H. Vinson Synan
Encyclopedia
Harold Vinson Synan, is an historian
and author within the Pentecostal movement. Synan has published a total of sixteen books, fifteen of which are related to Pentecostal and Charismatic history. He once served as the Director of the Holy Spirit Research Center at Oral Roberts University
. He also served as General Secretary of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church
. Since 1994, he has served as Dean of the School of Divinity at Regent University
in Virginia Beach, Virginia
.
to Joseph Alexander and Minnis (Purdue) Synan. He was one of seven siblings.
, during the time he was seeking his experience of the “second blessing” of entire sanctification. Nine months later, at the age of seventeen, he received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He began his preaching ministry the same year, and in 1954 was ordained in the Pentecostal Holiness Church.
Synan then completed a two year liberal arts degree from Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia
. In 1955 and after a one year pastoral apprenticeship, he became an evangelist in the Eastern Virginia PHC Conference. Synan graduated from the University of Richmond
with a B.A.
in American history in 1958, and in the fall of the same year began his teaching career.
From 1956 to 1962, he helped plant three churches in Virginia and from 1967 to 1974 he planted one in Georgia. From 1963 to 1975, he also taught history at his alma mater
, Emmanuel College.
As Synan was making preparation for his academic career, Oral Roberts
, a friend of the family, offered him a full scholarship to earn a Ph.D.
in theology
at Harvard, Yale
, or Princeton
if he would return and teach at Oral Roberts University. Synan however declined the offer since he had already received a full scholarship with stipend from the State of Georgia to prepare for his calling as a historian. In 1965, he completed his M.A.
and in 1967 his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia
in American Social and Intellectual History.
In order to prepare his dissertation for publication, Synan spent the summer of 1968 reading through major Pentecostal journals. His travels took him to the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)
where he met with several leaders. Significant among them was Horace Ward who was serving as the dean of students at Lee College
. Together they discussed the possibility of a future colloquium
where Pentecostal scholars could share ideas. He later met with William Menzies while reviewing the Assemblies of God
archives in Springfield, MO. Following a similar conversation regarding the organization of Pentecostal scholars, Ward, Menzies and Synan proposed their idea at the Pentecostal World Conference
held in Dallas, Texas
in 1970. The outcome was the birth of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. Synan was elected as the first General Secretary and served as the editor of their newsletters for several years.
From 1973 to 1977, Synan served as the General Secretary for the Pentecostal Holiness Church while also teaching at Oklahoma City Southwestern College
and served as the acting president in 1980. He was elected as Assistant General Superintendent of his denomination in 1977 and served until 1981 when he became the Director of Evangelism, a position which he held for the next four years.
In 1977, Synan was the chairman of the Pentecostal track for the General Conference on Charismatic Renewal held in Arrow Head Stadium in Kansas City. This event packed the stadium with 50,000 charismatic worshipers and attracted attention from around the world. It also opened up many doors of ministry for Synan and he became a frequently invited guest on such television programs as The PTL Club
, Trinity Broadcasting Network
, and The 700 Club
to discuss the Renewal that was occurring among Catholics and the exploding growth of Pentecostalism around the world.
During the years of 1990 and 1994, Synan was professor of Pentecostal and Charismatic History and served as the Director of the Holy Spirit Research Center at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma
. For twelve years, from 1994 to 2006, he served as the Dean of the Regent University
School of Divinity. Under his leadership the School of Divinity implemented both a Doctorate of Ministry and a non-residential and on-line Ph.D. program in Renewal Studies, which was the first of its kind in the world. Presently, Synan serves as Professor of Pentecostal and Charismatic History and Dean Emeritus of Regent University.
. Reflecting on the day he met her as a young evangelist preaching at a summer youth camp, he described her as “a dark haired beauty whose smile seemed to light up the entire room.” Together they had four children: Mary Carol (1961), Virginia Lee (1963), Harold Vinson Jr. (1966), and Joseph Alexander III (1968).
Synan’s entire life was shaped by his involvement in the Pentecostal Holiness Church. His father became a preacher twelve years before Synan was born, served in several pastorates during Synan’s early years and later served as chairman, presiding bishop and general superintendent of the church. His father was also one of the founding fathers of the National Association of Evangelicals
in 1943. As a son of the denomination and a professionally trained historian, Synan was commissioned to write the official history of his PHC. The Old Time Power was published in 1973, the same year Synan assumed the position as General Secretary for his denomination. Two revisions of the book were published in 1986 and 1998 respectively.
In 1972 Synan was invited by Kilian McDonnell to speak at the third annual Catholic Charismatic Conference at Notre Dame University. This was a life changing experience that marked the beginning of many years of leadership in the ecumenical movement. Because of Synan’s involvement in the Charismatic movement
, in 1974 he wrote Charismatic Bridges which is an overview of the history of the Pentecostal movement and served as an introduction to those outside the Pentecostal tradition.
The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the United States published by Eerdsmans in 1971 was a result of Synan’s Ph.D. dissertation. It was later revised and published under the title Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition in 1997. His central thesis was that Pentecostalism was rooted in the Holiness movement
in the late 19th century. While this is a commonly held belief by many Pentecostal historians today, it was a fresh concept at that time. Prior to publishing his monograph
, Synan added three chapters beyond his dissertation to include the Catholic Charismatic Movement which was at this time in full swing. Synan was concerned that including the Catholic’s in his book would jeopardize his standing in the Pentecostal world since his position validated the Catholic Renewal as a genuinely Pentecostal experience. To his surprise, more Catholics purchased the book than any other group as they attempted to discover the history behind their charismatic experience. Copies were sent to the Vatican
and all over Europe
, and as a result, Synan became a frequent speaker at Catholic Charismatic events and was invited to participate in the Catholic-Pentecostal dialogue with David du Plessis
and Kilian McDonnell. After thirty-seven years The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition, revised in 1997 under its present title, is still a popular text.
Synan's book Aspects of Pentecostal-Charismatic Origins which he edited in 1975 is a compilation of articles presented at the Society for Pentecostal Studies in 1973. The book offers a variety of themes related to the history of the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement.
While serving as the Director of Evangelism for the Pentecostal Holiness Church, he published his seventh book In the Latter Days: The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Twentieth Century in 1984. Originally written in 1974 as a series of lectures presented for the King Memorial Lectureship at Emmanuel College, Synan used the motif first described by David Wesley Myland in his book The Latter Rain Covenant and Pentecostal Power in which the Pentecostal outpouring at the turn of the century was recognized as the fulfillment of the Joel 2 prophecy for early and latter rain. In this book, Synan depicts the antecedents of the Pentecostal outpouring of the 20th century as the “Gathering Clouds.” The chapter on the early history with Parham and Azusa Street the author titles “The Rain Falls in America.” The chapter “The Rain Falls Around the World” is a description of the movement’s growth into Europe, Chile, Latin America, Russia, and Brazil. The two chapters “The Rain Rejected” and “The Rain Reconsidered” discusses the troubled years when Pentecostalism came under harsh criticism and then with the rise of the healing Evangelists and the Charismatic movement which began with Dennis Bennett, a more positive attitude evolved. The history of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and the Jesus People was described as “Rain Fall” and “Cloudburst.” The book closed with the three streams of Renewal coming together into one "River". He gives this opening statement in the book: "There is only one outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the latter days, although the streams flow through channels known as ‘classical Pentecostalism,’ Protestant ‘neo-Pentecostalism,’ and the ‘Catholic charismatic renewal.’ In the end it adds up to one great historical phenomenon which has had a profound effect on Christianity around the world." According to Synan, In the Latter Days has been published in more languages than any of his other books.
In 1985, Synan was the founder and chairman of the North American Renewal Service Committee which resulted in the New Orleans Leaders Conference that hosted over 7,500 leaders from Pentecostal denominations and mainline churches involved in the renewal movement. In 1987, 40,000 people attended the following General Congress hosted in the New Orleans Superdome. In preparation for the conference, Synan had the opportunity to interview many of the pioneer leaders of the various charismatic renewal groups and obtain a firsthand account of their story. These conversations led him to realize there was “a great deal that remain[ed] to be told about this movement.” The results of his findings were published in 1987 under the title The Twentieth-Century Pentecostal Explosion: The Exciting Growth of Pentecostal Churches and Charismatic Renewal Movements.
While serving as the Director of the Holy Spirit Research Center and Professor of Pentecostal and Charismatic History at Oral Roberts University, Synan co-authored with Ralph Rath his ninth book titled Launching the Decade of Evangelization in 1990. It was during this same year he chaired the Holy Spirit Congress in Indianapolis where 25,000 gathered in the Hoosier Dome. Part three of Launching the Decade of Evangelism provided a historical background of the events which led up to the Indianapolis Renewal gathering. After this, there were two more Congresses on the Holy Spirit and World Evangelism—one in Orlando in 1995 and one in St. Louis in 2000.
At the Indianapolis Congress in 1990, Demos Shakarian
commissioned Synan to write Under His Banner to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International which began in 1951. By the time this book was published in 1992, this ecumenical forerunner movement had grown to over 3,000 chapters in 117 nations.
His book, The Spirit Said “Grow” was the fourth in a series of books published by MARC Innovations on mission. The material for this book was originally presented as a series of lectures on “Evangelization and the Charismatic Renewal” in 1990 at the Church Growth Lectureship at the School of World Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary
under the leadership of C. Peter Wagner
. In this sixty-two page book, Synan quotes David Barrett’s statistics to provide a historical sketch of the explosive growth of Pentecostal-Charismatic Renewal around the world employing the “Third Wave” analogy first expressed by Wagner in 1983.
In a book review by Henry Lederle, Synan’s 2001 book The Century of the Holy Spirit: 100 Years of Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal was described as “a lasting contribution to the recording of Pentecostalism,” and a book that is “poised to become the standard work of reference for the historical development of the various Pentecostal and Charismatic awakenings of the twentieth century.” This book, which Lederle calls Synan’s “magnum opus
,” contains 15 chapters, seven of which were written by Synan and the remaining eight chapters by contributing authors. While the primary focus of the book is the 21st century, it also provides a brief history of the Wesleyan Holiness antecedents which begin in the early 18th century.
Written at the invitation of Bert Ghezzi, a Catholic Charismatic and editor of Servant Publications, Voices of Pentecost: Testimonies of Lives Touched by the Holy Spirit is primarily a devotional book, presents short personal testimonies of sixty-one individuals throughout history, especially Pentecostals and Charismatics who, as the title suggests, have been touched and transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In 2003, Synan, along with three of his family members, produced The Synans of Virginia: The Story of an Irish Family in America. This two hundred forty-four page book traces the Synan bloodline back through William Synan, the Immigrant, from County Cork in southern Ireland
to Virginia.
Synan’s latest publication, A Seminary to Change the World Regent University School of Divinity at 25 Years was written in honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Regent University School of Divinity. Filled with pictures, this text provides the history of a school, founded by Dr. M. G. ‘Pat’ Robertson, which began with 23 students on September 8, 1982 as CBN University School of Biblical Studies and has grown to become a fully accredited university recognized around the world.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and author within the Pentecostal movement. Synan has published a total of sixteen books, fifteen of which are related to Pentecostal and Charismatic history. He once served as the Director of the Holy Spirit Research Center at Oral Roberts University
Oral Roberts University
Oral Roberts University , based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the United States, is an interdenominational, Charismatic Christian, comprehensive university with an enrollment of about 3,790 students from 49 U.S. states along with a significant number of international students from 70 countries...
. He also served as General Secretary of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church
International Pentecostal Holiness Church
The International Pentecostal Holiness Church or simply Pentecostal Holiness Church is a Pentecostal Christian denomination founded in 1911 with the merger of two older denominations. Traditionally centered in the Southeastern United States, particularly the Carolinas and Georgia, the Pentecostal...
. Since 1994, he has served as Dean of the School of Divinity at Regent University
Regent University
Regent University is a private coeducational interdenominational Christian university located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. The school was founded by the American televangelist Pat Robertson in 1978 as Christian Broadcasting Network University. A satellite campus located in...
in Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay...
.
Biography
Synan, along with his twin brother Vernon, was born on December 1, 1934 in Hopewell, VirginiaHopewell, Virginia
Hopewell is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 22,591 at the 2010 Census . It is in Tri-Cities area of the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area...
to Joseph Alexander and Minnis (Purdue) Synan. He was one of seven siblings.
Education and career
His father, a sixteen year old Methodist was converted at a Pentecostal Holiness tent meeting near Fredericksburg, Virginia. He later planted five Pentecostal Holiness congregations in the Tidewater area of Virginia before serving as a bishop of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, a position he held for 24 years. Synan’s formative years revolved around his Pentecostal Holiness church. His call to ministry came shortly after his conversion in 1951, while living in Memphis, TennesseeMemphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, during the time he was seeking his experience of the “second blessing” of entire sanctification. Nine months later, at the age of seventeen, he received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He began his preaching ministry the same year, and in 1954 was ordained in the Pentecostal Holiness Church.
Synan then completed a two year liberal arts degree from Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia
Franklin Springs, Georgia
Franklin Springs is a city in Franklin County, Georgia, United States. The population was 762 at the 2000 census. Emmanuel College is located here.-Geography:Franklin Springs is located at ....
. In 1955 and after a one year pastoral apprenticeship, he became an evangelist in the Eastern Virginia PHC Conference. Synan graduated from the University of Richmond
University of Richmond
The University of Richmond is a selective, private, nonsectarian, liberal arts university located on the border of the city of Richmond and Henrico County, Virginia. The University of Richmond is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and graduate...
with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in American history in 1958, and in the fall of the same year began his teaching career.
From 1956 to 1962, he helped plant three churches in Virginia and from 1967 to 1974 he planted one in Georgia. From 1963 to 1975, he also taught history at his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
, Emmanuel College.
As Synan was making preparation for his academic career, Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts
Granville "Oral" Roberts was an American Pentecostal televangelist and a Christian charismatic. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University....
, a friend of the family, offered him a full scholarship to earn a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
at Harvard, Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
, or Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
if he would return and teach at Oral Roberts University. Synan however declined the offer since he had already received a full scholarship with stipend from the State of Georgia to prepare for his calling as a historian. In 1965, he completed his M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
and in 1967 his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
in American Social and Intellectual History.
In order to prepare his dissertation for publication, Synan spent the summer of 1968 reading through major Pentecostal journals. His travels took him to the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)
The Church of God, with headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee, is a Pentecostal Christian denomination. With over seven million members in over 170 countries, it is one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the world...
where he met with several leaders. Significant among them was Horace Ward who was serving as the dean of students at Lee College
Lee College
Lee College is a comprehensive community college located in Baytown, Texas, approximately east of Houston, Texas.Lee College's main campus occupies landscaped near downtown Baytown and maintains extension campuses throughout its service area...
. Together they discussed the possibility of a future colloquium
Colloquium
Colloquium can refer to:* the Parliament of Scotland, called a "colloquium" in Latin records.* any musical piece celebrating birth or distribution of good news, a hymn...
where Pentecostal scholars could share ideas. He later met with William Menzies while reviewing the Assemblies of God
Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God , officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 140 autonomous but loosely-associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination...
archives in Springfield, MO. Following a similar conversation regarding the organization of Pentecostal scholars, Ward, Menzies and Synan proposed their idea at the Pentecostal World Conference
Pentecostal World Conference
The Pentecostal World Conference or Pentecostal World Fellowship is a fellowship of Pentecostal believers and denominations from across the world....
held in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
in 1970. The outcome was the birth of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. Synan was elected as the first General Secretary and served as the editor of their newsletters for several years.
From 1973 to 1977, Synan served as the General Secretary for the Pentecostal Holiness Church while also teaching at Oklahoma City Southwestern College
Southwestern Christian University
Southwestern Christian University was founded in 1946 as an educational institution based on the Bible and the first Pentecostal educational institution in the state. As first a Bible college, for the training of Christian church leaders within the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, the...
and served as the acting president in 1980. He was elected as Assistant General Superintendent of his denomination in 1977 and served until 1981 when he became the Director of Evangelism, a position which he held for the next four years.
In 1977, Synan was the chairman of the Pentecostal track for the General Conference on Charismatic Renewal held in Arrow Head Stadium in Kansas City. This event packed the stadium with 50,000 charismatic worshipers and attracted attention from around the world. It also opened up many doors of ministry for Synan and he became a frequently invited guest on such television programs as The PTL Club
The PTL Club
The PTL Club , later called The Jim and Tammy Show, and in its last days PTL Today and Heritage Today, was a Christian television program first hosted by evangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, which ran from 1974 to 1989...
, Trinity Broadcasting Network
Trinity Broadcasting Network
The Trinity Broadcasting Network is a major American Christian television network. TBN is based in Costa Mesa, California, with auxiliary studio facilities in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Gadsden, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New...
, and The 700 Club
The 700 Club
The 700 Club is the flagship news talk show of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing in syndication throughout the United States and Canada. In production since 1966, it is currently hosted by Pat Robertson, Terry Meeuwsen, Kristi Watts, and Gordon P. Robertson, two of whom will host on any...
to discuss the Renewal that was occurring among Catholics and the exploding growth of Pentecostalism around the world.
During the years of 1990 and 1994, Synan was professor of Pentecostal and Charismatic History and served as the Director of the Holy Spirit Research Center at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
. For twelve years, from 1994 to 2006, he served as the Dean of the Regent University
Regent University
Regent University is a private coeducational interdenominational Christian university located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. The school was founded by the American televangelist Pat Robertson in 1978 as Christian Broadcasting Network University. A satellite campus located in...
School of Divinity. Under his leadership the School of Divinity implemented both a Doctorate of Ministry and a non-residential and on-line Ph.D. program in Renewal Studies, which was the first of its kind in the world. Presently, Synan serves as Professor of Pentecostal and Charismatic History and Dean Emeritus of Regent University.
Personal life
On August 13, 1960, he married Carol Lee Fuqua from Richmond, VirginiaRichmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. Reflecting on the day he met her as a young evangelist preaching at a summer youth camp, he described her as “a dark haired beauty whose smile seemed to light up the entire room.” Together they had four children: Mary Carol (1961), Virginia Lee (1963), Harold Vinson Jr. (1966), and Joseph Alexander III (1968).
Writing
In 1963, Synan began his teaching career in history at Emmanuel College. It was at this time the school also asked him to write the school’s official history. Synan had known G. F. Taylor, the widow of the founder of the college, when he was a student in the 1950s, and since he was a faculty member, research of the school’s history was readily accessible. In 1969, the school published his research as a fund raiser for the school’s 50th anniversary under the title Emmanuel College: The First Fifty Years.Synan’s entire life was shaped by his involvement in the Pentecostal Holiness Church. His father became a preacher twelve years before Synan was born, served in several pastorates during Synan’s early years and later served as chairman, presiding bishop and general superintendent of the church. His father was also one of the founding fathers of the National Association of Evangelicals
National Association of Evangelicals
The National Association of Evangelicals is a fellowship of member denominations, churches, organizations, and individuals. Its goal is to honor God by connecting and representing evangelicals in the United States. Today it works in four main areas: Church & Faith Partners, Government Relations,...
in 1943. As a son of the denomination and a professionally trained historian, Synan was commissioned to write the official history of his PHC. The Old Time Power was published in 1973, the same year Synan assumed the position as General Secretary for his denomination. Two revisions of the book were published in 1986 and 1998 respectively.
In 1972 Synan was invited by Kilian McDonnell to speak at the third annual Catholic Charismatic Conference at Notre Dame University. This was a life changing experience that marked the beginning of many years of leadership in the ecumenical movement. Because of Synan’s involvement in the Charismatic movement
Charismatic movement
The term charismatic movement is used in varying senses to describe 20th century developments in various Christian denominations. It describes an ongoing international, cross-denominational/non-denominational Christian movement in which individual, historically mainstream congregations adopt...
, in 1974 he wrote Charismatic Bridges which is an overview of the history of the Pentecostal movement and served as an introduction to those outside the Pentecostal tradition.
The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the United States published by Eerdsmans in 1971 was a result of Synan’s Ph.D. dissertation. It was later revised and published under the title Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition in 1997. His central thesis was that Pentecostalism was rooted in the Holiness movement
Holiness movement
The holiness movement refers to a set of beliefs and practices emerging from the Methodist Christian church in the mid 19th century. The movement is distinguished by its emphasis on John Wesley's doctrine of "Christian perfection" - the belief that it is possible to live free of voluntary sin - and...
in the late 19th century. While this is a commonly held belief by many Pentecostal historians today, it was a fresh concept at that time. Prior to publishing his monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
, Synan added three chapters beyond his dissertation to include the Catholic Charismatic Movement which was at this time in full swing. Synan was concerned that including the Catholic’s in his book would jeopardize his standing in the Pentecostal world since his position validated the Catholic Renewal as a genuinely Pentecostal experience. To his surprise, more Catholics purchased the book than any other group as they attempted to discover the history behind their charismatic experience. Copies were sent to the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
and all over Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and as a result, Synan became a frequent speaker at Catholic Charismatic events and was invited to participate in the Catholic-Pentecostal dialogue with David du Plessis
David du Plessis
David Johannes du Plessis was a South African-born Pentecostal minister. He is considered one of the main founders of the charismatic movement, in which the Pentecostal experience of baptism with the Holy Spirit spread to non-Pentecostal churches worldwide.-Biography:Born to missionary parents, an...
and Kilian McDonnell. After thirty-seven years The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition, revised in 1997 under its present title, is still a popular text.
Synan's book Aspects of Pentecostal-Charismatic Origins which he edited in 1975 is a compilation of articles presented at the Society for Pentecostal Studies in 1973. The book offers a variety of themes related to the history of the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement.
While serving as the Director of Evangelism for the Pentecostal Holiness Church, he published his seventh book In the Latter Days: The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Twentieth Century in 1984. Originally written in 1974 as a series of lectures presented for the King Memorial Lectureship at Emmanuel College, Synan used the motif first described by David Wesley Myland in his book The Latter Rain Covenant and Pentecostal Power in which the Pentecostal outpouring at the turn of the century was recognized as the fulfillment of the Joel 2 prophecy for early and latter rain. In this book, Synan depicts the antecedents of the Pentecostal outpouring of the 20th century as the “Gathering Clouds.” The chapter on the early history with Parham and Azusa Street the author titles “The Rain Falls in America.” The chapter “The Rain Falls Around the World” is a description of the movement’s growth into Europe, Chile, Latin America, Russia, and Brazil. The two chapters “The Rain Rejected” and “The Rain Reconsidered” discusses the troubled years when Pentecostalism came under harsh criticism and then with the rise of the healing Evangelists and the Charismatic movement which began with Dennis Bennett, a more positive attitude evolved. The history of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and the Jesus People was described as “Rain Fall” and “Cloudburst.” The book closed with the three streams of Renewal coming together into one "River". He gives this opening statement in the book: "There is only one outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the latter days, although the streams flow through channels known as ‘classical Pentecostalism,’ Protestant ‘neo-Pentecostalism,’ and the ‘Catholic charismatic renewal.’ In the end it adds up to one great historical phenomenon which has had a profound effect on Christianity around the world." According to Synan, In the Latter Days has been published in more languages than any of his other books.
In 1985, Synan was the founder and chairman of the North American Renewal Service Committee which resulted in the New Orleans Leaders Conference that hosted over 7,500 leaders from Pentecostal denominations and mainline churches involved in the renewal movement. In 1987, 40,000 people attended the following General Congress hosted in the New Orleans Superdome. In preparation for the conference, Synan had the opportunity to interview many of the pioneer leaders of the various charismatic renewal groups and obtain a firsthand account of their story. These conversations led him to realize there was “a great deal that remain[ed] to be told about this movement.” The results of his findings were published in 1987 under the title The Twentieth-Century Pentecostal Explosion: The Exciting Growth of Pentecostal Churches and Charismatic Renewal Movements.
While serving as the Director of the Holy Spirit Research Center and Professor of Pentecostal and Charismatic History at Oral Roberts University, Synan co-authored with Ralph Rath his ninth book titled Launching the Decade of Evangelization in 1990. It was during this same year he chaired the Holy Spirit Congress in Indianapolis where 25,000 gathered in the Hoosier Dome. Part three of Launching the Decade of Evangelism provided a historical background of the events which led up to the Indianapolis Renewal gathering. After this, there were two more Congresses on the Holy Spirit and World Evangelism—one in Orlando in 1995 and one in St. Louis in 2000.
At the Indianapolis Congress in 1990, Demos Shakarian
Demos Shakarian
Demos Shakarian was a Christian businessman of Armenian origin from Los Angeles who founded the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International...
commissioned Synan to write Under His Banner to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International which began in 1951. By the time this book was published in 1992, this ecumenical forerunner movement had grown to over 3,000 chapters in 117 nations.
His book, The Spirit Said “Grow” was the fourth in a series of books published by MARC Innovations on mission. The material for this book was originally presented as a series of lectures on “Evangelization and the Charismatic Renewal” in 1990 at the Church Growth Lectureship at the School of World Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary is an accredited Christian educational institute with its main campus in Pasadena, California and several satellite campuses in the western United States...
under the leadership of C. Peter Wagner
C. Peter Wagner
Charles Peter Wagner Christian missionary, writer, teacher, and church growth specialist, notable for his controversial spiritual warfare practices and beliefs...
. In this sixty-two page book, Synan quotes David Barrett’s statistics to provide a historical sketch of the explosive growth of Pentecostal-Charismatic Renewal around the world employing the “Third Wave” analogy first expressed by Wagner in 1983.
In a book review by Henry Lederle, Synan’s 2001 book The Century of the Holy Spirit: 100 Years of Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal was described as “a lasting contribution to the recording of Pentecostalism,” and a book that is “poised to become the standard work of reference for the historical development of the various Pentecostal and Charismatic awakenings of the twentieth century.” This book, which Lederle calls Synan’s “magnum opus
Masterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
,” contains 15 chapters, seven of which were written by Synan and the remaining eight chapters by contributing authors. While the primary focus of the book is the 21st century, it also provides a brief history of the Wesleyan Holiness antecedents which begin in the early 18th century.
Written at the invitation of Bert Ghezzi, a Catholic Charismatic and editor of Servant Publications, Voices of Pentecost: Testimonies of Lives Touched by the Holy Spirit is primarily a devotional book, presents short personal testimonies of sixty-one individuals throughout history, especially Pentecostals and Charismatics who, as the title suggests, have been touched and transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In 2003, Synan, along with three of his family members, produced The Synans of Virginia: The Story of an Irish Family in America. This two hundred forty-four page book traces the Synan bloodline back through William Synan, the Immigrant, from County Cork in southern Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
to Virginia.
Synan’s latest publication, A Seminary to Change the World Regent University School of Divinity at 25 Years was written in honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Regent University School of Divinity. Filled with pictures, this text provides the history of a school, founded by Dr. M. G. ‘Pat’ Robertson, which began with 23 students on September 8, 1982 as CBN University School of Biblical Studies and has grown to become a fully accredited university recognized around the world.