matter. They have accomplished their task admirably. I expect the book to be well received.

Reviewed by Dr. Garry E. Milley, Lead Pastor, Park Avenue Pentecostal Church, Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, Canada

Paperback, 84 pages. $6.99 retail, plus tax and postage. Order from: Religious Book & Bible House, 57 Thorburn Road, P.O. Box 8895, Station “A,” St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada A1B 3T2 (email: BackRoom@paon.nf.ca), or Religious Book & Bible House, 10 Hardy Avenue, P.O. Box 558, Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland, Canada A2A 2J9 (email: rbbh@bookandbiblehouse.com).

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