Praying for power: Dispositions and discipline in the Azusa Street Revival's Apostolic Faith

Abstract

The Azusa Street Revival in 1906 introduced new theological and practical challenges for believers: namely the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of tongues and divine healing. Apostolic Faith, the revival's popular periodical, both implicitly and explicitly taught believers how to “pray through” to receive baptism for the soul and to utter the “prayer of faith” to accept divine healing for the body. Acknowledging the prescriptive nature of the text, this paper examines the dispositions and disciplines readers were encouraged to develop in this rather fluid moment in American religious history. The prayerful encounter among believer, Holy Spirit, and God, affords an opportunity to explore several conceptualizations of human agency. The most effective model goes beyond those conceptualizations that feature the submission and subversion of norms to consider agency in terms of the dispositions and skills necessary to effect specific actions in light of the historically specific disciplines through which subjects are formed.