A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
added a Pentecostal paragraph. 188
In recent years, both Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal
scholars have urged Pentecostals to resist the “evangelicalization”
of their movement and instead draw inspiration
and guidance from their own unique identity,
experience, and theology. In arguing for a “distinctive
Pentecostal self-understanding” in theology and spirituality,
Steven Land has asserted, “Pentecostalism cannot and
should not be simply identified with a rationalist or
scholastic type of evangelicalism. Further, it cannot, without
fundamental alteration and accommodation, be
assimilated into any and every Christian denomination
without eventually bringing fundamental changes.” 189
The Oneness movement has not been immune to the
motivators for change that we have discussed, although
its theological isolation has served to minimize the third
factor. Consequently, Oneness Pentecostals have preserved
more of the doctrinal approach, experience, worship,
and lifestyle of the early Pentecostals than
Trinitarian Pentecostals have.
First of all, regarding doctrine, it is true that the
Oneness views of the Godhead and the new birth were a
development in the second decade of the Pentecostal
movement. They were a logical progression of the earliest
Pentecostal thought, however, and in many cases the practical
emphasis and effect have been remarkably similar.
For example, Trinitarian Pentecostals today assume
that their doctrine of salvation is the same as that of the
early Pentecostals, but in practice many of them emphasize
a Baptist-style sinner’s prayer more than the baptism
of the Holy Ghost. While Parham, Seymour, and Durham
spoke of a person as being justified before receiving the
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