Holiness-Pentecostal Tradtion: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century

This book extends from the precursors of the Pentecostal / Charismatic tradition such as Methodism, the Cane Ridge Revival and the Mormons, through the development of the holiness churches, then the beginnings and amazing growth of the Pentecostal movement up to 1997. The book's author was an organizer or proposer of a couple of the events mentioned in the book. He includes an extensive bibliography and an index.One weakness: the book does not deal seriously with the theological questions that the Pentecostal / Charismatic raises. If speaking in tongues is always a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit, why have groups that considered each other heretics included people speaking in tongues? Does God not care whether we believe the idea of the Trinity? Does God not much care whether we are Roman Catholics or Greek Orthodox or Episcopalian or Lutheran or Baptist or part of the Pentecostal Holiness church? Or are many in the movement failing to test the spirits? (My tentative answer: God sometimes cares less about some of these distinctions than we do, but he does care--and we need to test the spirits instead of assuming that everyone who speaks in tongues and who performs miracles is a Christian.)Another question not really dealt with: Why have a number of major leaders of the movement had such glaring flaws in their personal lives? Are Aimee Semple McPherson, Charles Parham, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and Kathryn Kuhlman representative of the movement? Or are they aberrations? Are we just ignoring the leaders who have been without scandal (so far as I know), such as Chuck Smith and Jack W. Hayford?Again, I do recommend the book. Like every history book, read it with discernment.

This book helped me to better understand the modern pentecostal church and it was informative and well organized. At times I thought they did not do enough to explain the theology of an influential leader in the holiness movement. This book compared Charles Finney's understanding of sanctification to finished work of the cross theology and I don't think this could lead people to misunderstand Finney. Finney wrote a book called "how to experience the higher life" where he argued that he had been so changed that he had completely stopped sinning. He argued that if we were not given a way to completely stop sinning, then we would not be guilty for our sins for which we were unable to avoid. "It is plain, that men are naturally able to be entirely sanctified, in the sense of rendering entire and continual obedience to God; for the ability is the condition of the obligation to do so." (Kindle Locations 1764-1766). He is saying here that if we did not have the ability to stop all sin, then we would not have an obligation to stop all sin and then we would not need forgiveness for the sin for which we were not obliged to stop.I think that this was over all a good book but it could mislead some people on Finney's understanding of total sanctification. At other times I felt like it did not go into enough depth into other important theological theories. I still don't think a have a good understanding of finished work of the cross theology after reading this book and this a significant theme in the second half.

With "The Holiness Pentecostal Tradition" (340 page paperback) Pentecostal theologian Vinson Synan proffers a veritable who's who in the history of charisma. This remarkable 1997 re-write, from its original 1971 edition, narrates 20th century Pentecostalism's explosive worldwide growth.From its 19th century Wesleyan origin Synan presents extensive holiness-pentecostal names, dates, and places. He tells local colloquial tales, presents global facts, and exposes historic myths from the Pentecostal movement. His is a scholarly analysis that presents and evaluate Christianity's "third great tradition" (after Roman Catholicism and Protestantism).From the formation of the 19th century holiness movement and the later birth of Pentecostalism on Azusa Street, Synan explains the history and principal theology of Pentecostals. "Holy Rollers", Tomlinson's scandal, "fundamentalist fury", "Catholic tongues", snake handling, "Jesus only", "finished works", "Wesley's second blessing", Keswick movement, "latter rain", and much more are explained. Pentecostalism principal denominations (Assemblies of God, Church of God in Christ, United Pentecostal Church, Foursquare Gospel Church, and International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, and their differences) are thoroughly considered.Synan also tells Pentecostal history with extensive documentation (in 28 pages of bibliography). Pentecostal leaders Moody, Finney, Parham, Seymour, Mason, Fuller, Durham, McPherson, Roberts, and more are considered. Their particular contributions are followed through the book's completion.This is an excellent book. It is recommended to everyone.

If you want to learn about how the Pentecostal Holiness movement began read this book. I bought this book for a class I learned so much about Holiness and politics in the church. You think you know about Holiness religion until you read this book.

Describing the various outpourings in our country whose origins was in the early 1900's over in Wales, England and Scotland, this book shows what took place here...the ups and downs, the real and the fake, the right and the wrong; in other words, how man either let God do what He wanted to or not.The author also writes about individuals as well, showing each one's ups and downs. None of us are without faults, but the microscopic look at them only puts a bad light on the entire movement as a whole. Overall though, the story does need to be told and the author is forthright and honest, if not blunt.