William J. Seymour and the Origins of Global Pentecostalism

A Biography and Documentary History

Gastón Espinosa author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Duke University Press

Published:11th Aug '14

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

William J. Seymour and the Origins of Global Pentecostalism cover

In 1906, William J. Seymour (1870–1922) preached Pentecostal revival at the Azusa Street mission in Los Angeles. From these and other humble origins the movement has blossomed to 631 million people around the world. Gastón Espinosa provides new insight into the life and ministry of Seymour, the Azusa Street revival, and Seymour's influence on global Pentecostal origins. After defining key terms and concepts, he surveys the changing interpretations of Seymour over the past 100 years, critically engages them in a biography, and then provides an unparalleled collection of primary sources, all in a single volume. He pays particular attention to race relations, Seymour's paradigmatic global influence from 1906 to 1912, and the break between Seymour and Charles Parham, another founder of Pentecostalism. Espinosa's fragmentation thesis argues that the Pentecostal propensity to invoke direct unmediated experiences with the Holy Spirit empowers ordinary people to break the bottle of denominationalism and to rapidly indigenize and spread their message.

The 104 primary sources include all of Seymour's extant writings in full and without alteration and some of Parham's theological, social, and racial writings, which help explain why the two parted company. To capture the revival's diversity and global influence, this book includes Black, Latino, Swedish, and Irish testimonies, along with those of missionaries and leaders who spread Seymour's vision of Pentecostalism globally.

“The author convincingly portrays Seymour, an African American with little formal education, at the vital center of Pentecostalism, influencing scores of ministers and missionaries who passed through his mission or read his Apostolic Faith newspaper. . . . Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty.” -- W. B. Bedford * Choice *
“Readers deeply steeped in the historiographical fights over the relative influence of Seymour versus other figures will find here about as close to a definitive account as one is going to get. But even those who just want to learn about Pentecostalism’s early days generally, and perhaps don’t have a dog in the historiographical and in-church fight, will benefit greatly from the author’s strongly argued, impeccably researched, and cogently written account. This is church history at its best.” -- Paul Harvey * Canadian Journal of History *
"Espinosa’s detailed and careful analysis of Seymour’s role in the internal and external dynamics of the early Pentecostal movement explains much about its crucial decisions, and the contemporary strengths and weaknesses of this branch of Christianity." -- Hans Krabbendam * History *
“Espinosa provides an appropriate challenge to evaluate the radical countercultural, socially transgressive nature of Azusa and the opportunity that such transgressive space gave to an emerging Pentecostalism.” -- Zachary Michael Tackett * Pneuma *

ISBN: 9780822356356

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 635g

464 pages