The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Pentecostalism S 337

ers. Tongues of fire appeared on top of their heads, and they began speaking in languages they did not know. The apostle P ETER gave a speech to Jews assembled for the festival that was the first public proclamation of the message of C HRISTIANITY . Most Christians look on these events as won derful but unusual. They do not expect them to occur today. Pentecostal Christians believe that all Christians can receive such gifts of the spirit. The most important gift is the one received at Pente cost: glossolalia, or speaking in tongues. HISTORY Pentecostalism began in the H OLINESS MOVEMENT . This movement was an offshoot of M ETHODISM . John W ESLEY (1703–91), the founder of Method ism, taught that once someone had been saved, moral perfection was possible. The first American Methodists sought this perfection in a process they called sanctification. They also held energetic revival services, often in camp meetings. But by the middle 1800s, Methodism had become more restrained. Perfection became a topic most Meth odists no longer talked about. Methodist services became subdued and more respectable to follow ers of other denominations. Some Methodists longed for the old ways. They tried to remain within their churches and hold camp meetings and cultivate perfection on the side. But church officials became suspicious, and forced them to leave. They founded their own churches. One of the most prominent is the Church of the N AZARENE . Charles Fox Parham (1873–1929) was a Holi ness preacher and teacher. He ran Bethel Bible Col lege in Topeka, Kansas. He was disturbed by the state of the church and the world, and he taught that only another outpouring of the Holy Spirit could renew the church. In 1901 a woman study ing at his college began to speak in tongues, that is, to speak an unknown language. Others soon received this gift, too. Parham and his students spread the word across the American Southwest. Then, in 1906, an African American named William Seymour (1870–1922) opened the Asuza Street Mission in

tians in Galatia: “a person is justified not by the works of the law [observing the Torah] but by FAITH in Jesus C HRIST ” (Galatians 2.16). Paul’s concern in this and other verses is JUSTIFICATION : What makes people acceptable in God’s sight? In Paul’s eyes, observing the Torah cannot do this, because no one keeps the Torah perfectly. Instead, all people SIN and therefore deserve God’s punishment. Only the death and resurrection of Jesus can make peo ple, both Jews and non-Jews alike, acceptable to God. In explaining these views, Paul talks about GRACE and faith. The saving work of Jesus shows God’s grace because it is freely given (cf. the Eng lish word “gratis”). People receive that gift through faith in Jesus. Christians began to make collections of Paul’s letters very early. For example, 2 Peter, the latest book in the New Testament, refers to these let ters (3.15–16). But people argued over who inter preted Paul correctly. The Gnostic teacher Marcion claimed to represent Paul’s true teachings ( see G NOSTICISM ). The Catholic and Orthodox churches were more successful in claiming Paul’s heritage. Paul’s ideas of justification have been particularly important in R OMAN C ATHOLICISM and P ROTESTANTISM . In particular, they powerfully influenced thinkers like A UGUSTINE OF H IPPO , Martin L UTHER , and John C ALVIN . These thinkers found in Paul’s answers to specific questions about observing the Torah, more general principles upon which to build Christian teachings. Pentecostalism A variety of P ROTESTANTISM that began in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. By the beginning of the 21st century, many estimate, Pentecostals accounted for roughly one-fourth of all the world’s Christians. The major ity lived not in North America but in Latin Amer ica, Africa, and certain countries in Asia. The name Pentecostal comes from “Pentecost,” known in Hebrew as Shavuot, a J EWISH FESTIVAL that occurs seven weeks after P ASSOVER . A remark able event happened at Pentecost in the year of J ESUS ’ execution. As the A CTS OF THE A POSTLES tells the story, the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus’ follow