Spirit-Filled Protestantism
Holiness-Pentecostal Revivals and the Making of Filipino Methodist Identity
By Luther Jeremiah Oconer
Foreword by David Bundy
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Imprint: Pickwick Publications
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About-
In Spirit-filled Protestantism, Luther Oconer shows how holiness- and Pentecost-themed revival meetings called culto Pentecostal helped form the development of Methodism in the Philippines. He focuses on these revival meetings, their theological content, and the spiritual culture they helped perpetuate. The resulting narrative provides a rich rendering of both male and female American Methodist missionaries, their Filipino counterparts, and their followers that both celebrates and critiques them. Oconer also offers a unique perspective on Philippine Protestantism, which has often been dismissed for being too intellectual and formal. He defies the stereotype by demonstrating how culto Pentecostal revivals, with their emphasis on holiness and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, made Methodism the most innovative and successful of all Protestant denominations in the country prior to the Second World War. Accordingly, Oconer's treatment explains why Methodism provided a fertile seedbed for the emergence of the Manila Healing Revival and, consequently, the rise of Pentecostalism in the Philippines in the 1950s. A long-awaited volume on the history of Methodism in the Philippines, Spirit-filled Protestantism allows us to discern why Pentecostal impulses continue to shape Filipino Methodist identity in the twenty-first century.
Endorsements & Reviews-
"This groundbreaking historical study broadens our understanding of Methodism in the Philippines. Luther Oconer's portrayal of holiness revivalism in its social contexts illumines how the local and the global intersected. It shows how Filipinos, women missionaries, and other participants together crafted a vigorous and influential faith. I recommend this book very highly, as a fine contribution to the expanding field of World Christianity."
—Dana L. Robert, Truman Collins Professor at Boston University
"Luther Oconer's book illuminates a hitherto unexplored side of the history of Methodism in the Philippines—how it was influenced by the culto Pentecostal. Hopefully, this new shaft of light will bring about a more benign understanding of culto Pentecostal as its misperceptions continue to cause cracks among the rank and file of Filipino Methodists. At the very least, Oconer's scholarly treatise should drive a more cerebral re-examination of the subject."
—Reynato S. Puno, Former Chief Justice of the Philippines
"A profitable, engaging, readable, and well-researched tour through the American holiness world, tracking the holiness/Pentecostal witness to India and thence to the Philippines. Filipino Methodism, Luther Oconer shows, was shaped and continues to be leavened by the culto Pentecostal. A must read for Methodists and especially United Methodists."
— Russell E. Richey, Dean Emeritus at Candler School
"Oconer's Spirit-Filled Protestantism is necessary reading for those interested in the development of Protestantism as a global phenomenon. This extremely engaging treatment traces the development of Philippine Methodism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Oconer's research recovers the historical and theological roots of culto Pentecostal revivalist missionaries, evangelists, and laity in the Philippines."
—Dr. Scott Kisker, Professor at United Theological Seminary
"In Spirit-filled Protestantism, Luther Oconer revises and revitalizes the history of the arrival of American holiness revivalism into the Philippine Islands via Methodist Episcopal missionaries. Following revival practices and doctrines as they made their way into the islands behind the American military and alongside the larger colonial project, Oconer re-narrates a tired and simplistic one-way story of western religious imperialism into a stirring drama of pan-Pacific 'Holy Spirit revival.' Tracing the movement and subsequent reconstructions of holiness thought, practice, and performance through revivals in India that spread to the Philippines, Oconer provides a full and convincing portrayal of Filipino intellectual, emotional, and institutional engagement with the religious offerings of the missionaries. This culto Pentecostal, which Oconer argues opened the space for Filipino participation in the global Pentecostal healing movement in the 1950's, became the kernel for the development of Filipino Methodist identities, practices, and schisms."
—Morris L. Davis, Associate Professor at Drew University
Contributors-
Luther Jeremiah Oconer
David Bundy
Bio(s)-
Luther Oconer is Assistant Professor of United Methodist Studies and Director of the Center for Evangelical United Brethren Heritage at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He is an ordained elder from the United Methodist Church in the Philippines.