Charles Fox Parham

Charles Fox Parham (1873–1929) was an American evangelist who helped launch Pentecostalism. He taught that speaking in tongues evidenced baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Bethel Bible School: A Topeka, Kansas, Bible school founded by Charles Fox Parham in 1900. Parham’s students investigated biblical accounts of Spirit baptism there before the 1901 revival.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit: A Christian experience understood by many traditions as empowerment or renewal through the Holy Spirit. Parham presented this experience as distinct from conversion and linked it to tongues.
Charles Parham and the Ku Klux Klan: A topic concerning Parham’s documented racial views and his reported association with the Ku Klux Klan. His racial ideology and alleged Klan ties complicate accounts of Pentecostalism’s early history.
Initial evidence doctrine: The Pentecostal teaching that speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit. Parham formulated the doctrine that became his most enduring contribution.
Topeka Outpouring: A revival at Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, in 1901, associated with speaking in tongues. Agnes Ozman’s reported tongues-speaking there became Parham’s evidence for his doctrine.
Glossolalia: Speech produced in religious settings that sounds like language but is not understood by speakers or listeners as ordinary speech. Parham treated this form of speech as the evidence accompanying Spirit baptism.
Frank Bartleman: An American Pentecostal evangelist and journalist who chronicled the Azusa Street Revival. Bartleman’s accounts preserve a contrasting view of Parham’s role in the revival’s origins.
Pentecostalism: A Christian movement emphasizing the activity of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts such as tongues, healing, and prophecy. Parham is commonly identified as an early founder of this global movement.
Agnes Ozman: A student at Bethel Bible School who reported speaking in tongues during a prayer meeting in January 1901. Her experience prompted Parham to identify tongues as the initial evidence of Spirit baptism.
Acts 2: The New Testament chapter recounting the disciples’ Spirit-filled speech at Pentecost. Its account of tongues supplied the biblical model for Parham’s teaching.

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