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Despite being healed from smallpox in 1903, William Seymour incurred scarring in his left eye and lived with monocular vision. He wore a glass eye that somewhat concealed his disability, and few photographs reveal his deformity. Pentecostal scholars have reflected deeply on Seymour's race and class but have devoted little discussion to his disability. Seymour himself seemingly attributed his blindness to his own sin, but his theology assumed that healing was available to everyone, and that God aimed to cure all sick and disabled persons. The disjuncture between Seymour's theology and his personal experience of disability gives Pentecostals an opportunity to reflect anew on how the movement has unknowingly misunderstood and harmed many persons living with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although black Pentecostal leaders are known for their emphasis on holiness and spiritual empowerment, they are not renowned for having led and spearheaded political protest struggles during the Civil Rights movement. In this paper I discuss black Pentecostals' postures toward political protest struggles, and I analyze reasons why some black Pentecostals participated in the Civil Rights movement while others did not. My central argument is that critical consciousness formation played an integral role in motivating a minority of Church of God in Christ (COGIC) clergy and leaders to engage in Civil Rights protest struggles. That is to say, many black Pentecostals who took part in the movement reconciled their strivings for spiritual empowerment against evil with critical reflection upon complex social, political, and economic realities. They recognized the utility of opposing structures of oppression through direct, nonviolent means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]