Randall J. Stephens . The Fire Spreads: Holiness and Pentecostalism in the American South . Cambridge : Harvard University Press . 2008 . Pp. xi, 393. $27.95.

Abstract

Randall J. Stephens traces the rise of holiness theology and Pentecostalism from the beliefs of fringe groups to a mass religious phenomenon in the American South, beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing through the twentieth. Carefully examining source material such as church publications and records, Stephens tells the story of how these movements originated in the North and West, with socially liberal values, and gradually acquired a widespread association with southern culture and conservative politics. Since Pentecostalism now claims almost half a billion followers, the book offers important research on the growing influence that this form of Christianity has had on the culture of the American South. Stephens seems to write from an insider's perspective on the movement, although he leaves the extent of his personal experience unclear. This lack of clarity on Stephens's relationship to his subject matter seems to constitute the book's only major weakness for a reader from outside of this tradition. Stephens distances himself from those he studies, and at times seems to dismiss their understanding of the growing power of their movement. For instance, he asks, “Just who joined the holiness ranks in the South? And perhaps more important, were there particular cultural and social factors that led some to ally themselves with the movement and others to oppose it?” (p. 57). In answering these questions, Stephens allows that “initiates attributed the movement's success to God. They seldom noted social factors, which they would have considered more mundane” (p. 57). But then he focuses exclusively and unapologetically on these factors, making statements such as, “There were numerous reasons why certain individuals identified with the movement” (p. 58) without ever considering what the individuals themselves had to say about their motives. In matters of belief—especially in the context of a religion that stresses the importance of individual spiritual experience—it seems an oversight to ignore insider perspectives on the growth of the movement. Stephens should have addressed this issue, if only to clarify why it would have been impractical to focus on it. As it stands, the book seems to privilege intellectual reason over religious experience, a more subtle bias than the stereotype that holiness and Pentecostal believers are uneducated country bumpkins—an idea that Stephens takes great pains to dismiss.