Psychological type preferences of female Bible College students in England

A sample of 122 female students attending a Pentecostal Bible College in England completed Form G (Anglicised) of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The data demonstrated preferences for extraversion over introversion, for sensing over intuition, for feeling over thinking, and for judging over perceiving. The predominant type was ISFJ (16%), followed by ESFJ (12%). Comparison with the population norms demonstrated an over-representation of intuitives among this sample of Bible College students

George Jeffreys: Pentecostal and contemporary implications

The life and work of the Welsh evangelist George Jeffreys resulted in the planting of two denominations in the UK between 1915 and 1962, when he died. The Elim churches continue to this day to be one of the larger classical Pentecostal denominations in the UK, while the Bible Pattern Fellowship dispersed on Jeffreys’ death. The disputes that led to Jeffreys’ departure from Elim were said to have arisen from his adherence to British Israel doctrine, though his supporters believed they arose from his championing of local church ownership and democracy. This paper considers sociological and other reasons for Jeffreys’ remarkable success in the interwar years and his eventual departure from a denomination he founded. It concludes by reflecting on topics (such as the importance of debate and law) that have relevance for contemporary Pentecostalism

Apostolic Networks in Britain Revisited

This paper presents an account of the theological ideas that led to the formation of apostolic networks in Britain in the 1970s. It takes note of the function of theology as a driver of ecclesiastical innovation and offers the thesis that, while theology provides ideas and arguments, society is the receptacle into which these ideas are poured. Consequently similar ideas will be expressed in different social forms as society changes. The changes within apostolic networks in the last 15 years are commented upon and the appearance of meta-networks is noted. Equally the emergence of networks within denominational settings is flagged up

Psychological type preferences of male British Assemblies of God Theological College students: tough-minded or tender-hearted?

Psychological type theory proposes that people make decisions through using one of two dichotomous judging functions (thinking and feeling). People who prefer thinking make judgements based on impersonal logic and tend to be objective and tough-minded, while people who prefer feeling make judgements based on personal values and tend to be compassionate and tender-hearted. This study explores the notion that the judging functions are key predictors of individual differences in terms of religiosity. The psychological type preferences of a sample of 190 male Assemblies of God bible college students were assessed using Form G (Anglicised) of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The data revealed preferences for thinking over feeling, and the implications of this finding are explored

Can ‘Skills’ Help Religious Education?

This chapter outlines the arrival of skills as a component in educational discourse on the British scene. It examines skills from a psychological perspective and mounts a critique of them that is philosophical as well as psychological. It concludes that skills discourse is often intellectually incoherent or inapplicable to Religious Education (RE)

Pentecostalism and religious broadcasting

After considering the historical emergence of religious broadcasting, this article surveys Pentecostal broadcasting in different parts of the world and seeks to estimate its influence

Jung and world religions

This review article describes the life of Carl Gustav Jung and reviews Frank McLynn’s biography of him

Sunderland’s Legacy in New Denominations

In examining the contribution of the seven Sunderland conventions to the development of the Pentecostal movement in Britain, I make a number of assumptions. These assumptions are that the pentecostal movement begins in a state of disorganisation and, through a process of networking, conferences, emerging consensus and organisational initiatives, gradually turned into a series of discrete and separate denominations incorporating recognisably Pentecostal distinctives. The eventual variations between the denominations are partly doctrinal and partly administrative, and these differences depend upon factors that lie outside Sunderland. Sunderland is therefore important in the transitioning stage from the initial disorganised state to the eventual organised state

The “initial evidence”: implications of an empirical perspective in a British context

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The Next Christendom: the coming of global Christianity a Review Article

A review article of Philip Jenkins’s work published by Oxford University Press in 200