Serving Through Study: Holy Spirit Research Center Reaches Globe
Every university has a library; but not every university has a portion of that library
dedicated entirely to researching the Holy Spirit, and especially the Spirit-empowered
movement. In fact, Oral Roberts University may host the only university library in
the world with that distinction.
“What makes our collection unique is how broad it is,” said Dr. Daniel Isgrigg, Assistant Professor and Director of the Holy Spirit Research Center. “It is one of the best collections of materials for studying the Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements, and researchers have come from all over the world to use the materials.”
Housed at ORU, the Holy Spirit Research Center began life in 1962 as the “Pentecostal Research Center” when Oral Roberts and R.O. Corvin realized that various leaders in the Spirit-empowered movement weren’t focused on preserving their materials. Recognizing an opportunity for the soon-to-open ORU to serve the movement and the Christian church, Roberts donated his own personal collection to start the library, hired a librarian, and solicited materials from denominations, ministries, and organizations around the world.
“For the last 50 years, we’ve been documenting the worldwide move of the Holy Spirit and preserving testimonies, because when God spoke to Oral Roberts about building this University, He said, ‘Build it on the Holy Spirit,’” said Isgrigg. “This Research Center has been here as a signal to the entire world that if you want to study the Holy Spirit, Oral Roberts University is the place to be.”
One place of interest to academic researchers is the diverse collection of magazines and newsletters from organizations and ministries throughout the Spirit-empowered movement. Reading the papers these organizations produced helps researchers understand their mindset. They were regular, weekly or monthly, they contained doctrine, they contained news of what was going on. Pentecostal researchers are investing lots of time in reading those papers.
But the collection is far more extensive than just that.
“We have resources from the early Pentecostal movement, like the Azusa Street Revival or major characters like Smith Wigglesworth and Aimee Semple McPherson,” said Isgrigg. “We may have the best Charismatic Catholic collection in the US, as well as Lutheran Charismatic. Typically, Pentecostal archives are archiving only Pentecostal material, but we went a whole lot broader a whole lot earlier, which makes the Holy Spirit Research Center a unique and special collection.”
Isgrigg and ORU are now working to expand access to the HSRC by offering much of its material digitally to anyone with a working internet connection.
“Digitization is the next wave, allowing the materials that were hidden to have global access,” said Isgrigg. “The Digital Showcase is the new frontier to make an archive accessible to the world. We had 29,645 downloads from 173 countries during the past academic year. What used to be only available if they came to the physical campus is now available globally for free. If we have rights to digitize it, we have posted it for those who are trying to do new work on the Spirit-empowered movement.”
As the coronavirus pandemic stretches into yet another month, limiting travel for many, the Digital Showcase at the HSRC is seeing a marked uptick in visits.
“Downloads in 2020 are pacing to be twice as high as in 2019,” said Isgrigg. “It’s been a flurry of activity, which might correspond to the shutdown. People are finding it, and it’s exploding.”
All of which is allowing more and more people to study the history of the Spirit-empowered movement, charting its course and gaining new understanding not just of the past but also, possibly, of what lies ahead.
“If you want to know what God is doing today,” said Isgrigg, “you can look back at history to find out where He’s been.