A Review of "Christianity Without The Cross: A History Of Salvation In Oneness Pentecostalism"

by A Former UPC Member

Christianity without the Cross, by Thomas Fudge, is a lengthy review of the history of the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) from a viewpoint that many members might be unaware of. Fudge appears to have gone to great lengths to inspect the origins of the movement from every perspective, through oral interviews, books written by UPCI and Assembly of God authors and reviews of a vast number of letters and recorded sermons. This can be good or bad- source documents (like letters) often don't reveal all of history, and some could be construed several ways. Above that, and more concerning to me, they cannot be examined by later readers so that more or different meaning might be derived. This is the case of most history books, though. Due to my interest in the subject, I simply wish that I could personally hold and read the documents that Mr. Fudge took such great care to compile.

Mr. Fudge seems to be a thorough researcher. For example, not many Apostolic Pentecostals realize that the Assembly of God did not break off from the Oneness Pentecostals. Assembly of God oral history, at least in some places, says that the Oneness Pentecostals split off of the Assembly of God. The truth lies between these two statements and Fudge goes to lengths to explain what happened, why the split occurred, and who left whom. Moreover, he does so in a factual, unbiased manner.

Fudge continues through Pentecostal history, detailing many facets of the history and theology of the Pentecostal Church, Incorporated (PCI) and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ, Incorporated (PAJC) (the two churches later to join in the merger). He then describes the merger in detail. He surmises some outcomes, and begins at that point in the history of the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) to to emphasize the perspective of the former PCI constituents of the then newly formed UPCI. However, from my understanding of UPCI history and of the merger itself, he appears to do both sides justice, while still focusing on the PCI and attempting to show that their history and theology has been largely underplayed in the UPCI writings. He finishes the book by attempting to prove that the so-called “Westberg Resolution” set forth in 1992, whereby every minister must sign an affirmation statement yearly (later reduced to once every other year), was an effort, in some minds, to eradicate the last PCI influences within the UPCI.

I was born and raised not many miles from The United Pentecostal Church Headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1990, I began faithfully attending a UPCI in Missouri. Over the years, my path took me through Junction City, where I was a member of Pastor L.E. Westberg's church for several years. In my time there, the book was written and published. I had the opportunity to hear the original excitement that a secular author would come to interview Pastor Westberg and the prayers that the author would come to the "Truth." I noticed, vaguely, that the book wasn't mentioned again, after a time. And I was there when the leadership of the church first read the copy of the final book. I saw the upset and anger that Pastor L.E. Westberg would be so misused and misrepresented, and heard several sermons that spoke negatively of the book. For years after the book came out I had no interest in reading it. It wasn't readily available, and it was heavily condemned by my leadership and my closest acquaintances.

Recently, I had an opportunity to read the book myself. The book seems well written and quite well researched. It contains vast numbers of footnotes to published and unpublished materials. It is also somewhat annoyingly written in a very scholarly format, complete with Latin phrases, lengthy sentences, and many words that people may not be as familiar with, especially, perhaps, in Pentecostal circles. However, the two most frustrating things about the book, to me, are the vast numbers of source documents that I will have no opportunity to verify or read, myself, and the annoying tendency of the author to refer to “as I stated above” or “as we will see below” as though the entire document is one long page- “above” may well refer to something mentioned ten pages previous, and "below" may refer to something that won't be mentioned for another five! This makes the book very difficult to reference.

Those frustrations aside, I have heard several arguments against the book, and I have read the book myself. I have several tapes and little known books that are referenced, and thus far I have seen no place that Fudge did not deal with the quotations from those more than fairly and appropriately. I am left to believe that most of the anger at the book at Pastor Westberg's church probably had more to do with the last few pages of Chapter 5, when Fudge clearly showed that L.E. Westberg wanted certain men to leave the fellowship. He went on to prove that these men all had PCI influence. I thoroughly believe that to be a possibility, based not only on the materials Fudge presents, but on my observations and on recordings and books I have in my possession as well.

The first half of the book is interesting to anyone wanting to know more about Pentecostal history. Several things mentioned in the first part of the book might cause offense to some, but they are fairly easily proven facts. The book also offers insights that those who have considered leaving a Oneness church might find useful as they search for their own answers as to what they believe and why. An added benefit to me was the realization that another denomination that heavily influenced my younger years also influenced one of the founders of the early Pentecostal movement. That alone answered many questions for me and greatly eased my transition from a Oneness church.

Some will find the more recent history presented in the book useful and/or interesting. Others may not. Not everyone was impacted similarly by the Westberg Resolution, for instance, and I will admit that even though I was more intimately acquainted with the author of the resolution, I still eventually grew less interested in the book's prolonged discourse on the subject. Many readers would benefit from referencing that section as needed, so it might be recommended at least by Chapter Five to treat the book as what it is: a college level text book, of sorts, about a religious experience they have had direct interaction with, but may still know very little, after all, about.

The remaining chapter of the book reviews some of the songs and a lighter scope of the theological development and oral histories within the UPCI. This section is thought provoking. People who are familiar with Pentecostal music may readily recognize many of the songs, and never have known that these songs were written specifically with Pentecostal theology in mind. Those interested in oral history, music, psychology and/or sociology should find this portion of the book especially interesting.

A Note from Lois: L.E. Westberg passed away in 2001. The church he pastored in Junction City, Kansas is no longer a UPC church. Many of the churches in Kansas withdrew from the United Pentecostal Church a few years after his death, around 2004. To read about some things that have transpired at the church, including the resignation of Edwin Young & the arrest of his son, Jordan Young in 2013, click here.

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Thomas Fudge released a second UPC related book in March 2014, Heretics and Politics: Theology, Power, and Perception in the Last Days of CBC (Conquerors Bible College). CBC closed abruptly in 1983. The UPC attributed the failure to financial causes. Fudge "argues that the financial crisis was rooted in theological controversy, church politics, conflicting models of education, and sustained suspicions of heresy." Former UPC minister Don Fisher is featured in the book as he was one of the presidents of the college.

You may read thoughts and opinions about the book from Joseph Howell, Dan Lewis, Tim Landry (all former UPC ministers) and others. Ronna Russell, one of Don Fisher's daughters, has shared her personal reflections in this blog.

Thomas Fudge released a third UPC related book in November 2017, C.H. Yadon: and the Vanishing Theological Past in Oneness Pentecostalism. "Drawing upon his numerous sermons, published work, unpublished papers, and the testimony of those who knew him best, Thomas A. Fudge has produced a major theological biography of an unusual man. Buttressed by 32 rich appendices mostly from the pen of Yadon and featuring 157 photographs illuminating aspects of his long life, this book challenges the revisionist history and sanitized theologizing which has characterized the religious movement Yadon devoted most of his life to."

You may read Daniel Lewis' book, The Journey Out of the United Pentecostal Church, referenced several times in Heretics & Politics, in PDF or Word formats. Much thanks to Dan Lewis for his permission to distribute the book.

Click here to order Christianity Without The Cross from Amazon.com.

Click here to read an article written by Thomas Fudge concerning why he wrote the book.

Click here to read an article from a Canadian newspaper which describes the then forthcoming book.

To view the first 25 pages of his book at no charge, click here.
To view much more of his book on Google at no charge, click here.

To listen to an interview with Thomas Fudge, where he discusses his book, background, UPC beliefs and why he titled it 'Christianity Without The Cross,' click here. (This appears to no longer be available. I am leaving the link for when I may have time to further research it.)

To read a review by David S. Norris, current United Pentecostal Church minister, click here.
To read a review of David Norris' response to Fudge's book at the UPCI symposium by Bernie Gillespie, a former United Pentecostal Church minister, click here.

To read a review by Darrin Rodgers of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, click here.

To read a review by Danny Rodriguez, a former UPC member, click here.

To read a review by Andrew Degraffenreed, a Oneness Pentecostal believer, click here.

To read a review by Jason Dulle, a member of the UPC and graduate of one of their Bible colleges, click here.

To read a review by J.R. Ensey, a UPC minister, as well as responses to his review, click here.

To read all the reviews on Amazon.com, click here.

Thomas Fudge is also on the staff of The University of New England. To see their page on him, click here.

Thomas Fudge has a short talk on Jan Hus, plus a lecture titled The Prophetic Voice of Jan Hus as well as another talk on Hus here. There is also a series on the history of Christianity from the Roman Empire until the Reformation found on YouTube:

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Page added July 11, 2010 & Updated January 14, 2024

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