Faith Movement Research Articles

The Called Out of the Called Out: Charles Parham’s Doctrine of Spirit Baptism

The origin of the doctrine of initial evidence in North American Pentecostalism has almost exclusively been traced back to Charles Parham, founder of the Apostolic Faith Movement in Topeka, Kansas. The story of Agnes Ozman and the students at Bethel Bible School is so famous in Pentecostal studies that it has taken on a mythic character as it has been passed along. Inherent in the story of Pentecostal beginnings was the search for evidence - irrefutable proof that one was baptized in the Spirit. A fresh reading of the book of Acts coupled with an outbreak of tongues speech left Parham and his students with a convincing answer: speaking in tongues was the Bible evidence of the Baptism in the Spirit. As inspiring as the story is to adherents of the Pentecostal faith, it is too simplistic to deduce from it Parham’s distinctive approach to Spirit baptism or his unique contribution to Pentecostalism. A thorough examination of Parham’s theology of Spirit Baptism shows that Parham’s understanding of the experience was adopted by later generations of Pentecostals only in word. Thus, Parham’s contribution to Pentecostalism should be understood to reside at the level of hermeneutics, not doctrine.The account first appeared in print in Parham’s book, Kol Kare Bomidbar, first published in 1902. This account would reappear again with slight revisions in an article entitled, ‘Pentecostal Baptism Restored,’ on the front page of the second issue of the Azusa Street newspaper. Apostolic Faith [Los Angeles] 1:2 (October 1906). It also was relayed in issues of Apostolic Faith [Houston, TX] edited by W. F. Carothers and later issues of Apostolic Faith [Baxter Springs, KS] edited by Parham with more significant changes.

German Faith Movement : The Formation of a Religion in Modern Germany(Section 1,THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE SIXTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION FOR RELIGIOUS STUDIES)

German Faith Movement : The Formation of a Religion in Modern Germany(Section 1,THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE SIXTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION FOR RELIGIOUS STUDIES)

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ANDREW PERRIMAN'S FAITH, HEALTH AND PROSPERITY IN THE WORD OF FAITH DEBATE*

ABSTRACT A relatively recent report by Andrew Perriman from the UK Evangelical Alliance has brought some needed balance into the debate over the teaching and practice of the Word of Faith movement. Concerned that it has generally failed to receive a fair trial, Faith, Health and Prosperity seeks to understand and assess the faith movement as it presents itself today. Its hermeneutic and theology are thoroughly critiqued, and various concerns are raised about its ministry and ethics. Nevertheless, the report argues persuasively for a possible rapprochement between the Word of Faith and broader evangelical movements. Whilst the former is classified as 'heterodox' or 'suborthodox' and the absolutism of its doctrine of health and wealth is dismantled, the report concedes various weaknesses in the broader evangelical spectrum where it can learn from 'faith teaching', and the embryo of a more biblical theology of prosperity is conceived.

Righteous Riches: The Word of Faith Movement in Contemporary African American Religion, by Milmon F. Harrison. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005, 192 pp.; $16.95 USD (paper), $74.00 USD (cloth)

Righteous Riches: The Word of Faith Movement in Contemporary African American Religion, by Milmon F. Harrison. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005, 192 pp.; $16.95 USD (paper), $74.00 USD (cloth)

The Word-Faith Movement: A Theological Conflation of the Nation of Islam and Mormonism?

Abstract A relative newcomer to the world of New Religious Movements, the Word-Faith Movement is one of the most understudied developments on the margins of the Christian tradition. Typically dismissed by conservative Protestants and others as a health and wealth gospel, such a characterization fails to account for the movement's theological roots and practical fruits. These roots are located in two historical predecessor NRMs—the Nation of Islam and Mormonism. Using both direct evidence from Faith theological architects of doctrinal appropriation and strong circumstantial evidence of exegetical borrowing on the part of the movement's leaders, I argue that this identification of the Faith Movement's parent traditions enhances our understanding of its major cultural fruits, including the personal empowerment jointly driven by gnōsis of one's true identity, and by the bestowal of ultimate concern upon socioeconomic movement via direct correlation with one's spiritual progress. I conclude with some reflections on what the Faith Movement's career to date can tell us about New Religious Movements and the state of religion in America today.

New Religions and the Nazis (review)

Reviewed by: New Religions and the Nazis Paul Jackson New Religions and the Nazis Karla Poewe New York: Routledge, 2005. 218 pp., ISBN 0415290252, $26.95. New Religions and the Nazis is an attempt by a leading anthropologist to analyze the construction of the sacred within Nazi ideology. Poewe was inspired to inquire into the relationship between politically religious aspects of Nazi ideology and Germanic religions after analyzing the interwar archives of the Berlin Mission Society. Central to her analysis is the story of the founder of the German Faith Movement, Jakob Wilhelm Hauer, a narrative that draws in discussions of those associated with his activities, debates over ideas with key figures of similar movements, such the Gotterkenntnis movement of Mathilde and Erich Ludendorff, the resonance of these ideas within the Nazi hierarchy, and the impact of Hauer and others on postwar fascism. By analyzing the influence of this movement on Nazi Germany and beyond, Poewe's aim is to dispel the myth that "German pagan faiths, expressed in countless new religions, by diverse leaders and adherents both inside and outside of the official church, were too small in number to make an impact on National Socialism" (1). According to Poewe, these movements sought as their goal the creation of "genuinely German (Nordic) faith-based political community, a community of one Volk that would privilege . . . the almost lost Germanic and Nordic culture and ancestry" (2). Poewe's narrative begins by identifying how Hauer, alongside many others, developed nationalized pagan religions, largely as a response to the profound impact of the First World War and the repeated crises of the Weimar era. Within such a milieu, it was not only prominent Nazi figures that emphasized the positive qualities of kampf (struggle) as a force to be embraced in order to cope with a profound sense of national anomie. Rather, a widespread "cultic culture" developed that provided a fecund mood for establishing new realms of faith that sought to solve the national crisis. For Hauer, and many like him, a swathe of intellectual resources—from German idealism conceived of as a religion to Indian philosophy, especially the Bhagavad Gita—were used during the 1920s to construct an anti-Semitic worldview founded on a Manichean kampf between what was seen as a virile and healthy Indo-Germanic Volk and a decadent Jewish-Christian civilization. Despite revealing to private acquaintances his deep-rooted Nazi sympathies, Hauer mostly hid his religious philosophy of Nazi approval during the 1920s and presented his thinking publicly in terms of a metapolitical discourse on organic nationalism. Primarily, this was [End Page 133] in order to retain intellectual credibility with, among others, the Zionist philosopher Martin Buber. However, after the Nazis came to power, Hauer engaged with the policy of Gleischaltung by bringing together a variety of Germanic and Nordic religions under the umbrella organization ADGB, or German Faith Movement. Essentially, this was an attempt to create a new national religion that chimed with point twenty-four of the National Socialist program, which allowed religious freedom as long as these did not threaten the existence or "offend the moral feelings of the German race." However, ultimately Nazis failed to develop an alternate church to those of either the Protestant or Catholic denominations. After the movement became increasingly radicalized under the indirect influence of Reinhard Heydrich, Hauer resigned as its head in 1936 and returned to more esoteric concerns of appealing to radical right intellectuals rather than to Nazi street fighters. Overall, Poewe's analysis is of a very high standard. She offers clear exegeses of the positions of key ideologues and demonstrates the impact of the German Faith Movement on the wider regime well. Especially interesting are her claims that among members of Heinrich Himmler's Schutzstaffel (SS), an estimated 86 percent of the officers of the Death's Head Unit, 78.9 percent of the Armed SS Units, and 66 percent of the General SS Units subscribed to the belief systems of the Germanic religions (119). Nevertheless, she does not overstate the case of the importance of the movement and does acknowledge its weaknesses in penetrating German society. Overall, we are left...

Uskon performatiivit kokemuskerronnassa

The article is focused on the construction of a relationship between religious faith and personal narratives. The hypothesis advanced is that the maintenance of religious convictions within charismatic Christianity takes place thorough sharing personal experience stories, in which the course of everyday life is interpreted biblically. The article is based on interview material. The interviewees are members of the Word of Faith congregation in Turku. The congregation represents the Faith Movement originating in North America, which was brought to Finland via Sweden (Livets Ord) at the beginning of the 1990s. The writer combines the ideas of socio-psychology of religion (mainly role theory) and narrative research, which applies the idea of performative speech in speech act theory.

Righteous riches: the word of faith movement in contemporary African American religion

Does God want us to be wealthy? Many people believe that God offers not only eternal joy in the hereafter but also material blessings in the here and now. Other Christians see this prosperity theology, as nothing more than vulgar materialism, incompatible with orthodox Christianity. In Righteous Riches, Milmon F. Harrison examines the Word of Faith movement, an independent, non-denominational Christian movement that preaches the so-called health and wealth gospel. Drawing on his personal experiences as a former insider and in-depth interviews with members, Harrison takes us inside the movement, revealing what it is like to belong, and how people accept, reject, and reshape Word of Faith doctrines to fit their own lives. Analyzing the movement's appeal to African Americans, Harrison argues that, because of their history of oppression and discrimination, African American religious institutions have always had to address the material - as well as spiritual - concerns of their members. Situating the movement in thecontexts of both contemporary American religions and the history of the Black Church, Righteous Riches offers a fascinating look at a quintessentially American phenomenon.

Jakob Wilhelm Hauer's New Religion and National Socialism

Jakob Wilhelm Hauer (1881–1962) was a missionary to India and later both a professor of religious studies at Tübingen and a founder of a new religion, called the German Faith Movement (Deutsche Glaubensbewegung, DGB). According to Hauer, his movement was the essence of National Socialism. Because some contemporary scholars try to distance Hauer's scholarship and the DGB from National Socialism, this paper reviews existing literature about the Hauer phenomenon. It does so in light of the authors' research in the Federal Archives of Koblenz and Berlin and the German Literature Archive in Marbach. Hauer's personal development and determination to further Nazism are traced. Together, the literature review and Hauer's view of religion show that his religious thought and his Nazi politics are inseparable.

Toward Full Communion: Faith and Order and Catholic Ecumenism

[The author provides a summary history and theological survey of the contribution of the Faith and Order movement to the goal of full communion, with special emphasis on the participation of Catholic theologians. He addresses methodological issues and ecclesiological developments. Studies on the sacraments, the apostolic faith, Scripture and Tradition, and a variety of contextual issues have contributed to new irreversible relationships among the churches. Research by theologians of Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Evangelical, Pentecostal, and historic Protestant churches have created a unique body of ecumenical literature.]

A Pilgrimage in the Spirit: Pentecostal Testimony in the Faith and Order Movement

A Pilgrimage in the Spirit: Pentecostal Testimony in the Faith and Order Movement

Derrida, Faith and St Paul

This paper sets St Paul's intricately paradoxical, Christian message to Jews and Greeks alongside Jacques Derrida's placement of Paul—and through Paul, himself—in the Western tradition, which occurs by means of the energy of faith. But rather than opposing Greeks to Jews, Hellenic philo sophy to Biblical theology, that movement of faith places them all within the complex shifts of a common horizon, mapped out by the subtle modulations of Paul's rhetoric. Theology falls under the domain of philosophy, yet at the same time, Greek thought merges into a common, Gentile faith. Derrida may not finally be able to concur with the eschaton of Paul's faith, but both agree that, as philosophy's operation requires a space for unconditional belief, so faith also demands an heterogeneous commonality in order to affirm itself

The faith movement: A global religious culture?

In the first paper of this special issue, I present social scientific debates relating to globalisation, before suggesting that a focus on the world‐wide spread of the Faith Movement provides a powerful means of addressing such debates. The origins and diffusion of the Movement are then discussed, along with assessments of previous work by anthropologists and sociologists that deal with its religious and cultural significance. I argue that a move from ‘Americanisation’ to ‘globalisation ‘ is evident in the literature on Faith ministries and activities. Finally, I show how the contributions to this issue can be seen as in dialogue with each other as well as with wider questions concerning the transnational character of much contemporary religion.

Making global faith universal: Media and a Brazilian prosperity movement

One characteristic of Brazilian neo‐Pentecostal ministries that draw on the Faith Movement is an accentuation of performative and metonymic linkages between supernatural power and ritual. While sharing elements with a broader transnational Faith movement, this Prosperity theology and its associated practices emerge out of the contemporary sociocultural context of Brazilian ‘popular’ religions as they relate to a consumer economy. The paper addresses the role of particular kinds of objects and material media in the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. Such symbolic media configure a distinctly Pentecostal projection of local‐global relations. The analysis also considers an example of temple architecture and the construction of a Biblical theme park by the Universal Church in Rio de Janeiro. The symbolic and metonymic treatment of physical space builds up connections between believers, temporality, certain forms of historicity, and sacred geography in a way that resonates with other activities in the Church.

Totalitarianism: Propaganda, Perseverance, and Protest: Strategies for Clerical Survival Amid the German Church Struggle

The Protestant historiography of the German Church Struggle has been shaped largely by its attention to two fundamental issues. The first has been the intrachurch struggle dominated by two churchpolitical factions: the Faith Movement of the German Christians and the Confessing Church. German Christians whole-heartedly endorsed the government of Adolf Hitler, campaigned to align the organization, theology, and practice of the twenty-eight German Protestant Land Churches with the racial and authoritarian values of the National Socialist regime and worked to create a centralized Reich church under a powerful Reich bishop. The Confessing Church stood for theological orthodoxy and ecclesiastical independence, rejected the authority of the Land Church governments that had fallen under the control of German Christians, and asserted itself as the uniquely legitimate church government in Germany.

The Volk and its Unconscious: Jung, Hauer and the ‘German Revolution’

This article examines the relationship between the Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist C.G. Jung and the German Indologist and völkisch scholar J.W. Hauer, with whom Jung collaborated in the early 1930s. In the latter part of the decade, Jung became increasingly wary of the political implications of völkisch doctrines and Hauer's völkisch ambitions, which reached their apotheosis in the founding of the German Faith Movement. There are two main reasons for Jung's increasing reluctance to co-operate with Hauer. First, as his public image was that of a neutral Swiss, Jung did not want to associate too closely with an openly National-Socialist scholar, whose racial ideas he no longer shared and whose influence in Germany was negligible anyway. Second, Jung had become more widely known in the Anglo-American world during the 1930s, and he did not want to risk his growing reputation there by adhering too closely to openly völkisch doctrines. Yet, although the more explicit elements of völkisch ideology disappeared from his writings, in his infatuation with mythical archetypes, he retained some of the more invisible völkisch elements in his psychology.

'Winning Ways': Globalisation and the Impact of the Health and Wealth Gospel

Few contemporary religious movements lend themselves so readily to an analysis of the dynamics of globalising than that strand of neo-Pentecostalism known as the 'Faith' movement. Originating in the USA, the numerous ministries which comprise the movement have come to sustain a wide global influence in many diverse cultural conditions. The Faith gospel is noteworthy, not only because of the scale of its success, but because of its distinctive teaching related to divinely-blessed 'health and wealth' which has enjoyed considerable acceptance in different parts of the world. This paper explores the global significance of the Faith movement and argues that, while it has roots in North American culture, its dogma and practices are considerably modified within local cultural environments.

Kirche als Schöpfungsordnung? Eine systematisch-theologische Grübelei über Oswald Bayers Theologieverständnis

Article Kirche als Schöpfungsordnung? Eine systematisch-theologische Grübelei über Oswald Bayers Theologieverständnis was published on January 1, 1999 in the journal Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie (volume 41, issue 3).

Charismatic Christianity and the Dilemmas of Globalization

The Faith Movement constitutes a particular branch of the Charismatic Revival. Over the past few decades, it has used new media technologies as well as travelling evangelists to create a worldwide network of like-minded ministries. I examine one such ministry, the Word of Life in Uppsala, Sweden, in order to consider two main questions: (1) can social scientific theories of globalization help us to understand the activities of such Christians? (2) can adherents of the Faith Movement be shown to be creating their own theories of ‘spiritualised globalization’? I conclude that Faith Christians in Sweden have developed the ideological means to resolve, at least in ideal terms, the apparent dilemma of simultaneously celebrating ‘placeless principles’ of mutual spiritual understanding and more overtly patriotic, locally bound celebrations of sacralized nationhood.

Ministering to the Oppressed? Change and the Spiritual Economy of the Faith Movement in Durban during the late Twentieth-Century

There are, generally, three explanations for the politics of Charismatic Christianity in late twentieth-century South Africa. In the first instance, materialist social science and religious studies interpretations have come to assert an intellectual hegemony over the study of fundamentalism in South Africa. These explanations draw from deprivation theories and critiques of American cultural imperialism.' The latter fuses the inappropriateness of the prosperity gospel for southern Africa's socio-economic crises with the influence of the New Christian Right. These interpretations have depicted Charismatic Christianity as supporting the ideology of the apartheid state, the white social order and the economic system of western liberal capitalism.