AbstractOriginally published 1935.

AbstractOriginally published 1935.

AbstractThis article intends to analyse the spirituality of the Azusa Street Mission with a view to achieving two things. Firstly, I will draw attention to an emphasis that seems almost wholly ignored in studies of early Pentecostalism: the blood of Jesus. Secondly, while drawing attention to the considerable prominence of this Christological-soteriological motif within the discourse of Azusa Street, I will seek to find a context for it that might help to explain it. This context will be explored in biblical, spiritual, and racial terms.

AbstractFaith in the blood of Jesus appears to have been part of the woof and warp of the spirituality of the very earliest days of Pentecostalism. Taking Sunderland in 1908-9 as a case study, it seems that some more or less vocal and often highly dramatic demostration of faith in ‘the precious Blood’ was an essential part of the whole baptism in the Spirit experience. Tracing the prehistory and rather short-lived history of early Pentecostal ‘Blood- Mysticism’ I will here examine in some detail how it worked then and suggest that some components of it may also be of use today.

AbstractPentecostals and charismatics today are not known for placing great emphasis on the blood of Jesus, yet such was not always the case. Even a cursory reading of the popular literature produced by the earliest Pentecostals reveals that the atonement generally, and "the blood' in particular occupied a central place in their spirituality. Indeed, during the first two years of British Pentecostalism, the mere mention of 'the precious blood' appears to have had, for them, an almost magical power to make the devil flee and induce the experience of baptism in the Holy Spirit. In this thesis, I have attempted to tell the story of when and how this emphasis on the blood of Christ began and progressed, culminating in early British Pentecostalism. The claims of this piece of research are limited to demonstrating, firstly. that there was continuity. There is an identifiable tradition of this style of spirituality that passed from generation to generation, especially within Evangelicalism, which reached its apogee in the earlier years of Pentecostalism. Secondly. I demonstrate that there was change. The different forms that the tradition took in response to changing conditions are described and analysed and the gradual disappearance of the tradition from within Pentecostalism is noted with possible reasons being offered. I have concluded this thesis by pointing out, firstly. the part these findings could play in opening up a discussion of the Christological roots of Pentecostalism. This aspect of Pentecostal origins could speak into current debates about Pentecostal identity that draw much from its distinctive pneumatology but which presently see less that is distinctive or identity depicting in its Christology. Secondly. this piece of work supplies resources that may be found useful in the wider Evangelical debate about the atonement. One common objection raised against the doctrine of penal substitution is that it does not obviously point the way to the ethical or spiritual transformation of the individual. In this thesis. a significant body of evidence is presented that shows how many individuals, almost entirely subscribers to a penal view of the atonement found ways of making their atonement theology personally transformative. Thirdly, this thesis offers a collection of data that may be found useful by those researching the interaction between Christianity, especially in its more radical forms, and the cultural forces brought to bear upon it.