William J. Seymour and the Origins of Global Pentecostalism

GastÓn Espinosa is Arthur V. Stoughton Associate Professor and Chair of Religious Studies at Claremont McKenna College. He is the author of Latino Pentecostals in America: Faith and Politics in Action and editor of Religion, Race, and Barack Obama's New Democratic Pluralism and Mexican American Religions: Spirituality, Activism, and Culture, which is also published by Duke University Press.

• Foreword xiiiPreface xixAcknowledgments xxiTimeline xxiiiIntroduction. Definitions and 100 Years of Historiography on Seymour 1Part I. Biography 1. American Pentecostal Origins: Parham and Seymour 413. Moses and Mecca: Seymour, Azusa, and Global Origins 694. God Makes No Difference in Color: Azusa's Transgressive Social Space 965. Wrecking the Spirit of Azusa: Grumbling and the Road to Decline 1096. Race War in the Churches: Promoting Peace by Taking the Initiative 1267. We Don't Believe in Relics: Seymour in Ignominy 143Conclusion. Holy Restlessness and Cracking Bottles 149Part II. Documentary History of William J. Seymour, The Azusa Street Revival, and Global Pentecostal Origins A. Seymour's Spiritual Writings from the Apostolic Faith, 1906-08 161B. Seymour's Doctrines and Discipline Minister's Manual (1915) 216C. Azusa Street Revival Accounts in the Apostolic Faith, 1906-08 301D. Historical Overviews and Testimonies of Seymour and the Azusa Revival 309E. Critics of Seymour and the Revival 372F. Writings of Charles Fox Parham 380Notes 389Bibliography 411Index 429

“The author convincingly portrays Seymour, an African American with little formal education, at the vital center of Pentecostalism, influencing scores of ministers and missionaries who passed through his mission or read his Apostolic Faith newspaper. . . . Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty.” - W. B. Bedford (Choice) “Readers deeply steeped in the historiographical fights over the relative influence of Seymour versus other figures will find here about as close to a definitive account as one is going to get. But even those who just want to learn about Pentecostalism’s early days generally, and perhaps don’t have a dog in the historiographical and in-church fight, will benefit greatly from the author’s strongly argued, impeccably researched, and cogently written account. This is church history at its best.” - Paul Harvey (Canadian Journal of History) "Espinosa’s detailed and careful analysis of Seymour’s role in the internal and external dynamics of the early Pentecostal movement explains much about its crucial decisions, and the contemporary strengths and weaknesses of this branch of Christianity." - Hans Krabbendam (History) “Espinosa provides an appropriate challenge to evaluate the radical countercultural, socially transgressive nature of Azusa and the opportunity that such transgressive space gave to an emerging Pentecostalism.” - Zachary Michael Tackett (Pneuma)