Page 122 - History of Christianity - Student Textbook

Study Section 23: Neo-orthodox Ideas

23.1 Connect

As we move through the church ages, a new concept was introduced to the churches which lead
many churches astray. It was called Neo-orthodoxy. Basically the foundation of the new thought
was that the Bible was not actually the words of God, but it became the word of God to individuals as
they experienced it. It could mean different things to different people, depending on their own
experience. Instead of an objective book, the Bible became subjective to the whims of its readers.

This type of thinking has crept into our churches today. In a Bible study you might hear the teacher ask, “What
does this verse mean to you?” Various people give their views on what the verse means, then everyone thinks
about it, and it is left at that (It’s basically a sharing of common ignorance). The teacher does not share the
objective facts about what God wrote. Rather, everyone’s views are equally valid. This is a very dangerous
philosophy that prevails within the church. Let’s see how it came into being….

23.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to identify the main proponents of New-orthodoxy and define the
errant views of the philosophy.

2. The student should be able to see how God moves to counter false philosophies in various parts
of the world.

23.3 Charles Fox Parham, 1873-1929

Born in Muscatine, Iowa, Parham was converted in 1886 and enrolled to
prepare for ministry at Southwestern Kansas College, a Methodist
institution. After three years of study and bouts of ill health, he left school
to serve as a supply pastor for the Methodist Church (1893-1895). His
longing for the restoration of New Testament Christianity led him into an
independent ministry. Enamored with holiness theology and faith healing,
he opened the Beth-el Healing Home in 1898 and the Bethel Bible School two years
later in Topeka, Kansas.

Along with his students in January 1901, Parham prayed to receive this baptism in
the Holy Spirit (a work of grace separate from conversion). In the ensuing revival,
Parham and many of the students reported being baptized in the Spirit, thus forming
an elite band of end time missionaries (“the bride of Christ”), equipped with the
“Bible evidence” of speaking in tongues (not languages), and empowered to evangelize the world before the
imminent premillennial return of Christ.

As his “Apostolic Faith” movement grew in the Midwest, he opened a Bible school in Houston, Texas, in 1905.
There he influenced William J. Seymour, future leader of the significant 1906 Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles,
California.

His linkage of tongues (later considered by most Pentecostals to be “unknown” tongues rather than foreign
languages) with baptism in the Spirit became a hallmark of much Pentecostal theology and a crucial factor in the
worldwide growth of the movement. In addition, the revival he led in 1906 at Zion City, Illinois, encouraged the
emergence of Pentecostalism in South Africa.
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