The primary emphasis of my research this Summer has been to find and develop a chronological timeline of all of the Assemblies of God books that discuss AG doctrine.  Gospel Publishing House has produced works for Pentecostal minsters and lay people nearly from the beginning of the AG.  Soon after the AG began, GPH published tracts on various topics that were advertised in the PE and available to purchase.  A decade later, various books were beginning to emerge from the press.  They have continued to produce materials for the Assemblies of God.

My research has been focused on collecting the rescources that attempt to articulate  Assemblies of God doctrine.   These books, I believe, will tell the story of the development of our doctrine as our leaders attempted to flesh out the truths included in the Statement of Fundamental Truths that was adopted in 1916.  It is this pivotal relationship between the bible doctrine and the fundamental truths that I hope to investigate.

In doing so I have a running timeline of resources produced by the Gospel Publishing House on the topics of Bible Doctrine & Fundamentals and a list of resources on Eschatology.  For those interested in this topic, I thought I would share my list.  Perhaps it will benefit your research as well.  If you know of any others, please comment so I can add them to my list.

A couple observations from developing this timeline:

• The first full bible doctrine book was produced 20 years after the AG wrote its Statement of Fundamental truths.  The first systematic theology was written nearly 40 years after the AG started.  Although there were many article about various doctrinal or bible truths in the Pentecostal Evangel, very little was produced as a comprehensive understanding of the theology of the AG.  Consequently, not much has been done in the second half of the century either. P.C. Nelson’s Bible Doctrines, first written in 1936, is still used as a text for new AG minister today.  Only two new works on doctrine have been produced in the past 30 years despite the explosion of Assemblies of God ministers & educators holding post-graduate degrees.
• Works on eschatology were some of the first books produced by GPH.  Frank Boyd was by far the most influential eschatological writer in the period of 1925-1960.  Horton carried the eschatological tradition forward from 1960 to the present. Since 1975, despite the popularity of books on the End Times, there have only been five books on eschatology published by GPH and four of them were by Stanley Horton.

It’s unclear what all this means at this point. This is the task of this dissertation. I am attempting to construct a narrative of the development of Assemblies of God doctrine with particular emphasis on its eschatology.  This is the fun part of this PhD journey.  I hope I am enjoying it just as much 4 years from now.

Bible Doctrines Timeline

1926 – Pillars of Truth – S. A. Jamieson

1927 – Fundamentals of the Faith – D. W. Kerr

1936 – Bible Doctrines – P. C. Nelson (SWBC edition)

1937 – Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible – Myer Pearlman

1948 – Pentecostal Truth – Pearlman and Boyd

1948 – Bible Doctrines – P. C. Nelson (GPH edition)

1953 – Systematic Theology E. S. Williams

1954 – We Believe…A Comprehensive Statement of Christian Faith Riggs – GPH

1954 – What My Church Believes: Assemblies of God Cornerstone series book two Ralph Riggs GPH

1955 – Into All Truth – Stanley M. Horton GPH

1963 – Our Faith and Fellowship – Ralph W. Harris – Teacher’s Manual

1963 – Fundamentals of the Faith Donald Johns – Teachers Manual

1973 – We Hold these Truths – Zenas J. Bicket – GPH

1977 – Our Faith and Our Fellowship – G. Raymond Carlson GPH

1980 – Understanding Our Doctrine – William Menzies

1993 – Bible Doctrines: A Pentecostal Perspective – Menzies & Horton Logion

1994 – Systematic Theology – Ed. Stanley M. Horton

Eschatology Book Timeline

1925 – The Budding Fig Tree – Frank Boyd

1928 – Things Which Must Shortly Come To Pass – Stanley Frodsham

1928? – Jesus coming at hand (collection of articles) GPH

1937 – The Path of Prophecy – Ralph M. Riggs*

1948 – Introduction to Prophecy – Frank Boyd

1948 – Studies in Revelation – J. Narver Gortner* intro by Frank Boyd

1950s – Signs of the Times – Frank Boyd

1955 – Ages and Dispensations – Frank Boyd

1959 – Waiting… C.M. Ward (evidential)

1962 – God’s Calendar of Coming Events – Riggs

1963 – Bible Prophecy – Stanley Horton (teachers manual)

1963 – Dispensational Studies – Ralph Riggs*

1967 – Promise of His Coming – Stanley Horton

1967 – Studies in the Revelation of Jesus Christ – Frank Boyd (Berean)

1968 – Prophetic Light – Frank Boyd

1968 – The Story of the Future – Ralph Riggs

1975 – Its Getting Late – Commentary on first Thessalonians – Stanley Horton

1975 – What You Should Know About Prophecy – C M. Ward (adapted from Horton)*

1977 – God’s Plan for this Planet – Ian Macpherson (GPH)

1981 – What’s Ahead: A Study of End-Times Events (book) Charles Harris

1982 – What’s Ahead (Teacher Guide) – Carol A. Ball

1991 – The Ultimate Victory – Stanley Horton

1995 – Bible Prophecy: Understanding Future Events – Stanley Horton*

1996 – Our Destiny: Biblical Teachings on Last Things – Stanley Horton

(Image is an advertisement for GPH’s first Prophecy book in the Pentecostal Evangel in 1927)