The importance of women in early Pentecostalism: A case study from Sweden

The Annual Walter J. Hollenweger Lecture 2018

• Speaker: Professor Jan-Åke Alvarsson (Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Director of the Institute for Pentecostal Studies, University of Uppsala, Sweden)

The Centre for Pentecostal and Charistmatic Studies and the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham is delighted to welcome you to the Annual Walter J. Hollenweger Lecture, in honour and memory of Walter J. Hollenweger, an expert in global Pentecostalism who served as Professor of Mission at the University of Birmingham and Selly Oak Colleges from 1971 to 1989.

The lecture is free and open to all.

Abstract

Little is known about the role women played in the formation of Pentecostalism in Sweden although they were allowed to preach, baptize, lead Holy Communion and found congregations. A woman introduced the recently discovered pre-Pentecostal movement in Sweden in 1895; a woman wrote the first booklet in Pentecostal theology in Sweden; the congregation founded by a woman was the first one in Sweden to collectively join the Pentecostal movement from Azusa Street, Los Angeles, in 1907; the petition of women resulted in the foundation of the ‘The Örebro Mission School,’ in 1908, a theological seminary open to women; and the 'Ongman-sisters' were critically important for the establishment and wide range of Pentecostalism in Sweden. This lecture discusses why women were able to hold these positions at a time when they did not even have  the right to vote.

Registration

Registration is now open via the Hollenweger Lecture Eventbrite page.

• Read the report from the 2017 Annual Walter J. Hollenweger Lecture