Decolonial Discourse on the Origins of the 20th Century American Pentecostal Movement

Abstract

Many church historians have done research on the foundation of the 20th century American Pentecostal Movement. However, these church historians have not used a decolonial discourse. This article is a decolonial discourse on the origins of the 20th century American Pentecostal Movement. The article assesses four prospects regarding the originator of the movement in order to conclude who can be observed as the true originator of the movement. The first likelihood discards a human contribution and only admits God or the supernatural as founder of the movement. The second likelihood is that the founder of the movement is Charles Parham. The third likelihood is that both Charles Parham and William Seymour are the originators of the movement, in what is termed an interracial theory. Finally, there is also the likelihood that the founder was an African-American, namely William Seymour. After the discussion of all four possibilities, this article concludes that William Seymour is the true originator of the 20th century American Pentecostal Movement. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate through a decolonial discourse the African-American origins of the 20th century American Pentecostal Movement and the implications thereof.