Oneness Pentecostalism, in its contemporary and historic forms, represents a successful, albeit radical expression of American Pentecostalism which recaptures the intensity of the earliest Pentecostal revivals and transforms this enthusiasm into a fully developed ritual worship and belief system centered in the unique understanding and experience of the "oneness" of God in the person of Christ. Oneness Pentecostalism has grown into a "third force" in American Pentecostalism, uniting over three-quarters of a million believers, roughly one-fifth of the entire movement. / This dissertation, presented in three sections, investigates the life and development of Oneness Pentecostalism as a religious and social movement by focusing on the movement's institutional development and religious "worldview." / Section one offers a historical overview of Oneness development from 1913 to 1916 which reveals a strong, self-conscious link between the extremes of Oneness practices and the faded intensity of the Azusa revival of a decade past. Recapturing this early millenarian zeal in the restored "revelation" of the person and name of Jesus, Oneness Pentecostals created a primitive alternative to the increasingly complex and stable trinitarian Pentecostal bodies. / Section two investigates institutional growth during the seventy year history of the Oneness movement. In its early revivalistic phase, Oneness Pentecostalism grew in an undifferentiated pattern, showing limited ministry strategy and organization. But with the emergence of the major Oneness, or Apostolic, organizations, the movement witnessed the appearance of a clear-cut missions strategy, the specialization of organizational and administrative structures, the appearance of diversified service agencies, and the blooming of educational concerns. / Section three examines the unique ethos of Oneness life and practice in four areas: the centrality of the divine "epiphany" in ritual worship, the theoretical framework rising from the act of worship and in turn reshaping the content and interpretation of this act, the role of the Oneness community (congregation) as an inclusive, independent social world, and the crisis of the Oneness community in the larger context of American society. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-09, Section: A, page: 2720. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75643 |
| Contributors | HOWELL, JOSEPH H., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 320 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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