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This 3 page paper offers a summation of chapter 2 from Estrelda Y. Alexander's Black Fire, One Hundred years of African American Pentecostalism. No additional sources are cited.
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3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KL9_khblkfire2.doc
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his congregation demonstrating Parhams doctrinal belief that stated that baptism of the Holy Spirit resulted in the believer speaking in tongues (Alexander 28). However, rather than being excited by the
service, Parham was shocked and repulsed by the worshipers behavior, which included embracing specific behaviors labeled as "Africanisms," which largely consisted of behavior, such as dancing and shouting, that indicated
their joyful experience of the Spirit (Alexander 28). As this indicates, the second chapter of this text focuses on aspects of Pentecostal behavior and traditions that derive from African heritage.
The first section of the chapter goes on to relate additional information concerning how the secular press viewed the Pentecostal movement, describing how white fundamentalist pastor viewed it in
a derogatory manner, as well as how specific scholars, such as Elmer Clark argued that all African American worship was derived from African spirituality, and, therefore, labeled as primitive (Alexander
29). The author points out that there is no single form of African spirituality, just as there was no single African culture and also that there is no element
of African culture that survived the Middle Passage without undergoing significant change (Alexander 30). Nevertheless, there were commonalities shared by African spirituality, and these features are described in the next
section. These elements include universal acceptance of the existence of a supreme being; belief in the spirit world and the practical utility of religion for all aspects of life, among
other characteristics (Alexander 31). The author discusses these factors in great detail, before moving on and address the nature of slave Christianity. This section describes how slaveholders were confused
by African spirituality, which included blurring the distinctions between the sacred and the profane. The author describes both the slaveholders attitudes, describing the steps that were taken to keep Africans
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