Religion Commons^™

Exploring How Pentecostals Preach About Depression, Robert D. Mcbain

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

A qualitative analysis was completed on twelve sermons into how Pentecostal preachers talk about depression from the pulpit using the Assemblies of God (AG) as a purposive sample. Findings illustrate that preachers talked about faulty thinking as the source of depression and interpreted depression as a transformative journey occurring within the context of a God encounter where the believer fixed their faulty thinking. While the way the preachers interpreted depression is not without critique, the article suggests that preaching about depression as a journey of encounter may help listeners frame their depression experiences within a narrative framework that helps them …

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

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

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

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

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 …

"Faith Apostles Busy" N.D., Charles F. Parham

Parham News Paper Clippings

Article from unknown source and unknown date about Parham preaching in "red light district" of Houston.

From the Pauline Parham Archive at the Holy Spirit Research Center, Oral Roberts University.

"Don't Yell Is What Parham Says," N.D., Charles F. Parham

Parham News Paper Clippings

A transcript of a news article, likely from Wakegan, Illinois, concerning Zion City.

From the Pauline Parham Archive at the Holy Spirit Research Center, Oral Roberts University.

"Demand Prsioners Be Given Liberty," N.D., Charles F. Parham

Parham News Paper Clippings

A news paper article by Charles Parham criticizing the arbitrary incarceration of people on vagrancy charges. Parham offers to support unemployed people as a Christian duty.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

"Demand Prisoners Be Given Liberty." Los Angeles Herald (February 2, 1908), Holy Spirit Research Center Oru Library

Parham News Paper Clippings

An article by Charles Parham outlining a meeting by Charles Parham in protest of the detention of "laboring class" for idleness and unemployment.

"Dowie Good-By Bitter; Reviles Wife And Son", Holy Spirit Research Center Oru Library

Parham News Paper Clippings

A report on Dowie's departure from Zion City. The paper and date is unknown. It was likely 1906. Dowie says, "I am not a sick man. My disease is a broken heart. For twenty five years I lived with my wife a broken hearted man. Her private life was a shame. She abused me every day."

This report also mentions that Dowie, "ordained George W. Slater, a former negro attendant, as an evangelist."

Healing For All Races: Oral Roberts’ Legacy Of Racial Reconciliation In A Divided City, Daniel D. Isgrigg

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

This article explores Oral Roberts’ legacy of racial reconciliation in the backdrop of the racial history of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Oral Roberts was a pioneer of racial integration of his meetings during the Healing Revival of the 1950s. But his racial vision came to maturity as Oral Roberts University became a center for social uplift for African Americans in the Spirit-empowered movement. Today, that legacy continues to shape Oral Roberts University as a shining example of racial diversity among Christian universities in America.

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: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Spiritus 4.1 (Spring 2019) Full Issue, Holy Spirit Research Center Oru Library

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

How Long Shall We Tarry? A Reception History Of Tarrying For The Baptism In The Spirit In Early Pentecostal Testimonies, Daniel D. Isgrigg

College of Science and Engineering Faculty Research and Scholarship

This paper, presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, will investigate the methodology of tarrying for the baptism in the Holy Spirit as expressed in the testimonies recorded throughout the thirteen existing issues of the Apostolic Faith (1906-1908) of the Azusa Street Mission. In order to extract the “ordinary theology” expressed by this diverse cross-section of early Pentecostals, this study will engage in a history of reception of how Pentecostals received Jesus’ command to “tarry” and how that reception shaped the expectation of the early Pentecostals experience of receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

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

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

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: 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 …

"Interpreting The Signs Of The Times: How Eschatology Shaped Assemblies Of God Social Ethics", Daniel D. Isgrigg

College of Science and Engineering Faculty Research and Scholarship

This paper will seek to explore how the AG’s premillennial beliefs affected the way they interpreted three primary social issues: political attitudes, economic issues, and responses to social and moral issues. To aid in this task, commentary on social issues through the lens of eschatology in the Pentecostal Evangel will be analyzed through the first two periods of AG history: Formative Period (1914-1926), Scholastic Period (1927-1948)

Edna Jean Horn Poster - Edinburg, Indiana, Edna J. Horn

Edna Jean Horn (1909-1984)

A poster from a Edna Jean Horn revival at the Assembly of God church in Edinburg, Indiana.

The Good Life: Descriptors Of Change In Roma Pentecostal Communities In Serbia And Croatia, Melody J. Wachsmuth

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Studies in specific geographical contexts have shown that the spread of Pentecostalism’s impact on Roma communities is twofold: it is linked to social change including a rise of education levels, literacy, decrease in crime, better relationships with the majority culture, and also is instrumental in the fostering of a “trans-national” identity and revitalization of their respective Roma identities. However, Pentecostalism cannot be considered a formula that intersects with a Romani community with consequential predictable results— in fact, in Southeastern Europe, Romani Pentecostalism is growing at a much slower rate than that of its counterparts in Western Europe and in places …

Jesus’ Mother “Treasured All These Words . . . In Her Heart” (Luke 2:19): On Using A Spirit Hermeneutic To Reflect Together About Mary, Sally Jo Shelton

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

A major issue over which many Evangelicals and Pentecostals differ from Roman Catholics is the status of Mary, Jesus’ mother. Evangelicals critique some of the Marian dogmas and practices as excesses that challenge Christ’s sole mediation and eclipse the Spirit, while Catholics warn that neglect of Mary potentially leads to failure to acknowledge Christ’s full humanity and divinity. This is a proposal to place Spirit hermeneutics into ecumenical service to bridge the gap between the Catholic and Evangelical Marys. The Spirit hermeneutics proposed here is built on Amos Yong’s (and other Pentecostal scholars’) Word-Spirit-Community epistemology, Catholic philosopher Bernard Lonergan’s call …