E. W. Kenyon

Korv Essek William Kenyon [aka] E. W. Kenyon (1867–1948) was an evangelist pastorcite web
last = Wade
first = Peter
title = E.W. Kenyon: A Tribute
url=http://www.peterwade.com/articles/kenyon/index.shtml
accessdate = 2007-04-05 ] of the New Covenant Baptist Church and president of the Bethel Bible Institute in Spencer, Massachusetts, for twenty-five years. The school later moved to Providence, Rhode Island and became Providence Bible Institute. It later became Barrington College and merged with Gordon College, which was named after one of Kenyon's many mentors, A.J. Gordon.

His life

Kenyon was born on April 24, 1867 in Hadley, New York. At the age of 17 in a Methodist prayer meeting he was converted, however he eventually struggled without being discipled in the doctrinal foundations of faith and having not received the Holy Spirit. [http://www.kenyons.org/who.shtml] He became a church member in his early 20s and gave his first sermon at a Methodist Church in Amsterdam, New York. Although desiring to be an actor, Kenyon earned a living as a piano and organ salesperson. During this time, Kenyon declared himself an agnostic. In an attempt to hone his acting skills, Kenyon attended the Emerson School of Oratory in Boston for one year in 1892.

Kenyon first married Evva Spurling. Like Kenyon, Spurling was also an agnostic. The two were married on May 8, 1893. Shortly afterward, Kenyon attended the services of Clarendon Street Church led by pastor Adoniram Judson (A.J.) Gordon.cite web
last = AtCross
title = Who Was EW Kenyon
url=http://www.atcross.com.sg/author.html
accessdate = 2007-04-05 ] At this service, Kenyon and his wife became Christians. Later that year, Kenyon joined the Free Will Baptists and became a pastor at a small church in Elmira, New York.

In 1898, Kenyon opened Bethel Bible Institute, which remained in operation until 1923. Evva Kenyon returned to Essek in 1910. She died in 1914. Subsequently, Kenyon married Alice M. Whitney, having a son and a daughter.

Faith controversy

There is considerable debate over the amount of influence Kenyon provides for the Word of Faith movement. A number of Word of Faith adherents and critics insist Kenyon's influence is minimal and restricted primarily to the his teachings regarding the name of Jesus. On the other hand, a number of critics including D.R. McConnell, Dave Hunt, and Hank Hannegraaff imply that Word of Faith mainstream doctrine is little more than plagiarized Kenyon.

In 1979, Oral Roberts University professor Charles Farah wrote "From the Pinnacle of the Temple," a book that took issue with a number of teachings in the Faith movement. He traced Kenyon's roots to the metaphysical cults to Kenyon's time at Emerson. One of Farah's students, Daniel Ray McConnell, wrote his Master's thesis built upon what has been called "the Kenyon connection". This thesis was later edited and sold to the public in 1988 as "A Different Gospel." McConnell's basic argument was that Kenyon got his doctrine from the cults, Kenneth Hagin got his doctrine from Kenyon by plagiarizing it, and thus the entire Faith movement was built on a cultic root. Christian Research Institute leader Hank Hanegraaff reiterated much of McConnell's thesis in 1993 in "Christianity in Crisis." [See, Hank Hanegraaff, "Christianity in Crisis", (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1993), pp 331-337.] Fact|date=April 2007 Verify source|E. W. Kenyon|date=August 2007

However, information was also gleaned from other quarters. William DeArteaga, a charismatic based in Atlanta, GA, argued that Kenyon did not teach heretical doctrines but did gain some heterodox concepts from Emerson College. This argument was one of many DeArteaga presented in "Quenching the Spirit." A Norwegian named Geir Lie then entered the fray with his 1994 Master's thesis that was eventually released as "E.W. Kenyon: Evangelical Minister or Cult Founder?" Lie argued that Kenyon's doctrine was basically in accordance with Holiness/Higher Life teachings, but he may have been influenced to a certain degree by the metaphysical cults. cite book
last = Lie
first = Geir
title = .W. Kenyon : cult founder or evangelical minister? : an historical analysis of Kenyon's theology with particular emphasis on roots and influences
publisher = Refleks Publishing
year = 2003
isbn = 82-996599-1-4 ]

Perhaps the most scholarly argument was advanced in 1997 by Dr. Dale H. Simmons. Simmons was a classmate of McConnell's at ORU in the early 1980s. Simmons' research indicated that Kenyon drew influence from both the Higher Life movement of the late 1800s and the cult of New Thought. Simmons' argument was that Kenyon might have been unaware of the degree of similarity between both systems.Fact|date=April 2007Verify source|date=August 2007

In 1998, the first pro-Kenyon book was introduced by a Word of Faith pastor, Joe McIntyre. McIntyre's book, "E.W. Kenyon: The True Story," argued that Kenyon was in no way influenced by the cults but was completely and thoroughly orthodox in his doctrinal teachings. McIntyre took no pains to conceal the notion that his book was a "rebuttal" to McConnell's argument. McIntyre, currently heads the Kenyon Gospel Publishing Society.Fact|date=April 2007 Verify source|date=August 2007

Works

Below are many of E. W. Kenyon's published works
* "Advanced Bible Course: Studies in the Deeper Life"
* "Bible in the Light of our Redemption: A Basic Bible Course"
* "Blood Covenant"
* "Father and His Family: The Story of Man’s Redemption"
* "Hidden Man of the Heart"
* "Identification"
* "In His Presence: The Secret of Prayer"
* "Jesus the Healer: Has Brought Healing to Thousands"
* "Kenyon’s Living Poems"
* "New Creation Realities"
* "New Kind of Love"
* "Signposts on the Road to Success"
* "Two Kinds of Faith"
* "Two Kinds of Knowledge"
* "Two Kinds of Life"
* "Two Kinds of Righteousness"
* "What Happened: From the Cross to the Throne"
* "Wonderful Name of Jesus: Our Rights and Privileges in Pray"

External links

* [http://www.kenyons.org/index.htm Kenyons Gospel Publishing Society]
* [http://www.refleks-publishing.com/en/books/kenyon-en.htm REFLEKS-Publishing (Geir Lie)]

References