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Full-Text Articles in Liturgy and Worship
Covid-19 And Church Attendance Behavior Trends: Evidence From Ghanaian Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches, Justice A. Arthur, Lydia Andoh-Quainoo
Covid-19 And Church Attendance Behavior Trends: Evidence From Ghanaian Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches, Justice A. Arthur, Lydia Andoh-Quainoo
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
The concept of religious economy views churches as corporate entities, pastors as marketers offering a range of products, and church members as consumers whose preferences shape the goods and services provided by ministers. Within this framework, church members react quickly to changing economic, social, and cultural conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only had an economic impact, with job losses and financial struggles, but has also brought about social and cultural changes that have affected consumer behavior in many areas of life worldwide. For instance, during the pandemic, church gatherings were restricted or prohibited, socializing was replaced with social distancing, …
The First Oru Seminary: An Experiment Of Unity Without Uniformity, Daniel D. Isgrigg
The First Oru Seminary: An Experiment Of Unity Without Uniformity, Daniel D. Isgrigg
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
This article explores the history of Oral Roberts University’s first Graduate School of Theology (1965–1969), the first seminary in the Pentecostal tradition. It will explore the story of the founding faculty that pioneered the first seminary and their contributions to scholarship and the shaping of ORU. It highlights the conflicts and challenges they went through that resulted in the closing of the seminary in 1969. It concludes with a recognition of the contributions of this group of faculty that continue to bear fruit today.
Pentecostal Socio-Political Engagement And The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jonathan Cantarero
Pentecostal Socio-Political Engagement And The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jonathan Cantarero
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
The coronavirus pandemic has raised important questions regarding the correct balance between religious freedom and public health. These questions have become increasingly difficult to address given the diverse reactions within the church to government-imposed restrictions on religious freedom such as limitations on public gatherings in places of worship. Nowhere has this diversity been more prevalent than within Pentecostalism. This article discusses the religious response to the pandemic in the United States within the Pentecostal Movement as gleaned through three sources: public statements, legal action, and other public activity. I suggest that Pentecostalism’s diversity in this area is consistent with its …
Jimmy Swaggart: The Conflict Between Spirit-Empowerment And Human Weakness, Robert D. Mcbain
Jimmy Swaggart: The Conflict Between Spirit-Empowerment And Human Weakness, Robert D. Mcbain
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
This article explores how Jimmy Swaggart fits the profile of a Spirit-empowered leader. It summarizes Swaggart’s life and ministry, focusing on his calling, role as a defender of the faith, moral failure, and demise. The article then reflects on Swaggart’s story within the context of Spirit-empowered leadership, exploring how Swaggart fits Lee Roy Martin’s paradigm of a prophetic preacher while demonstrating various negative leadership traits. Stuck between the convictions of his calling and his weaknesses, Swaggart appears as a conflicted individual not immune from making serious errors. The article discusses this aspect of Swaggart’s life to consider how his story …
Against These Things There Is No Law: Spirit-Empowered Witness In Secular Uruguay, Rebekah Bled
Against These Things There Is No Law: Spirit-Empowered Witness In Secular Uruguay, Rebekah Bled
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
Uruguay is a country unique in Latin America for its secularism. It secularized early, thoroughly, and publicly, under the leadership of President José Batlle y Ordoñez, at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. A century later, Uruguay still boasts the highest percentage of atheists, agnostics, and nones in the continent. This is a country that seems to defy the sometimes triumphalist narratives of the pentecostalization of the global South. Yet, even amidst this backdrop, there are bright spots of Spirit-empowered witness. This article seeks to examine two of these bright spots of Spirit-empowered hope during …
Editorial - Spiritus 6.1 (Spring 2021), Jeffrey S. Lamp
Editorial - Spiritus 6.1 (Spring 2021), Jeffrey S. Lamp
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
No abstract provided.
Full Issue - Spiritus 6.1 (Spring 2021), Spiritus@Oru.Edu
Full Issue - Spiritus 6.1 (Spring 2021), Spiritus@Oru.Edu
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
The full issue of Spiritus 6, vol 1 (Spring 2021)
Bulgarian Pentecostal Leadership In The Crucible Of Change, John Paul Thompson
Bulgarian Pentecostal Leadership In The Crucible Of Change, John Paul Thompson
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
Bulgarian Pentecostal leaders have navigated the waters of turbulent cultural change over the last thirty years in the wake of the fall of Communism in Bulgaria. From May to July 2020, eighteen Bulgarian Pentecostal leaders were interviewed to explore their leadership characteristics and how their leadership behavior and values changed over time amid a rapidly evolving society. Three generational groups of present-day Pentecostal leaders were identified, and their characteristics described. The study concludes with the leadership development needs of young emerging leaders given the continuously changing cultural environment.
In Memoriam : Vinson Synan: Model Of Spirit-Led Leadership, Sally Jo Shelton
In Memoriam : Vinson Synan: Model Of Spirit-Led Leadership, Sally Jo Shelton
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
H. Vinson Synan (December 1, 1934—March 15, 2020) was a key successor to David du Plessis, known as Mr. Pentecost, to Catholic and mainline Protestant leaders. Like du Plessis, Synan was a classical Pentecostal who dedicated much of his life to promoting the move of the Holy Spirit beyond the confines of his own classical Pentecostal denomination, the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. His call to this work came in 1972 at an annual Catholic Charismatic Conference held at Notre Dame University when seeing some 8,000participants singing in the Spirit, he came to the conviction that Catholics had indeed received the …
Pentecostalism And Social, Political, And Economic Development, Allan H. Anderson
Pentecostalism And Social, Political, And Economic Development, Allan H. Anderson
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
This article traces the global impact of Pentecostalism with reference to its definition, varieties, and statistics. It also discusses the subject of development from a theological perspective, considering how development applies to Pentecostalism. The first part considers the ambivalence involved in Pentecostal sociopolitical engagement, and then in the second part, discusses how Pentecostalism and development relate to each other. It gives examples throughout the article of how Pentecostals are involved in development projects and sociopolitical activities worldwide.
"I Tried Poverty": Exploring The Psychological Impact Of Poverty And Prosperity In The Life Of Oral Roberts, Daniel D. Isgrigg
"I Tried Poverty": Exploring The Psychological Impact Of Poverty And Prosperity In The Life Of Oral Roberts, Daniel D. Isgrigg
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
The origin of the prosperity gospel is most often linked to the influence of American Pentecostal Christianity, particularly to Oral Roberts and his concept of “seed faith.” In light of this, this study seeks to understand Oral Roberts’ concepts of poverty and prosperity by exploring the psychology of his own experience of poverty. It will suggest that the biology of inequality he experienced as a child shaped the development of his prosperity theology.
South German Anabaptist Ecclesiology And Its Present-Day Pentecostal Counterpart, Mathew Clark
South German Anabaptist Ecclesiology And Its Present-Day Pentecostal Counterpart, Mathew Clark
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
Th is article accepts that twentieth-century classical Pentecostalism originally shared a similar ethos to that exemplified among the South German Anabaptists, and investigates some resonances in ecclesiology between the two. Scrutiny of a selection of early sixteenth-century documents relating to Anabaptism identifies the following: a radically consistent application of sola scriptura, a rejection of the state-church synthesis, a revisioning of sacramental belief and practice that subverts the clergy-laity divide, commitment to the teachings of Jesus as the primary and central guide to discipleship, a sacrifi cial pilgrim mentality of “just passing through this world,” individual choice and responsibility to …
Editorial, Jeffrey S. Lamp
Spiritus 4.1 (Spring 2019) Full Issue, Holy Spirit Research Center Oru Library
Spiritus 4.1 (Spring 2019) Full Issue, Holy Spirit Research Center Oru Library
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
No abstract provided.
Oral Roberts: A Brief Bibliography, Holy Spirit Research Center Oru Library
Oral Roberts: A Brief Bibliography, Holy Spirit Research Center Oru Library
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
This article contains the first published bibliography of works by Oral Roberts and published studies of his life and ministry. Included in this bibliography is an account of the holdings of primary and secondary source works available to researchers at the Holy Spirit Research Center at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.
Oral Roberts: A Man Of The Spirit, Daniel D. Isgrigg
Oral Roberts: A Man Of The Spirit, Daniel D. Isgrigg
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
This article explores the role that the experience of the Pentecostal baptism in the Holy Spirit played in shaping the ministry of Oral Roberts. It charts the development and importance of his experience from his early life and ministry, his launch into healing evangelism, and the founding of Oral Roberts University.
The Spirit Of Immense Struggle: Oral Roberts' Native American Ancestry, Timothy Hatcher
The Spirit Of Immense Struggle: Oral Roberts' Native American Ancestry, Timothy Hatcher
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
Oral Roberts was proud of his blended white, Cherokee, and Choctaw heritage and spoke openly about it. To understand Roberts’ view of his own hybridized identity better, it is necessary to consider how his parents and grandparents negotiated the issues related to their mixed ancestry. His own view changed over time from conscious pride to overt activism on behalf of his fellow Native Americans. From the early years of the ministry, the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association engaged in a variety of creative outreaches to Native Americans where Roberts identified deeply with his brothers and sisters. Several Native American communities across …
Spiritus 3.2 Full Issue, Holy Spirit Research Center
Spiritus 3.2 Full Issue, Holy Spirit Research Center
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
Spiritus 3.2 (Fall 2018) is a special issue dedicated to Oral Roberts studies. For this issue, Wonsuk Ma, now Dean of the College of Theology and Ministry at Oral Roberts University, has collected a dozen studies covering several areas of Roberts’ life, thought, ministry, and legacy. All of the contributors have a connection to Oral Roberts University, whether as students, faculty, and/or administrators. So it is, in effect, an in-house offering to the university community and the Spirit-empowered community at large, a remembrance of a figure who, now gone, may get overlooked in today’s fast-paced world of Christian theology and …