Literature & Pentecostalisms

I’ve been mulling over what Pentecostal literature will look like some day. Obviously, anyone can insert a Pentecostal character into any type of fiction or a Pentecostal can win the Pulitzer Prize after writing a book that has nothing to do with the Apostolic movement. That’s not what I mean.

I’m contemplating the specific sensibilities, the touchstones of our worldview, that would best exhibit our Apostolic subculture through quality fiction.

To do that I’ve been reading a fair amount of Jewish short stories, trying to both expose myself to new authors and discern what makes them Jewish (besides the fact that they are written by Jews). Similar to Catholic literature’s hallmarks, it seems these stories often become “Jewish” when they’re constructed around certain Hebrew rituals, holidays or ceremonies, distinct archetypes (the rabbi, king Solomon), specific settings (Jewish ghettos in the older stories, sections of NYC in the contemporary), or a Jewish cultural outlook (the ages-old persecution, Orthodox rules, the Talmud).

Through a Glass Darkly
So far, it’s proven to be an uncertain guide.

The contemporary Apostolic movement eschews most rituals (not that we don’t have our own unchanging traditions), special holidays (witness the slow growth of our Pentecost Sunday celebrations), and archetypes (with only 100 years of history, we have no archetypes, just caricatures—the firebreathing preachers, the undereducated redneck congregants, the dowdy Sunday school teachers), we do offer some fascinating settings (Youth Congress, Soulwinning Boot Camp, Bible schools, camp meetings) and an unexplored cultural milieu.

We’re ripe for a novel of social manners (something Jane Austen executed brilliantly within the tiered society of early 19^th century Britian), as there are so many little unwritten rules that transform us from hungry sinner to Holy Ghost-filled believer to jaded Professional Pentecostal if we’re not careful. Yet what exactly are those unwritten rules that an author could use to best illustrate our social manners?

There has to be a way for us to enter the literary hemisphere while still retaining our identity. Saul Bellow has done it for Jewish literature, Flannery O’Conner for Catholic fiction, and Marilynne Robinson has recently made Calvinism come alive in literature, so there’s no reason why we can’t create an entry point of our own.

Where Pentecostalisms Abound . . .
When I talk to Pentecostals about our identity, they instinctively start with the spiritual plane and the church building—services and altar calls and anointed singing—yet that’s not where most of us spend our time and energies each week; we spend it outside the church house, interacting with the physical world everyone else inhabits. Somehow, unless we are writing a satire on the workings of a church, we would have to offer a story that featured great characters, attractive settings, believable action, and still somehow exude our Pentecostal touchstones or, what I call, Pentecostalisms.

Penectostalisms are what we laugh at and weep over when someone just acted like us—but worse (better?). Besides our obvious fundamentalist doctrine and outward standards (and the pressures to conform to them), Pentecostalisms are also:

• Our faith in the moving of the Holy Ghost to perform any biblical miracle today.

• Talented musicians who can play any song ever written, but can’t read a note of music to save their life.

• A defensive mindset toward “the World” despite Scripture telling us “Greater is He that is in You…”

• Going out to eat after every service, rally, Bible quiz tournament, singspiration…

• Almost no understanding of religious terms (the Eucharist, liturgy, the Ascension), while intuitively understanding exactly what they mean and represent.

• A tremendous focus on winning the lost, with an amazing disinterest in discipleship.

• Insisting on calling it the “Holy Ghost” while the rest of the Christian world names it the “Holy Spirit.”

Don’t get upset at my short list. These contradictions are what makes us lovably human—the hallmark of all great literature.

Of course, this isn’t all, or even close to all, of what makes our subculture sparkle. What do you see as essential Pentecostalisms any social novel should include to properly create literature that is still uniquely ours? Some have spoken, but I’d love to hear even more.

Share your favorite Pentecostalisms and related stories won’t you? For the best list and /or funniest examples I'll give away some books or something equally worthy! Comment away!

Appendix A

Currently Reading: For the Relief of Unbearable Urges by Nathan Englander and Great Jewish Short Stories (Saul Bellow, editor).

Just Finished: Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje (He unveils beautiful images using only the most essential words, but the storyline failed to hold together.)

Best Author Blog of the Month: J. Mark Bertrand wrestles publicly with the challenge of writing Christian fiction. Bookmark him.

And I thank you for your kind attention.

Pentecostalisms Homework

Okay, I want you to start thinking now about what essential portions of Pentecost - both from our unique subculture and the biblical basics - would correctly portray us to the wider world via short stories and/or novels.

I'll be discussing "Pentecostalisms" on Friday and need your input to make it work.

(Special thanks to Lee Ann for pinch hitting for me last week. I was in a post-Youth Congress haze and largely incoherent.)