Heavenly Choirs In Earthy Spaces: The Significance Of Corporate Spiritual Singing In Early Pentecostal Experience
The phenomenon known as the heavenly choir was a common feature of early Pentecostal worship and revival, rivaled only by speaking in tongues. Participation in the heavenly choir was transformative of both singer and hearer, producing a desire for a fuller experience of God. The experience of partic...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Brill
2016
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In: |
Journal of pentecostal theology
Year: 2016, Volume: 25, Issue: 2, Pages: 254-268 |
IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality KDG Free church RD Hymnology |
Further subjects: | B
Pentecostalism
singing
heavenly choir
heavenly chorus
singing in the Spirit
hermeneutics
Spirit baptism
spiritual experience
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Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
Summary: | The phenomenon known as the heavenly choir was a common feature of early Pentecostal worship and revival, rivaled only by speaking in tongues. Participation in the heavenly choir was transformative of both singer and hearer, producing a desire for a fuller experience of God. The experience of participation in the communion of singers transformed the marginalized into prophetic leaders, their earthy meeting places became sanctuaries of ‘heaven below’. This transformation was subversive in that dominant cultural constructs based on race, gender, class, ethnicity, and age were weakened if not toppled. Interpretation of this phenomenon by participants involved an approach to Scripture more dynamic than the later biblicism, interpreters finding resonance with the worship scenes in the book of Revelation rather than dependence upon a one-to-one correspondence of events in the Acts narrative or discourse by Paul, subverting later doctrinal construction beholden to Evangelical schemes. |
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ISSN: | 1745-5251 |
Contains: | In: Journal of pentecostal theology
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/17455251-02502007 |