Abstract

This study presents the doctrine of Spirit baptism in terms of its historical derivation, contemporary application, critical evaluation, and constructive implications. ;From the historical standpoint, the Pentecostal notion of Spirit baptism is shown to be the direct ideological descendant of the Wesleyan idea of entire sanctification which was progressively modified by both Wesleyan and non-Wesleyan participants in the nineteenth century holiness movement. As a result of this historical modification, the "second blessing" of sanctification became the "subsequent experience" of Spirit baptism as based on the biblical depiction of Pentecost. It was the addition of the doctrine of "evidence," formulated and accepted by the radical elements of the holiness movement, that effectively "pentecostalized" the prevailing idea of Spirit baptism and launched the Pentecostal movement proper at the dawn of the twentieth century. ;In the Wesleyan and Keswick wings of traditional Pentecostalism and the Protestant and Catholic sectors of the new Pentecostalism, Spirit baptism is viewed as a universally desirable experience for Christians. However, the more precise theological definition of this experience and its practical application is subject to significant variation within the broad spectrum of contemporary American Pentecostalism. Most problematic is the identification of the proper place of glossolalia and the articulation of the relationship of Spirit baptism to conversion and the events of Christian initiation. ;In the face of a spreading emphasis on Pentecostal Spirit baptism in the circles of traditional Christianity, critical endeavors have sought to lock away the notion in the apostolic age, subsume it in conversion, exegetically discredit its proponents, and depict it as an idea that is divisive to the body of Christ. As a constructive response, the present writer suggests a pneumatology that takes proper account of both the objective aspects of faith and the requirements of the religious individual in an understanding of Spirit baptism which sees it as a charismatic work of the Spirit which provides the particularity of gift and enablement which preeminently subserves the eschatological mission of establishing the Kingdom of God