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PNEUMA 37 (2015) 201–223
August Davis and the Free-Free Pentecostal Phenomena among the Swedish Evangelical Free
David M. Gustafson
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois
Abstract
August Davis (1852–1936) led a group of Swedish Free Mission Friends in America known as the Free-Free, an early branch of what is today the Evangelical Free Church of America. Davis and his followers were known for such phenomena as falling down in the Spirit, having ecstatic visions, uttering unintelligible sounds, communicating the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, and teaching the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second work of grace. Such activities occurred mostly in Chicago, Illinois, and throughout western Minnesota between 1885 and 1900. Davis and the Free-Free had direct organizational ties in the Scandinavian Mission Society u.s.a. to emerging Swedish-American Pentecostals in Minnesota and South Dakota such as John Thompson, Mary Johnson, and Jacob Bakken. This group known pejoratively as the Free-Free is another of several impulses that birthed a distinctly Pentecostal form of Christianity in America.
Keywords
Swedes – Swedish – Mission Friends – August Davis – Pentecostal phenomena – Free-Free – Evangelical Free Church of America – John Thompson – Scandinavian Mission Society – baptism of the Spirit – Mary Johnson – J.G. Princell
Pentecostal phenomena associated with Charles Parham and William Seymour have been the focus of early American pentecostal history, but similar phenom- ena occurred years earlier among Swedes in America, particularly those of the August Davis movement known as the “Free-Free” (fri-fria). Some remained within the early Swedish Evangelical Free Church of America; others, however, broke ranks and merged with the burgeoning pentecostal movement.
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi: 10.1163/15700747-03702002
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While the Evangelical Free Church of America is not associated generally with Pentecostalism, it was birthed in America in the 1880s as a revivalist movement drawing upon the Swedish Pietism of P.P. Waldenström and the American revivalism of D.L. Moody.1 It was known commonly as the “Free” (fria). However, the Holiness movement gained acceptance with August Davis and his followers, who exhibited various pentecostal manifestations. The Free- Free promoted holiness, held after-meetings for divine healing, and spoke in tongues.2 They were zealous not merely to preach conversion as the one thing needful, but they also taught baptism of the Spirit as equally needful.3 Davis became known for his “stormy meetings, emotional preaching style, and strange demonstrations.”4
In the early twentieth century, the wider body of the Free identified increas- ingly with American fundamentalism and separated from theological liberal- ism on one side and emerging Pentecostalism on the other. Thus, while the 1934 anniversary book acknowledged how “God moves in mysterious ways at times” and how “the so-called ‘tongues movement’ had also a short but lively chapter in our history,” it quickly pointed out that some of these manifestations were not of God “but rather psychic and of the evil one” and that “much of the so- called ‘divine healing’ is nothing more than sensational propaganda for selfish purposes.”5
With the change in language from Swedish to English among the Free in the 1930s, as well as an Evangelical Free Church historiography that became increasingly biased against Pentecostalism, specific instances of pentecostal phenomena were marginalized. In the course of the recent rise of interest in Pentecostal Theology, however, Swedish Evangelical Free churches have been identified as an early impulse of American Pentecostalism.6
1 David M. Gustafson, “Swedish Pietism and American Revivalism: Kindred Spirits in the
Evangelical Free Tradition,” inThePietistImpulse inChristianity, ed. Christian T. Collins Winn,
Christopher Gehrz, G. William Carlson, and Eric Holst (Eugene,or: Pickwick, 2011), 199–214. 2 Arnold T. Olson,The Significance of Silence(Minneapolis: Free Church Press, 1981), 151. 3 Minnesskrift. Utgifven med anledning af Svenska Evangeliska Frikyrkans i Amerika trettioårsju-
bileum(Minneapolis: Swedish Evangelical Free Church, 1914), 22–23, 134, 150, 160. 4 Golden Jubilee: Reminiscences of Our Work under God, Swedish Evangelical Free Church of the
u.s.a., 1884–1934(Minneapolis, 1934), 22.
5 Ibid., 39–40.
6 Darrin J. Rodgers, Northern Harvest: Pentecostalism in North Dakota(Bismarck: North Dakota
District Council of the Assemblies of God, 2003), 12–17; Roger E. Olson, “Pietism and Pente-
costalism: Spiritual Cousins or Competitors,”Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal
Studies34, no. 3 (2012): 332–334.
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A primary source of this study is Chicago-Bladet, the organ of the early Free. Whenever the Free held general meetings or conferences for preachers and itinerant evangelists, a transcript of the discussion was published in this periodical. Thus,Chicago-Bladetcontains transcripts of theological discussions among the Free and Free-Free on topics concerning the Holy Spirit and mani- festations. For example, an announcement in Chicago-Bladet for a meeting at Rockford, Illinois in 1885 stated that the questions to be discussed were:
What does it mean to receive [the Spirit], to communicate the Spirit, to be baptized with and filled by the Spirit? Is there any difference between believers with respect to the possession, more or less, of the Holy Spirit? Is it the work of the Holy Spirit that believers are “overwhelmed,” fall down powerless, faint, etc.? What is the gift of healing?7
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that August Davis, the Free-Free, and the Scandinavian Mission Society were characterized by pentecostal phe- nomena and that Davis and his movement not merely preceded but had direct ties to emerging Swedish-American Pentecostalism in Minnesota and the Da- kotas.
August Davis (1852–1936)
August Davis was born in Ereslöv in Halland, Sweden, on July 13, 1852, and came to America in 1873, settling in Ridgeway, Pennsylvania.8 He converted to faith in 1877 and later attended Ansgar College in Knoxville, Illinois.9 During and after his school years, he traveled as an itinerant preacher to several places in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, eventually accepting a pastorate in Bucklin, Missouri, where he met his wife, Sophia. From his time back in Pennsylvania he adopted free Methodist elements that he incorporated into his ministry.10
7 8 9
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Chicago-Bladet, September 1, 1885.
Ibid., June 23, 1936.
Philip J. Anderson, A Precious Heritage: A Century of Mission in the Northwest, 1884–1984 (Minneapolis: Northwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church, 1984), 66. Erik Brolund, Missions-vännerna. Jämförelser och studier (Chicago: Mission Friend’s Pub- lishing, 1938), 18; Karl A. Olsson, By One Spirit (Chicago: Covenant Press, 1962), 329. Cf. Allan Anderson, Spreading Fires: The Missionary Nature of Early Pentecostalism (Mary- knoll,ny: Orbis Books, 2007), 19.
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When Davis returned to Illinois, he lived in Princeton, serving as an itiner- ant preacher with the Lutheran Ansgar Synod. During this time he received the conviction that it was possible to have greater spiritual power, and so “he sought and was baptized with the Holy Spirit” and preached what he experi- enced.11As an itinerant preacher Davis held meetings in several places, includ- ing Freya Hall in Chicago in 1883. Wherever he traveled, “revival fires were kin- dled.”12 Eventually Davis withdrew from the Ansgar Synod at a time when two theological issues among Swedish Mission Friends were arising. The first was P.P. Waldenström’s doctrine of the atonement, and the second was the teaching on the Holy Spirit.13This study examines the latter.
In 1882, when the Mission Church in Minneapolis, known later as the Swe- dish Tabernacle, was without a pastor following the death of G.E. Törnquist, the church called E. August Skogsbergh as pastor. Until Skogsbergh could arrive, however, the church called F.M. Johnson to fill the vacancy, but when Johnson became ill he called upon August Davis, his former classmate at Ansgar Col- lege, for assistance.14 During Davis’s time as the interim preacher in the fall of 1883, revival broke out and “hundreds of sinners were saved and made free in the Spirit” and “many were enlightened to life and salvation as happened at the day of Pentecost when it was said: ‘They are drunk on sweet wine.’”15
In January 1884, when Davis’s interim role at the Mission Church in Min- neapolis ended, he left for Chicago, arriving at the Mission Tabernacle on the same Sunday on which Skogsbergh was delivering his farewell sermon there. Upon Skogsbergh’s departure to Minneapolis, Davis was asked to fill the pul- pit as interim preacher at the Chicago church.16 Frank Lindberg, a member of the congregation, explained what followed: “Immediately a powerful revival swept the church, as Pastor Davis proclaimed the necessity of a consecrated life and a baptism of the Holy Spirit. One of his first sermons was based upon Acts 19:2: ‘Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?’”17 Davis conducted revival meetings and prayer meetings, public and private, in homes and at the church. Lindberg adds: “I shall never forget one evening in the smaller room of
11
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14 15 16 17
Frank T. Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years: Over the Rise and Progress of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church of America(Minneapolis: Lindberg, 1935), 12.
Ibid., 21.
Ibid., 8. David M. Gustafson, “J.G. Princell and the Waldenströmian View of the Atone- ment,”Trinity Journal20, no. 2 (Fall 1999): 191–214.
Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years, 13.
Chicago-Bladet, June 23, 1936.
Ibid.
Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years, 13.
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the Tabernacle when the Holy Spirit came upon us in a very marked way after a number of weeks of fervent prayer for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Words cannot describe the joy that came to us; it was truly a Pentecostal blessing.”18
Davis introduced jubilation meetings for fervent prayer, praise, and rejoic- ing in God. Those who were present witnessed Davis’s enthusiasm in preaching and swaying people to faith, leaving them feeling blessed. Not all members of the church received this blessing, however.19 Some became angry, especially when the message “cut close to their hearts.” Others looked on askance, won- dering what kind of movement this might be.
At a Thursday evening service, as Davis came up to the platform and opened the meeting, P.G. Lantz, a deacon of the congregation, arose and began crying at the top of his voice that someone present was possessed by an evil spirit.20 Lindberg recalls:
The church was filled with people and consequently this caused a great deal of commotion in the service. Rev. Davis asked the congregation to be calm and come to order. The Chairman of the church, Mr. Svenson, who had not been in sympathy with the movement, because the truth had approached him too closely, and Mr. A.L. Skoog, the organist, asked that Pastor Davis leave the platform. When the request was not complied with, the Bible was jerked away from him and he was led down from the platform.21
A telegram was sent immediately to Skogsbergh in Minneapolis, who returned to Chicago as soon as possible. He expressed to the church that he was not in agreement with this new movement and declared that it was of the evil one.22 Davis disagreed, and thus a separation in the congregation occurred. Over thirty members of the Mission Tabernacle—and several more who attended— left the church.23 These included Frank Lindberg, P.G. Lantz, A.A. Anderson, and C.W. Peterson, all of whom would later serve as preachers of the Free and were identified among the Free-Free.24
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Ibid., 14.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid., 14–15.
Ibid., 15.
K. Olsson, By One Spirit, 329. Minnesskrift, 70–72, 79.
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Those who left with Davis did so because “his preaching inspired them toward holy living and greater devotion to the Lord.”25Later, when Erik Brolund asked Davis what he had said that prompted the incident when A.R. Svenson and A.L. Skoog escorted him down from the pulpit, he stated firmly that “this was something for which he was not the cause.”26 Brolund then commented: “And I can add that I saw and experienced a lot during this time that cannot be explained, and for which there was no human cause.”27
When this group that followed Davis left the Tabernacle, they held services in homes until the spring of 1885, when they rented property for worship. Davis continued to serve them as an itinerant preacher, along with C.O. Sahlström. They ministered among this new group—the nucleus of what became Elim Free Mission in Chicago, later called Elim Evangelical Free Church. P.G. Lantz served as the first pastor.28The Elim Free Mission continued to hold jubilation meetings known for their spiritual power, enthusiasm, and joy in God.29 The first history of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church, titled Minnesskrift (Remi- niscences) and published in 1914, described the first years of this church:
The members of the group believed that to be baptized or filled with the Holy Spirit, they needed to pray earnestly for it, and what they so eagerly sought after, they each received. Their daily lives were exemplary, their clothing simple, and their sacrifice to God was great. Thus, it is no wonder that this group has had no less than sixteen brothers and sisters go out to serve as missionaries.30
In the summer of 1884, Davis traveled to Minneapolis but naturally found the doors closed to him at the Mission Church where Skogsbergh was pastor.31Nev- ertheless, many people desired to hear Davis preach again, and so through the
25 26 27
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31
Brolund, Missions-vännerna, 114.
Ibid., 115.
Ibid. Brolund, who later joined the Covenant, served among Free congregations in Min- nesota, where he associated with Davis and helped to organize the Scandinavian Mission Society of theu.s.a.Chicago-Bladet, November 22, 1898.
Golden Jubilee, 88; Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years, 42.
Minnesskrift, 147.
Ibid., 148–149. In Sweden, radical Pietism was also influenced by the Holiness movement and characterized similarly as lively (livliga). See Joel Halldorf, Av denna världen?: Emil Gustafson, moderniteten och den evangelikala väckelsen (Skellefteå: Artos, 2012), 166, 248– 252.
Skandinaviska Ev. Fria Missions-församlingens i Minneapolis, Minnesota, Minnes-Album (1910), 5.
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efforts of the Löfgren brothers and others, the American Second Congrega- tional Church was made available to him. His meetings there caused friction, now among Davis’s followers who still attended Skogsbergh’s Mission Church. While some at the Mission Church, including Skogsbergh, opposed Davis’s emphases, those who were “more radical and in some instances fanatical” ral- lied around him, which led to division.32
Those who followed Davis started a new church, organized as the Scandina- vian Church of Christ. This congregation became known as the Twelfth Avenue Church or, commonly, the “Davis church,” and was later renamed First Evangel- ical Free Church of Minneapolis. In the beginning, seventy men and eighteen women, many quite young in the faith, called Davis as their pastor. Davis spoke from the Scriptures and testified from his own experience that “someone could be a disciple of Jesus and child of God but still not be filled, or baptized, with the Holy Spirit.”33
During the revivals that Davis led, “hundreds were converted and baptized withtheHolySpirit.”34Minnesskriftstates:“Thisbroughtnewlighttomanywho then began earnestly to seek the Lord, praying that they might be baptized with the Holy Spirit. This became even more the case, as it were, as they believed that the coming of Jesus was imminent. The result was that the gatherings of the Free were characterized by a great deal of enthusiasm.”35Davis’s preaching had similar effects in many other places in Minnesota and South Dakota.
Clearly, some of Davis’s emphases were thought to be deficient—something felt by the congregation. Others noted, however, that his teachings on several pointsof doctrinewerecarefullyhighlightedand observed,such as“conversion, baptism, and sanctification or Christian liberty according to the law of the Spirit.”36
The Twelfth Avenue Church’s relationship with Davis remained good for several years until the congregation entered a turbulent period. There was growing dissatisfaction with Davis on one hand and loyal devotion to him on the other.37 Since he was determined to stay, the only solution, after several
32
33 34 35 36 37
John A. Johnson, A History of the Swedish-Americans in Minnesota, vol. 1 (Chicago: Lewis Publishing, 1910), 236; Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years, 20–21.
Minnesskrift, 22.
Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years, 23.
Minnesskrift, 22.
Skandinaviska Ev. Fria Missions-församlingens Minnes-Album, 6.
Josephine Princell, J.G. Princells levnadsminnen (Chicago: J.V. Martensons Tryckeri, 1916), 198–199.
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attempts had been made to address the problems, was for “the discontented to leave.” In 1894 sixty members left to form a new church, and in the spring of that year, J.G. Princell, a prominent leader of the Free, was called as pastor of this new group from the “Davis church.”38 The new congregation took the name Temple Free Mission Church, later known as Central Evangelical Free Church.39
The departure of those who were discontented with Davis brought a season of peace and tranquility to his Twelfth Avenue Church, but the peace did not last for long. Two years later, when unrest broke out again, another split occurred, with thirty people leaving, this time with Davis.40 He and some followers started a new congregation, the Swedish Free Mission Church, later called Riverside Evangelical Free Church.41
Davis and Free Mission Friends
From the beginning August Davis was a leader in the general work of the Free Mission, later called the Swedish Evangelical Free Church of America. He participated regularly at mission meetings with others, including J.G. Princell, Fredrik Franson, John Martenson, and Loth Lindquist. In 1879 Davis attended the free-mission meeting at Altona, Illinois, in which Skogsbergh also took part.42 In February 1881 he participated in the mission meeting at Moline, Illinois, along with Princell, Martenson, and Franson, a meeting that discussed questions of church polity, the new birth, and Christ’s second coming.43 This led to his participation in the 1881 Chicago Prophecy Conference at Moody’s Chicago Avenue Church and Skogsbergh’s Mission Tabernacle, where Davis delivered a message titled “The Millennial Kingdom.”44
38 39 40 41
42 43
44
Ibid., 198;Chicago-Bladet, July 21, 1936.
Golden Jubilee, 132.
Minnesskrift, 133.
The church was located at 8th Street and 16th Avenue South, Minneapolis.Chicago-Bladet, September 23, 1902. Eventually the church relocated to 25th Avenue and 8th Street and affiliated with the Scandinavian Mission Society.
Chicago-Bladet, October 31, 1879.
Edvard P. Torjesen, A Study of Fredrik Franson: The Development and Impact of His Ecclesi- ology, Missiology, and Worldwide Evangelism(Ph.D. diss., International College, Pasadena, 1984), 150.
Chicago-Bladet, July 12, 1881; July 19, 1881.
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Davis’s attendance at meetings of Free Mission Friends between 1884 and 1903 was nearly perfect.45 At the 1884 Boone conference—the first of three ground-laying meetings of the Free Mission—Davis was among those most active in the discussion. His emphasis on the Holy Spirit’s role in mission and revival was apparent. He declared:
… when the Spirit came upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, they were sitting! (Acts 2:2) But … they did not sit for long; there was soon a revival. The Spirit is not a feeling or an emotion of the mind but he is an unexplainable Divine Person who humankind has difficulty resisting when he really begins to move.46
Despite tensions between Davis and Skogsbergh, they participated together at such meetings as the 1885 meeting at Minneapolis.47However, the Free Mission Friends soon separated from Covenant Mission Friends when the Covenant formed later that year.48
In October 1885 at a meeting of the Free in Rockford, several topics were discussed regarding the Holy Spirit, including his personality, work, baptism, infilling, and leading.49 In the discussion, A.A. Anderson argued that it was biblical “for God’s children to become senseless and fall down powerless.”50He referred to 1Samuel 19:23–24 and 2Chronicles 7:3, urging those present to read these texts. He said that he was “often overwhelmed and would lose his physical strength and consciousness.”51
Davis agreed with Anderson that such things were entirely biblical. He said that he had been a believer himself for several years before he caught sight of this. The meeting’s minutes, published in Chicago-Bladet in 1885, record his testimony:
45 46 47 48
49 50 51
Minnesskrift, 11–54.
Chicago-Bladet, November 11, 1884.
Ibid., Apr. 21, 1885.
Lindberg describes resistance on the part of C.A. Björk and F.M. Johnson to admit him to the Congregationalist “Risberg School” because it was reported to them that he used “to kneel, placing his hands on people and pray that they might be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Later he was allowed to matriculate. Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years, 24–25. Chicago-Bladet, September 1, 1885.
Ibid., October 20, 1885.
Ibid.
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[Davis] had often heard how those of the world, and some Christians, called such behavior disorderly, and wondered why God’s children would not behave properly. He had started to search God’s Word on this subject and discovered such behavior was actually justified. Then he prayed to God that he might experience such blissful experiences himself. And it happened one morning in Galesburg [Illinois] during prayer to God. [Davis] claimed that at that moment he experienced heavenly bliss and could do nothing other than utter unintelligible sounds which frightened all those who were in the house. Then another time during an evening meeting in Missouri, he said that he experienced such power that it was as if it would carry his prayer straight up to heaven. Later he often had such blissful experiences; at times it had felt as though his chest would burst. Sometimes the mouth was drawn closed, and it was as if his face shone brightly. Such experiences could not be of the devil.52
In his effort to demonstrate the biblical basis for such phenomena, Davis referred to Psalm 126, which states: “We were like those who dreamed” and “Our tongues were filled with laughter.”53He claimed that “this justified the laughter of God’s children,” saying:
Laughter, nevertheless, was laughter [or ridicule]. Some complained that this disrupted the meeting, but they did not seem to care when several others sat and nodded off, sleeping during the sermon. Furthermore, the scriptures say: “Drink and roar as if drunk with wine,” [Zech. 9:15] and “drunk” really meant to become drunk. In Ezekiel 3, it says that the Lord’s hand was strong upon the prophet and that he became speechless for seven days. [Davis] recalled, furthermore, that Daniel came so far that no spiritwasgreaterthaninhim[Dan.4:8–18].Paulhadsuchexperiencestoo … When Paul was caught up to the third heaven, he heard unspeakable words which (according to the English Bible) are “unlawful for some- one to utter on earth” [2Cor. 12:4]. One man who claimed often to have heard heavenly music, once said that this would be difficult to translate.
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53
Ibid. Compare the testimony by Glenn A. Cook in 1906 in which he describes how “his whole torso seemed about to burst.” Grant Wacker, Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture (Cambridge, ma: Harvard University Press, 2001), 36. It is uncertain if Davis’s expression “utter unintelligible sounds” (utstöta orediga ljud) refers to speaking in tongues, but this may have well been the case.
Chicago-Bladet, October 20, 1885.
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However, all phenomena like these were not of such a pure nature! Much of the dross that has appeared must be cleared away.54
Many who attended the Free Mission meetings “were encouraged and awak- ened to a warmer, spiritual life.” At times, however, “rather strange things would happen.”55The memoirs of J.G. Princell report:
At times there were excesses. At meetings people were revived, filled with joy, and blessed—and not in the least the preachers. This was good and well, but when emotions took over, some began to shout and fall to the floor, being overwhelmed which brought ridicule from the unsaved who made fun of those who lay by the platform, rolling from side to side, shouting, laughing and weeping in turn. There were preachers who began to insist on the teaching that nothing was genuine or spiritual if it was not accompanied by such manifestations.56
Even though these radical Free Mission Friends—the Free-Free—became known for their excesses, they were appreciated for their pursuit of holiness and disdain for worldliness.57
In Princell’s memoirs, the Free-Free were compared to the Montanists, who appeared at the end of the second century. This sect, founded by Montanus, taught that the millennial kingdom was about to be established and that they alone of all Christians were inspired and led by the Spirit.58 The Montanists were zealous for a pure life, sought to separate themselves from all worldli- ness, and denied themselves all earthly comforts. Princell’s memoirs state: “At their worship services they went to the sorts of excesses that were common and still occur now and then among some Free Friends—excesses such as fainting, hooting, and hollering. And all this was alleged to be the work of the Spirit.”59
Despite the fact that the Free-Free who rallied around Davis were often given to such demonstrations, and while the Free who gathered around Prin-
54
55 56 57 58 59
Ibid. Similar phenomena are described by William H. Durham and Swedish Pentecostals. Wacker, Heaven Below, 37–44.
Princell, J.G. Princells levnadsminnen, 175.
Ibid., 176.
Ibid.
Ibid., 176–177.
Ibid., 177.
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cell and Martenson were more conservative, Princell took the position of a mediator.60 At a Free Mission meeting held at North Star Hall in Chicago in October 1886, the issue of excesses came up for discussion following a “noisy edification meeting” attended by such preachers as August Davis, A.A. Ander- son, C.O. Sahlström, C.W. Peterson, P.G. Lantz, and others associated with the Elim Free Mission—all of whom claimed to have experienced the baptism of the Spirit subsequent to saving faith.61Princell’s memoirs state:
After the sermon there were many who requested prayer, both unsaved and believers who felt their need for more joy and peace in God. During the after-meeting, some began to shout and scream so that others were frightened by the noise. On the following morning at the discussion meet- ing, the question came up, “How should preachers and believers generally conduct themselves in services, in preaching, as well as in their personal and public lives, in a way that promotes unity and brotherly love among God’s children, and prevents extremes that might cause division?”62
Because there were already serious differences of opinion on the matter, this question needed to be addressed among the Free. Some people condemned without qualification such extremes as evil, others considered these manifes- tations a work of the Spirit, and others were not sure one way or another.63 Princell introduced the topic, and in a thought-provoking lecture he called attention to the dangers of such doctrines that quench love among God’s chil- dren and form a partisan attitude at the expense of unity among the brethren.64 “One can become so enamored by extremes and excesses that he makes them a shibboleth,” Princell said, “meaning that anyone who isn’t like him or doesn’t have the same view is without the Spirit.” Princell then exhorted the Free broth- ers to avoid extremes and admonished them toward unity, saying:
60 61
62 63 64
Ibid.
Princell, J.G. Princells levnadsminnen 178; Minnesskrift, 18–20, 79; Lindberg states that C.O. Sahlström, a pastor of the Mission Church in Princeton, Illinois, “was baptized with the Holy Spirit and began to preach sanctification.” Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years, 12–16. At Elim Free Mission, A.A. Anderson “received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.” A.A. Anderson, Twenty Years in the Wild West (Minneapolis: Free Church Publications, n.d.), 18.
Princell, J.G. Princells levnadsminnen, 178–179.
Ibid., 179.
Chicago-Bladet, November 30, 1886.
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Undue noise at public gatherings is nothing new. During the time I stud- ied here in Chicago—when I was 24 years old—I lived near a German church where both English and German were spoken and where they became so rowdy at times that they turned out the lights, took each other by the hand, and danced around. Surely this way of expressing joy was not the work of the Holy Spirit! Among us Swedes, such rowdy gatherings are more recent. This noise is not necessarily an evil, and may be over- looked as something that would do no harm. But it can also cause harm in that it can lead to absolute nonsense. The soul and body are weak and a human being can be overcome with emotion. For my part, I want to stand in a friendly and brotherly relationship with all God’s children, even with these brothers whose stormy demonstrations we have seen here. I would like to advise, however, not to judge too hastily but to consider whether these extremes are carried out with the aim of creating a new party, or whether the movement is temporary in nature. It’s possible to be so afraid of all expressions of life at a meeting—as when going along in a rut—that one rejects everything of this sort and brands it as evil, and this isn’t good either … You wouldn’t say it was wrong for a sinner who is overwhelmed by his sin to cry out. It’s another thing, however, when God’s children carry on as they did here last night, working themselves into a sort of frenzy. I don’t feel comfortable in such an environment and could notice a cooling down of the warmth and spiritual depth that characterized the first part of the meeting. I would advise common sense, moderation, and avoiding anything that might cause harm … We have spoken about different gifts of the Spirit and different degrees of the filling of the Spirit. Neverthe- less, I would like to ask the brethren who believe that they have received a greater measure of the Spirit that they, in this regard, don’t become too cocky.Foritmightsohappenthatapersonwouldconsiderhimselfsospir- itually rich that he becomes like those who attain material riches—they don’t want to have anything to do with the poor … In regard to ecstasies, the Scriptures speak of individual persons having such experiences but never a congregation. Jesus never commanded such an experience, nor did the apostles. They experienced it, but they did not rank it as one of the highest gifts. We must remember that we all need one another. On one side, there’s the danger of becoming stale, and on the other side, the danger of going to excesses. God’s children need to have among them- selves both the quiet and the rousing gifts. May all members serve one another.65
65
Princell, J.G.Princellslevnadsminnen, 179–180. The Swedish wordhänryckningis translated
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In this statement, Princell encouraged the Free to avoid extremes, to strive for unity, and to accept one another. He expressed openness to the work of the Spirit, even ecstasies, but the need to exercise caution regarding anything that would bring harm to their fellowship.
In the report published in Chicago-Bladet, Princell mentioned Davis by name, saying:
A few years ago when brother Davis’s ministry began to create a lot of noise on the Southside, I feared that it might lead to excesses but I figured that brother Davis would yield to God’s leading and God would show him and others if there were some things that might be considered dangerous. And I do not think such practices on the Southside are so bad, but if this ends up becoming a partisan thing, then it is time to take action against it. This was this speaker’s position, when I tried to mediate so that God’s children would stay together.66
While several others shared views of the “noisy after-meeting,” Davis had his turntospeakaswell.Heconfessedthathehadbeenresponsibleforintroducing this among the Swedes, and even so, he did not regret it.67He said: “The people themselves did not seek this but if anything did happen, it came from God’s Spirit.”68Davis explained that a preacher can preach so that people “merely sit and sleep without any further conviction.” He continued:
I had preached once to a crowd … and then the Spirit came upon me, so that I had to take a seat in a chair so as not to fall to the floor. Someone can also tell stories and get people to cry, but this does not affect lasting change. I would not want us to go to excesses but neither do I believe in a Spirit who does not awaken emotions. Neither do I wish to scream but I cannot help myself when God’s Spirit takes over. I would not advise anyone to seek such, but to enter the work so that your heart widens continually and is never too crowded to receive the blessing, for then it is possible, and when this happens you will receive so much. I emphasize
66 67 68
as ecstasy, trance, or vision. The Greek wordekstasis, translated in Swedish ashänryckning, is used in Acts 10:10, 11:5, and 22:17 of Peter’s and Paul’s visions in which they see and hear a message from God.
Chicago-Bladet, November 30, 1886.
Ibid., December 7, 1886.
Ibid.
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the Apostle’s words: “If we are ‘out of our mind,’ as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is to serve you.”69
C.O. Sahlström also attended the after-meeting the night before and expressed that he was sorry for how loud it was and how it had caused some people harm. As he reflected on the event, however, he stated that “others felt blessed by the after-meeting.”70 He mentioned the joy on the day of Pentecost; when the disciples spoke with different tongues, some people were amazed, while others mocked. He said that much grace was needed to discern the matter correctly. He agreed that indeed there are frauds, but that such frauds should be opposed. He stated, “As brothers we ought to deal with each other as Rom. 14 speaks of accepting the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters, etc.” Sahlström said that he would not want anyone to be offended, but that each brother should extend grace, to the one who speaks quietly and to the other who speaks loudly.71
August Davis was not merely active among the Free, but after the Free orga- nized their home and foreign mission more formally in 1890, he was elected president the following year, while Princell served as vice-president and Mar- tenson as treasurer.72 In addition to serving as a leader of the Free Mission, Davis was also a composer whose songs and hymns were sung by the Free and others alike.
In 1891 Davis published the songbookHerde-rösten(The Shepherd’s Voice).73 This songbook was devoted to revival and edification. A second edition fol- lowed in 1894. A songbook with musical score appeared in 1892, and another edition with accompaniment for guitar was published in 1902.74The songbook contained several songs about the Holy Spirit.
As a leader of Free Mission Friends in Minnesota, Davis approved of women preachers and arranged that they might secure the clergy fare on railroads. He held that “if a girl could play guitar, it was taken as a sure sign that God had called her to preach.”75 These female evangelists—at least fifty active—sold
69 70 71 72 73
74 75
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Minnesskrift, 17, 34, 42.
August Davis, Herde-rösten. En samling af kärnfriska och lifliga sånger egnade för väckelse och uppbyggelse(Minneapolis: August Davis, 1891). Herde-röstenwas used for many years in Free congregations.Chicago-Bladet, June 23, 1936.
August Davis, Herde-rösten. Till guitar (Minneapolis: August Davis, 1902).
Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years, 58.
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Davis’s songbooks and took subscriptions for his periodical Sanning och Ljus, which was also published in English under the titleTruth and Light.76
The Scandinavian Mission Society
As a leader of the Free Mission, Davis, who lived in Minneapolis, put his stamp on the Freeof Minnesota.77Axel Mellander, writing to P.P.Waldenström around 1890, described the Davis movement thus:
A certain August Davis who is now pastor of the Free church in Min- neapolis is the leader of a special faction among the Free whom we call the “Free-Free.” He pushes the doctrine of perfection to an extreme and communicates the Holy Spirit through the imposition of hands. The pro- cedure is as follows: The assembled carry on for hours with loud out- cries and strenuous gestures. The preacher lays his hands on them and breathes on them. Then [the assembled] fall on the floor, are seized by convulsions, weep, laugh, thrash around, kick, etc. Much unpleasantness has been caused by this turmoil. Princell and Martenson do not approve of this disorder but have not done much to stop it. Furthermore, Davis probably has as much influence among the Free, as Princell and Marten- son.78
In 1889, August Davis and others organized the Scandinavian Mission Society of Minnesota.79 During a six-day meeting that began November 27 and was held at the original “Davis church” on Twelfth Avenue, organizers proposed the name, purpose, and bylaws for membership, as well as rules for the board of directors. P.J. Löfgren of Minneapolis, an early supporter of Davis, was elected president.
The Minnesota society founded by Davis and others was actually the first formal society of the Free.80But since the Scandinavian Mission Society leaders promoted and practiced pentecostal phenomena, affirmed female evangelists,
76
77 78 79 80
Originally it was called Sanning och Frihet but later Davis changed the name to Sanning och Ljus.Chicago-Bladet, June 23, 1936; Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years, 58–59. Johnson, History of the Swedish-Americans, 236.
Waldenström, ed., “Handlingar,” 60–61, cited in K. Olsson, By One Spirit, 331.
Chicago-Bladet, February 11, 1890.
Ibid., 51.
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and promoted itinerant preachers over resident pastorates, the Free Mission Friends viewed Davis and the Society as “no longer in full harmony with the Free Mission work.”81
When thesecondFree Mission’s District Society of Minnesota—known later as the North Central District of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church—was formed in 1907, E.A. Halleen was elected president. Halleen later recalled mem- ories of Davis—even embittered memories.82 Halleen said, “I recall when … [Davis] publicly condemned me to hell, a woman got so blessed she fell off a chair to the floor.”83 From his personal experience with Davis, Halleen devel- oped a critical opinion of him.84He described him later as “an unusually gifted and progressive preacher” as well as “the giant that could have been.”85Halleen acknowledged Davis’s giftedness in the pulpit, his strong spirit, and his great capacity for leadership, but despite these, he never attained such prominence because he “was governed by emotions more than by thinking.”86 He claimed that rather than discerning and reasoning matters through, Davis would often “jump to conclusions and then suffer the consequences.” He concluded that Davis “became a man that fed more on gall than on honey.”87
At the turn of the century, Davis maintained his distinct views of the Holy Spirit. At a meeting of Free Mission Friends in Boone, Iowa, in June of 1901, the question was raised, “What does it mean to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matt. 3:11)? Are Spirit-baptism and fire-baptism the same? If not, what is the difference?”88A.L. Stone, who submitted the question, said that he did so for his own benefit but also believed that it would be of benefit to others. He said: “One often hears, for example, the prayers of some people who pray to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” He explained that “there were
81 82 83 84
85 86 87
88
Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years, 58, 60, 66.
E.A. Halleen,Sunshine and Shadow(Chicago: The Evangelical Beacon, n.d.), 99–100. Ibid.
Davis served the Twelfth Avenue church as pastor from 1884 to 1896, C.O. Sahlström from 1896 to 1903, and E.A. Halleen from 1904 to 1917.
Golden Jubilee, 21–22.
Halleen,Sunshine and Shadow, 100.
Ibid., 142. For example, when some of Skogsbergh’s students visited the Twelfth Avenue Church, Davis, seeing them sitting against the wall, remarked: “Look here, you Skogs- bergh’s boys, that’s as close to heaven as you’ll ever get.” P. Anderson, A Precious Heritage, 139.
Chicago-Bladet, July 16, 1901. Cf. Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition: Charis- matic Movements in the Twentieth Century (Grand Rapids, mi: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997), 52–58.
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some African-Americans in Chicago who asked that God would baptize them with a baptism of fire.”89The first to respond to the question was August Davis, who said:
I would like to read Matt. 3:10–11 “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” John [the Baptist] speaks about a people for whom he came to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. He did this by preaching about repentance and baptism. The same people who were baptized with water would then be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire. I know well enough that some people try to distinguish between these two and hold thatbaptismoffiredealswiththewicked.ButIbelievethatSpirit-baptism and fire-baptism are the same because on the day of Pentecost there came tongues of fire, as we read, when the Spirit was poured out upon them.90
The discussion that followed among the Free was generally against Davis’s view. Most interpreted the “baptism of fire” as for the wicked, as did John Martenson, who concluded by saying: “John baptized in water to repentance and the one who repents and believes in Jesus is then baptized with the Spirit. Those who persist in sin and unbelief will know soon enough the baptism of fire.”91
In 1913 Davis published the bookLifvet i andens fullhet, a Swedish translation of The Spirit-Filled Life by John MacNeil, an author influenced by the Keswick movement.92 At the end of Davis’s version, he included the Swedish song “Let the Spirit Fall!”
Davis and Emerging Free Mission Pentecostals
When the Scandinavian Mission Society of Minnesota incorporated on Decem- ber 6, 1898, the name was changed to the Scandinavian Mission Society of the
89 90 91 92
Chicago-Bladet, July 16, 1901.
Ibid. Emphasis in original.
Ibid.
John MacNeil, Lifvet i andens fullhet, trans. Gustaf Bergström (Minneapolis: August Davis Förlag, 1913); John MacNeil, The Spirit-Filled Life (Chicago: Moody Press, 1894). For Kes- wick’s influence on Pentecostalism, see Anderson,Spreading Fires, 22–25.
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u.s.a.93 Davis served as chairman and was succeeded by John Thompson.94 William Melin, secretary, and P. Berglöv served as editors of the journal of the society, Bref-dufvan, which was published from 1909 to 1933.95
John Thompson, who succeeded Davis, served as pastor of the Swedish Free Mission in Moorhead, Minnesota, for twenty-three years.96 He attended meetings of the Free Mission Friends such as the 1894 Minneapolis meeting, at which he participated in the discussion with August Davis, Loth Lindquist, C.O. Sahlström, John Martenson, J.G. Princell, and others.97
John Thompson became pastor at the Free Mission in Moorhead in 1899.98 This congregation, later named Moorhead Evangelical Free Church, had had visiting itinerant preachers since 1880, but it was organized on March 23, 1883, as an independent congregation called the Scandinavian Christian Soci- ety.99 During its early period, the congregation was served by several itinerant preachers, including A.A. Anderson and John Thompson, who were closely associated with Davis.100
93
94
95
96 97
98
99 100
Minnesota records of incorporation were filed December 21, 1898. Cf. Chicago-Bladet, November 22, 1898.
Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years, 58, 62–63. In 1907, “on the basis of testimony heard” at a meeting concerning August Davis, the brothers found him not qualified to serve in the Scandinavian Mission Society.Chicago-Bladet, November 10, 1907. Davis continued in the publishing business and travelled as an itinerant preacher. The exact reason for Davis’s removal is not recorded, but certainly there were reasons, such as E.A. Halleen’s statement that he became “a man that fed more on gall than on honey.”
Lindberg,LookingBackFiftyYears, 62–63. William Melin attended the Swedish Evangelical Free Mission meeting in Minneapolis, June 6–10, 1900. The periodical Bref-Dufvan adver- tised Pingströrelsen och dess förkunnelse by A.A. Holmgren, published in 1919 by S.V. Pub- lishing House in Minneapolis. One chapter deals with “speaking in tongues in light of the Bible’s teaching.”Bref-Dufvan, January 1920.
Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 218.
Minnesskrift, 50–51. For Thompson’s part in the discussion, see Chicago-Bladet, Novem- ber 27, 1894. Among the questions were: “What do the Holy Scriptures mean by the expres- sion: ‘be baptized in the Holy Spirit?’ … What is the biblically correct and Christian thing to do with respect to discovering which of the Spirit’s gifts exist within the congregations …?”Minnesskrift, 50–51. Loth Lindquist, originally a Methodist preacher from Iowa who joined the ranks of the Free and chaired the discussion at the 1884 meeting in Boone, Iowa, eventually joined the Pentecostals. Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years, 49. 1883–1958, Diamond Jubilee, Evangelical Free Church, Moorhead, Minnesota, 1958, in Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 216.
Golden Jubilee, 141.
Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 218; Lindberg, Looking Back Fifty Years, 34–35.
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In the early years, the Moorhead Free Mission “experienced a period of revival, during which many people accepted Christ, received bodily healing and spoke in tongues.”101 John Thompson’s son, Peter B. Thompson, described the 1903 revival in Pentecostal Evangel:
God graciously poured out His Spirit with signs following. Many received the glorious Baptism in the Holy Ghost speaking in other tongues as the Spirit of God gave utterance. At that time we had not heard of any other places having received a like experience, but later we heard of people in California and Winnipeg, Canada, having received a like precious out- pouring of the Holy Spirit … Praise God, the spirit of revival was mani- fested in every service. Unsaved souls became sin conscious, and both old and young began to cry out to God for mercy. It brought consternation into the minds of lukewarm and backslidden church members of other denominations who, having heard of the phenomenal outpouring of the Holy Spirit, came to see and scoff, but, feeling the supernatural power of God manifested, many stayed to pray.102
In addition to serving the Free Mission at Moorhead, in 1906 John Thompson became pastor of the Free Mission in Enderlin, North Dakota, traveling there once or twice a month. He continued to serve as pastor at Moorhead until 1910, whenherelocatedtoDetroitLakes,Minnesota,servingtheFreeMissionchurch there as well as the Free Mission church at Lake Eunice.103 In 1915 he returned as pastor of the Moorhead Free Mission and served there until 1927.104 In that year, the Moorhead congregation decided to ask the Swedish Evangelical Free Church for financial assistance and to supply a full time minister. However, Thompson and others in the congregation opposed uniting with the Free since by this time the Swedish Evangelical Free Church had taken a position against speaking in tongues and pentecostal theology of the Holy Spirit.105 Thompson and others withdrew and began attending the newly organized Fargo Gospel Tabernacle—later called First Assembly of God.106
101 102
103
104 105 106
Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 12.
Peter B. Thompson, “Pentecostal Outpouring of Thirty-four Years Ago,”Pentecostal Evangel (November 27, 1937), 8, in Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 12–13, 216.
The Evangelical Beacon 9, no. 12 (March 5, 1940), 13; Chicago-Bladet, February 27, 1940; Golden Jubilee, 119.
Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 217.
Golden Jubilee, 39–40.
1883–1958, Diamond Jubilee, Moorhead, Minnesota, in Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 13.
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In the book Northern Harvest, Darrin J. Rodgers suggests that the first pen- tecostal missionary from America was Mary Johnson, who was raised at the Swedish Free Mission in Moorhead. At age nineteen she began working with Ida Anderson.107 In November 1904, the two women attended the annual Free MissionmeetingatLakeEunice,Minnesota,whereJohnsonwasbaptizedinthe Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues.108The two women then sensed that God was callingthem as missionaries toSouth Africa,and those at the LakeEunicemeet- ing encouraged them to heed God’s call.109The two women set out in faith and arrived in Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal on January 16, 1905, with funding through the Scandinavian Mission Society of theu.s.a.110They established a mission at Filipi, near Port Shepstone.111
Rodgers also identifies Jacob O. Bakken of Audubon, Minnesota, as probably the first at that location to be Spirit-baptized and speak in tongues.112 Bakken and his brother Olaf traveled to numerous communities in Minnesota, where they held house meetings and preached the message of salvation. These broth- ers, as well as their sister Anna and their mother, Mary, all of whom were active in the burgeoning pentecostal movement, were members of the Scandinavian Mission Society u.s.a., and were present at society meetings with Davis and Thompson.113Itinerant preachers of the Society continued to work among con- gregations in west central Minnesota, including Alexandria, Audubon, Detroit Lakes, Evansville, Fergus Falls, Lake Eunice, and Moorhead, where reports tied them with the early pentecostal movement.114Peter Thompson wrote:
107
108
109 110
111 112 113 114
Naemi Reinholdz, “En Guds plöjersak: Mary Johnsons liv och verksamhet,” Trons Segrar, in Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 13–14. Ida Anderson was from the Swedish Evangelical Free Church in Kost and later joined Davis’s Twelfth Avenue Church in Minneapolis. Golden Jubilee, 118.
Reinholdz, “En Guds plöjersak,” in Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 13–14. William Melin wrote: “God’s Spirit came upon sister J[ohnson] in such power that she was beside herself for a long time. But God’s power not only came upon her greatly—when the Spirit of God came over her—but upon the whole meeting.”Bref-Dufvan, April 1918.
Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 217; Bref-Dufvan, April 1918.
Bref-Dufvan, December 1909; Reinholdz, “En Guds plöjersak” in Rodgers,NorthernHarvest, 13–14.
Bref-Dufvan, April 1918.
Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 5.
Chicago-Bladet, December 5, 1905; July 17, 1906; Bref-Dufvan, December 1909. Bref-Dufvan, December 1909; Rodgers,Northern Harvest, 5–6, 59–60. The “Free-Free Move- ment” is described among Norwegian congregations in Minnesota as well. Elias Aas, The Pioneer Pastor: Highlights from the Life and Work of Rev. Elias Aas 1885–1941, trans. Leif H. Awes (Minneapolis: Free Church Press, n.d.), 215–218.
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Many received the glorious Baptism in the Holy Ghost speaking in other tongues as the Spirit of God gave utterance … This revival was not con- fined to my father’s church, but it spread like a prairie fire, and the Holy Spirit began to fall in other churches of the Scandinavian Free Mission, a small band of Christians missionary-minded, until it spread throughout this northwestern part of Minnesota as well as adjoining states.115
Conclusion
August Davis and the Free-Free taught the baptism of the Spirit as an experi- ence subsequent to saving faith. They held after-meetings for divine healing, preached holiness, and spoke in tongues. In regards to the Davis movement, Erik Brolund accurately observed: “while it arose within the Free Mission, it was not all the Free Mission.”116
The Free-Free practiced a form of radical Pietism that could be described as emerging Pentecostalism.117This is seen in August Davis, P.G. Lantz, C.O. Sahl- ström, A.A. Anderson, Frank Lindberg, John Thompson, Mary Johnson, and Jacob Bakken. Thus, Arnold T. Olson said: “It is doubtful that all of the pioneers [of the Free] would be accepted in our churches today. Some preached ‘a sec- ond blessing’ and some even practiced speaking in tongues.”118
August Davis died on May 28, 1936.119His funeral was held at the Free Mission Church on 25th Avenue in Minneapolis.120 The funeral message was delivered by Gustaf F. Johnson from the Swedish Covenant Tabernacle, and words of
115
116
117
118 119 120
Peter B. Thompson, “A Pentecostal Outpouring of Thirty-Four Years Ago,” Pentecostal Evangel (November 27, 1937), 8.
Brolund, Missions-vännerna, 112. The more conservative element of the Free, the Evan- gelical Free Mission, had more success than the Free-Free and the Scandinavian Mission Society of the u.s.a. and mostly absorbed the more radical brethren. Johnson, History of the Swedish-Americans, 236.
Roger E. Olson argues that Pietism and Pentecostalism are cousins and that “Pietism forms a much neglected but very important part of the ‘parental inheritance’ or ‘ancestral line’ of Pentecostalism and Pentecostalism is, in part at least, a descendent of Pietism.” Olson, “Pietism and Pentecostalism,” 320.
A. Olson,The Significance of Silence, 151.
Chicago-Bladet, June 23, 1936.
Although originally associated with the Scandinavian Mission Society of the u.s.a., the 25th Avenue church by this time had affiliated with the Swedish Evangelical Free Church.
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testimony were offered by Frank Lindberg of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church and William Melin of the Scandinavian Mission Society.121
Davis began his work among the Free at a time when few of the Swedish Free congregations had their own preacher and most were served by itinerant preachers. This was a time of revival when people in these churches “were glad to testify, pray, sing, and praise God with a loud voice, yes, to ‘rejoice in the living God.’”122 This was a time for those “who had not experienced the blessing of Spirit-baptism” to do so “through intercession during after-meetings,” to pray for believers who desired prayer, and “to fall on their knees in prayer.”123
The Free-Free desired to serve God wholly, to observe what was written in the Scriptures, and to engage in home and foreign missions. It certainly appears that the revival meetings of the Davis movement at Elim Free Mission in Chicago and the Twelfth Avenue Church in Minneapolis led directly to devel- opments within the Scandinavian Mission Society of theu.s.a.and to its early associations with Swedish Pentecostalism. The streams of Swedish Pietism, free Methodism, American premillennialism, and Keswickianism converge in Davis to inform his pentecostal impulse.124 The Davis movement appears to be one impulse that birthed a distinctly pentecostal form of Christianity, arising within the Free though not all the Free.
121 122 123 124
Chicago-Bladet, June 23, 1936.
Minnesskrift, 22.
Ibid.
Cf. Donald W. Dayton, Theological Roots of Pentecostalism (Grand Rapids, mi: Baker Aca- demic, 1987).
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