Editing Oneness Pentecostalism (section)

===Views of the early church===
Scholars within the Oneness movement differ in their views on [[church history]]. Some church historians, such as Dr. Curtis Ward, Marvin Arnold, and William Chalfant, hold to a [[Successionism|Successionist view]], arguing that their movement has existed in every generation from the original day of [[Pentecost]] to the present day.<ref>{{cite book |first1= William |last1= Johnson |title= The Church Through the Ages |publisher= Bethesda |year= 2005 |page= 25 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Arnold |first= Marvin M |title= Pentecost Before Azusa: The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter Two; Fanning the Flames of International Revival for Over 2000 Years |year= 2002 |publisher= Bethesda Ministries |isbn= 978-1-58169-091-0}}{{page needed|date= September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1= William B. |last1= Chalfant |title= Ancient champions of oneness: an investigation of the doctrine of God in church history |publisher= Word Aflame Press |year= 2001 |isbn= 978-0-912315-41-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4oOXAAAACAAJ }}{{page needed|date= September 2017}}</ref> Ward has proposed a theory of an unbroken Pentecostal church lineage, claiming to have chronologically traced its perpetuity throughout the church's history.<ref>{{cite book |first1= William |last1= Johnson |title= The Church Through the Ages |publisher= Bethesda Books |year= 2005 |page= 27 }}
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Others hold to a [[Restorationism|Restorationist]] view, believing that while the [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]] and their church clearly taught Oneness doctrine and the Pentecostal experience, the early apostolic church went into [[apostasy in Christianity|apostasy]], which eventually developed into the institutional forms seen in [[Catholic church|Roman Catholicism]]. For them, the contemporary Oneness Pentecostal movement began in America in the early 20th century during the latter days of the [[Azusa Street Revival]]. Restorationists such as Bernard and Norris deny any direct link between the church of the [[Apostolic age|Apostolic Age]] and the current Oneness movement, believing that modern Oneness Pentecostalism is a total restoration originating from a step-by-step separation within Protestantism culminating in the final restoration of the early apostolic church.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last1=Bernard|first1=David|url=http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Top.htm|title=The Oneness of God|publisher=Word Aflame Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-912315-12-6|chapter=Oneness Believers In Church History|chapter-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130145231/http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/homepages/pentecostal/One-Ch10.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216034825/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Top.htm|archive-date=16 February 2008}}{{page needed|date=September 2017}}</ref><ref name="IAMNorris">{{cite book |last1=Norris |first1=David |title=I AM: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology |date=4 September 2009 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |isbn=978-1567227307 |pages=224–225 |chapter=Rediscovering Covenant}}</ref>

Both Successionists and Restorationists among Oneness Pentecostals assert that the early apostolic church believed in the Oneness and [[Baptism in the name of Jesus|Jesus name baptism]] doctrines. David K. Bernard, a leading Oneness scholar, has written extensively on this subject in works such as ''The Oneness of God'' and ''A History of Christian Doctrine''. Bernard traces Oneness adherents back to the first [[Jewish Christians|converted Jews]] of the Apostolic Age and asserts that there is no evidence of these converts having any difficulty comprehending the [[Christian Church]]'s teachings and integrating them with their existing [[Judaism|Judaic beliefs]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bernard |first1=David K. |title=A History of Christian Doctrine - Volume 1 |date=1995 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |location=Hazelwood, MO |isbn=9781567220360}}</ref> In the post-apostolic era, Bernard contends that the earliest believers, including [[Hermas of Dalmatia|Hermas]], [[Clement of Rome]], [[Polycarp]], [[Polycrates of Ephesus|Polycrates]], [[Ignatius of Antioch|Ignatius]], and [[Irenaeus]] either held to a Oneness-like view of God or followed an "economic Trinity" model that did not reflect eternal personal distinctions within the Godhead.<ref name=":7" /> Bernard theorizes that the majority of all believers were Oneness adherents until the time of [[Tertullian]], quoting Tertullian as writing against [[Praxeas]]:
{{Blockquote|The simple, indeed (I will not call them unwise or unlearned), who always constitute the majority of believers, are startled at the dispensation (of the Three in One), on the very ground that their very Rule of Faith withdraws them from the world's plurality of gods to the one only true God; not understanding that, although He is the one only God, He must yet be believed in with His own economy. The numerical order and distribution of the Trinity, they assume to be a division of the Unity.<ref>{{cite web|author=Tertullian|title=Sundry Popular Fears and Prejudices. The Doctrine of the Trinity in Unity Rescued from These Misapprehensions|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.v.ix.iii.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119022850/https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.v.ix.iii.html|archive-date=19 November 2020|work=Against Praxeas}}</ref>}}

As part of his broader critique, Bernard briefly references 19th-century [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] minister [[Alexander Hislop]], who associated Trinitarian doctrine and other early Christian practices with pagan religious influence.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book|last=Bernard|first=David|url=http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Ch11.htm|title=The Oneness of God|publisher=Word Aflame Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-912315-12-6|chapter=Trinitarianism: Definition and Historical Development|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130181956/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Ch11.htm|archive-date=30 November 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> Contemporary scholars widely reject Hislop's claims as unreliable;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Grabbe|first=Lester L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K2hIY_E_ngYC&pg=PA28|title=Can a 'history of Israel' be Written?|date=1997-01-01|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-85075-669-9|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Blind Spot: A Tale of Two Babylons|url=https://www.historicalblindness.com/blogandpodcast//blind-spot-a-tale-of-two-babylons|access-date=7 November 2021|website=Historical Blindness|language=en-US|date=26 March 2019|first1=Nathaniel|last1=Lloyd}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=23 April 2021|title=No, Easter wasn't named after a Mesopotamian goddess|url=https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/no-easter-wasnt-named-after-a-mesopotamian-goddess/|access-date=9 January 2022|website=Australian Associated Press|language=en|quote=Church historian and emeritus professor of history at Massey University in Auckland, [[Peter Lineham]], told AAP FactCheck: "Hislop's tendency was to think if it sounds the same it must be connected. That was the logic he used. It's a wonderful book because it's full of imagination and nonsense. It's fantastic but utterly misconceived."}}</ref> however, Bernard's core argument rests not on Hislop but on patristic sources and the biblical absence of explicitly tri-personal language.<ref name=":7" /> Oneness theologians such as Norris have also advanced alternative lines of argument based on biblical exegesis and early Christian texts.<ref name="IAMNorris" />

In contrast to Bernard's theory, Trinitarian scholars suggest the writings of Ignatius and Irenaeus teach an eternal Trinity,<ref name=":11">{{Cite web|title=What the Early Church Believed: God in Three Persons|url=https://www.catholic.com/tract/god-in-three-persons|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929014304/https://www.catholic.com/tract/god-in-three-persons|archive-date=29 September 2021|access-date=13 April 2021|website=Catholic Answers}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Hanson |first1=Mark |title=Tracing the Thread of Trinitarian Thought from Ignatius to Origen |url=https://www.mbu.edu/seminary/tracing-the-thread-of-trinitarian-thought-from-ignatius-to-origen/ |website=Maranatha Baptist Seminary |access-date=30 September 2021 |date=30 December 2011 }}</ref> though Norris disagrees with them in his book ''I AM: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology'', arguing that writers like Ignatius should not be retroactively read through the lens of fourth-century Trinitarian orthodoxy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Norris |first1=David |title=I AM: A Oneness Pentecostal Theology |date=4 September 2009 |publisher=Word Aflame Press |isbn=978-1565630000 |page=161 |chapter=Moving Away from Orthodoxy}}</ref>