Race And The Assemblies Of God

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 32 (2010) 431-473

Joe Newman, Race and the Assemblies of God Church: The Journey from Azusa Street to the Miracle of Memphis (Youngstown, NY: Cambria Press, 2007). ix + 225 pp., $ 99.95 hardcover.

Racism is one of the important and often neglected dimensions of American Pentecostal history. Racism was an influence behind many important developments in early Pentecos- talism such as the relationship between Charles F. Parham and William J. Seymour, the rise and decline of Azusa Street Revival, the theological controversies, and the prominence of C. H. Mason, the Church of God in Christ, and the origins of the Assemblies of God. There are works that address some of these issues such as Walter Hollenweger, Pentecostal- ism (1997); Iain MacRobert, The Black Roots and White Racism of Early Pentecostalism in the USA (1988); Douglas Jacobsen, Thinking in the Spirit (2003); David Michel, Telling the Story: Black Pentecostals in the Church of God (2000); Ithiel C. Clemmons, Bishop C. H. Mason and the Roots of the Church of God in Christ (1996); Vinson Synan, The Holiness Pentecostal Tradition (1997); and Cecil M. Robeck, The Azusa Street Mission and Revival (2006). In each work, only one chapter or one or two aspects are discussed without giving sufficient attention to the topic of racism. Iain MacRobert’s remains the most expansive treatment of the influence of racism in Pentecostalism though it is limited to early history of the movement. American Pentecostalism needs historical works that gives adequate attention to the influence of racism from the Azusa Street Revival to post-Civil Rights developments such as the Memphis Miracle and the split between Kenneth Hagin and Fred Price.

Joe Newman’s Race and the Assemblies of God Church provides an expansive historical account of racism in American Pentecostalism. Newman chronicles the influence of rac- ism in early Pentecostalism and racism in one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in America. He contends, “Tat the evidence indicates that some key Assemblies of God leaders deliberately attempted to exclude African Americans from full participation in the denomination because they were racist and did not want to desegregate the ministerial ranks or the local churches” (6). Beyond the historical events in early Pentecostalism that led to the founding of the Assemblies of God church, Newman addresses how early Pen- tecostals transcended and yet capitulated to the racism of American culture. He also inter- rogates events that led to the meeting at Hot Springs Arkansas and the establishment of the Assemblies of God as an intentionally segregated movement within Pentecostalism from the 1920s to the 1970s.

Te text is carefully documented and organized into seven chapters. Te chapters explore pre-twentieth century roots of Pentecostalism; theological foundations of Pente- costalism; the founders (Parham and Seymour); separation and formation of the Assem- blies of God; efforts to preserve racial segregation within the denomination; the Assemblies of God and the Civil Rights Movement; and the miracle of Memphis. In fact, Newman situates the Assemblies of God response to race through four phases beginning in 1919 and moving to the present day. Te first three chapters follow the historical trajectory established by the aforementioned histories of Pentecostalism. However, Newman devi- ates from some of these histories in that he provides a more inclusive history of American Pentecostalism, especially one that explores African American contributions. Two exam-

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010 DOI: 10.1163/157007410X533987

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 32 (2010) 431-473

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ples should illustrate the point. First, his discussion of the pre-twentieth century roots of Pentecostalism is important because “Pentecostalism is deeply rooted in the religion and experiences of slaves, establishment of the African American church, and nineteenth-cen- tury currents in American religious history” (34). Acknowledging both the African and European American roots is a critical component of a project that seeks to examine the intersection of these traditions in Pentecostalism. Second, both Seymour and Mason’s attempts to integrate whites and resist the racist social mores of America are discussed. For example, Newman juxtaposes Mason’s “deliberate efforts to construct a truly integrated Pentecostal organization” (78) against the leaders at the Hot Springs meeting that repre- sented a deliberate attempt to construct a segregated Pentecostal organization.

Chapters four through seven focus on the Assemblies of God church. I found three compelling contributions. First, Newman documents the internal rationale for exclusion by E. N. Bell and J. Roswell Flower, which include recommending blacks to seek ordina- tion with the Church of God in Christ. Interestingly, Newman also discloses the racist attitudes of key leaders in the Assemblies of God. In particular, the article published in the Pentecostal Evangel in the 1940s entitled “Our Colored Brethren” is emblematic of racist views toward African Americans. Tird, the text demonstrates the irony of the fact that in the Civil Rights era “Te Assemblies of God changed its position on racial prejudice and discrimination only when the prevailing social attitude changed as well” (145). In this instance, Newman’s work demonstrates that the Assemblies of God church followed the social mores of American culture and not biblical, theological, or spiritual convictions for both segregation and desegregation.

Such a sorted history raises critical questions about the theology and spirituality of the Assemblies of God during this time. As such, Race and the Assemblies of God is an impor- tant work because it provides an honest history of an American Pentecostal denomination that practiced racism and segregation for much of its existence. On the other hand, I am deeply suspicious of the title. Te text documents the history and influence of racism and not race per se. I question why the author and or publisher misrepresented or worse yet softened the history under examination by using the title Race and the Assemblies of God instead of Racism and the Assemblies of God. In conclusion, this work opens the door for historians, theologians, ethicists, biblical scholars, and sociologists of religion to further interrogate the history of racism in American Pentecostalism.

Reviewed by Lewis Brogdon

Director of Black Church Studies Program Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

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