Wesley, Fletcher, and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Long regarded as a spiritual grandfather of sorts for the Pentecostal movement, John Wesley has been credited by some as paving the way for their doctrinal distinctive of Spirit baptism through his teaching on entire sanctification. Yet, Wesley’s language surrounding Spirit baptism and the meaning of Pentecost differs significantly from that of classical Pentecostalism, calling into question whether a direct line can be drawn from Wesley himself to this Pentecostal distinctive. This article makes the case that their doctrine of Spirit baptism owes much more to the theology of Wesley’s intended successor John Fletcher and the Holiness movement that followed than Wesley’s doctrine of entire sanctification, and that one may find in Fletcher’s theology the seeds that would culminate in this Pentecostal doctrine easier than one could in Wesley’s theology.

Pentecostalism in America

American Pentecostalism is a Christian movement that takes its name from the ecstatic empowerment of early Christians on the Jewish feast of Pentecost, described in Acts 2:1–4 of the New Testament. Known for its enthusiastic worship, the movement holds that the supernatural gifts and manifestations described in the Bible are still available to Christians who have been “filled with the Spirit” through an experience known as “baptism in (or with) the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost).” These gifts and manifestations include divine healing, prophecy, and—most notably—glossolalia, also known as “speaking in tongues,” a form of ecstatic vocalization that Pentecostals equate with the spiritual phenomenon of that description found in the New Testament. The origins of Pentecostalism trace to the Wesleyan-inspired Holiness movement of the 19th century, which pursued Christian perfection through “entire sanctification,” an experience subsequent to salvation said to enable Christians to live a sinless life. Most adherents equated sanctification with baptism in the Holy Ghost. By the late 19th century, Holiness had broadened into an ecumenical, multiracial movement whose most zealous advocates sought to recover the power and practices of 1st-century “Apostolic” Christianity, expected the imminent Second Coming of Christ, and embraced uninhibited worship. In 1901, Holiness evangelist and Bible school teacher Charles Fox Parham identified glossolalia as the telltale sign of Holy Ghost baptism in the New Testament, and a revival featuring that manifestation erupted at his school in Topeka, Kansas. Parham promoted the new teaching throughout the lower Midwest, founding a string of “Apostolic Faith” missions. In 1906, an African American Holiness preacher who had briefly affiliated with Parham, William Joseph Seymour, carried the Apostolic Faith message to Los Angeles, where he founded a mission on Azusa Street and led an epochal revival that drew many into the new “Pentecostal” movement. Early Pentecostalism had no hierarchy or authoritative structures and quickly succumbed to doctrinal controversies. First, a dispute over entire sanctification separated “Holiness Pentecostals,” who adhered to the original Wesleyan teaching, from “Reformed” adherents who viewed sanctification as a process realized progressively over a lifetime. Shortly thereafter, a “Oneness” or “Jesus Name” branch emerged among Pentecostals who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity. Formal denominations developed within each of these three branches, although many Pentecostals remained independent of formal affiliation. The middle decades of the 20th century witnessed rapid growth and institutional proliferation within Pentecostalism amid two parallel trends: professionalization and bureaucratization on the one side, and revitalization currents like the divine healing or “Deliverance” movement on the other. Meanwhile, Pentecostal beliefs and practices spread through mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox churches, giving rise to the Charismatic Movement. These various strains overlapped and converged in a variety of “neo-Pentecostal” forms over succeeding decades, inspiring creative and controversial expressions such as the Prosperity Gospel, entrepreneurial networks of apostles, and new denominations like Vineyard USA. Pentecostalism in the 21st century reflects the entirety of this historical legacy and thus forms a manifold tapestry of extraordinary range and complexity.

Holiness

This chapter argues that holiness was an essential mark of American Methodist theology from the beginnings of American Methodism through the first half of the nineteenth century. The chapter summarizes the initial commitment to holiness in John Wesley and early British Methodism. The commitment to holiness and entire sanctification of early American Methodism is then discussed. The chapter points to the importance of holiness as marking a theological tradition that was consistent across varieties of American Methodism as well as in popular Methodist experience. The chapter concludes by pointing to signs of coming tension, especially the rise of Phoebe Palmer and the Holiness Movement, the division that created the Wesleyan Methodist Connection, and the croakers, who initially complained about changes and compromise they saw in Methodism. The core argument of the chapter is that from 1784 through the 1840s there was a coherent theological tradition in American Methodism.

Introduction

This chapter introduces Matthew Simpson and B.T. Roberts as representative figures of an initial theological fragmentation in American Methodist theology. Previous historiography of American Methodism as a theological tradition is summarized, noting the tendency to emphasize a big-tent vision for American Methodist theology. It is argued that the big-tent vision for American Methodist theology is the result of the shifts that happened in the 1850s and 1860s and represents one part of the fragmentation within American Methodism. It is argued that holiness and entire sanctification, or Christian perfection, were particular points of emphasis in American Methodist theology, even across its initial divisions. Simpson and Roberts represent a textured case study of a crucial moment of fragmentation in American Methodism.

Old or New School Methodism?

This book argues that an initial moment of fragmentation occurred in American Methodism in the 1850s and 1860s. While a commitment to entire sanctification had been a core unifying doctrine within the broad American Methodist family up until the 1850s, the expulsion of Benjamin Titus (B.T.) Roberts from the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) and the subsequent formation of the Free Methodist Church (FMC) represent an initial fragmentation of what had been a coherent theological tradition. This detailed account of a crucial moment in American Methodist theology focuses on the ministries and theological emphases of Matthew Simpson, the influential MEC bishop best known for being a confidant of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, and B.T. Roberts, a pastor who was expelled from the MEC due to his harsh criticism of “New School Methodism.” Old or New School Methodism? is a detailed study that points to the need for a broader reevaluation of the history of American Methodism as a theological tradition. Previous historiography has often privileged big-tent visions of American Methodism in a way that has not taken with sufficient seriousness the disagreements such historical figures had with each other. By comparing and contrasting a key leader of the MEC with the founder of a holiness denomination, the book contributes to the history of American Methodism, and the broader study of religion in America, by widening the lens from what has often tended toward denominational history to a broader perspective that includes multiple denominations sharing a common heritage.

Conclusion

The conclusion summarizes the argument and highlights the potential contributions of the book. Old or New School Methodism? has implications for understanding the beginning of the Church of the Nazarene. This study also has implications for Methodist theological education and diverging understandings of the purpose of theological education. The chapter points to Borden Parker Bowne and Henry Clay Morrison as illustrative of this tension. The conclusion also argues that this study offers a challenge to contemporary big-tent visions for American Methodism, noting that this vision came out of a moment of transition that was seen by Methodists like B.T. Roberts as a betrayal of Methodism’s theological heritage. Finally, it is argued that this study contributes to contemporary Wesleyan/Methodist communities wrestling with their own theological heritage by pointing to the importance of entire sanctification for this tradition and the value of Christian ecumenical engagement outside of Methodism.

From Holiness to Healing: The Faith Cure in America 1872–1892

One of the more interesting features of American religious life in the years following the Civil War was the renascence of perfectionist or “holiness” teachings among evangelical Protestants. Declaring that the scriptural Baptism of the Holy Spirit brought entire sanctification, perfectionists held that all Christians should seek and expect a “second blessing”, beyond the conversion experience, which would bring complete and instantaneous purification from sin and perfect holiness toward God. Beyond the “new birth” of justification, there lay the “higher life” of sanctification. These doctrines were first promulgated in the United States by the evangelist Charles Finney in the 1830s. Finney drew upon the theology of John Wesley and the early Methodists whose doctrine of “perfect love” paralleled his own religious experience. In the antebellum decades a proliferation of perfectionist devotional literature and a wave of perfectionist-oriented revivals bore witness to the appeal of the doctrine. Although Methodists were in the vanguard, the movement was thoroughly interdenominational. In this period perfectionism also had strong social connotations, and many social reforms of the era drew freely upon perfectionist impulses.