“Going the Other Way Around”

Abstract

One of the really interesting things about current scholarship in the history of Pentecostalism is the way that generations interact reflexively. The trend, as we shall see in this paper, is away from the idea of Pentecostalism having one particular point of origin (in its first wave associated with Azusa Street, in its third with Dennis Bennett in California), through Pentecostalism as multicentred in origin but convergent in development (around constructive “myths” or “symbols” of Azusa Street or Van Nuys, or wherever), towards the view in the current generation of writers that Pentecostalism has been multicentred in origin and divergent in development. I would suggest that there is an active philosophical change, towards acceptance of the globe as one place rather than the nation as the basic framework for historical understanding. The example I use in this paper comes from my work on the origins of the Charismatic movement in Australia.