jepta 2001 21 - European Pentecostal Theological Association

The Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association, Vol. XXI, 2001
Arthur Booth-Clibborn: Pentecostal Patriarch: James Robinson
condemned William Booth for not reproving the rich, she rose and shouted that
the allegation was a lie. The last sermon she was permitted to preach in Zion was
to a congregation of five thousand on the theme of David as a man "after God's
own heart", a riposte to Dowie's castigation of him as "that dirty dog David".'
Yet, when she asked Dowie why he had not ordained her husband, he replied "It
is you 1 want and I will not ordain him without But, as she wrote to her
close friend, the noted social reformer, Josephine Butler (1828-1906), "1 cannot
give my ten beautiful children to this man".' To another friend she wrote "so
much in him revolts me and violates the highest spiritual instincts I have".4 In a
recently uncovered letter marked "Private", written to a friend in England and
addressed from Moody Bible Institute, Chicago in 1913, she confided "that no
one has heard of the Dowie episode in the States. The Dowie community is very
small and dying now and I am going to have jt published over M or in
Canada"' (her emphases). The reference seems to be to the biography of her
written at the time by James Strachan, advance copies of which she had just
received. Earlier in the letter she had given a stem warning to her friend to whom
she had entrusted all her private papers:
Now listen, supposing James Strachan or Mr.
Booth-Clibborn wishes to get anything out of the
, (-) room, please kindly refuse both! - those
papers I have entrusted to your care and I forbid
vou to allow anvone to touch them - remember
this!' (her emphases).
Clearly, even a decade later, the whole Zion City experience still rankled. In
1966, Strachan's biography was re-issued and contained a new final chapter
written by her son Theodore. In it, there is no mention of the Dowie episode,
only hints that this period was for his mother "a veritable Via Dolorosa". '
The Booth-Clibborns spent four months in Zion City before Catherine persuaded
Arthur, against his will, to leave Zion City, though not the Zion movement. He
was appointed its representative in the Netherlands. They lived in Amsterdam
and Brussels for about two years and then moved to Paris for Arthur to take
' Carolyn Scott, op. cic, 202.
C. van der Laan, op. cit., 65.
' Carolyn Scon, op. cit., 203.
' Carolyn Scott , op. cit., 203
900th-Clibborn Collection. The letter is dated 1 December 1913 and was sent to a Mr.
Callow.
Ibid., The biography of Catherine Booth-Clibborn first appeared in 1914. (James Strachan (c.
1921 ed.): The Marechale: The Founder of the Salvation Army in France and Switzerland,
James Clarke & Co., London.
James Strachan (1966 edition) op. cit., 201.
charge of the Zion work there in 1904. However, there is considerable
uncertainty about their movements at this time and the exact status of Kate. The
Schweizer Evangelist of 7 February 1902 reported that the Booth-Clibborns had
returned to Europe to start an independent evangelistic mission in Holland and
France.' On the other hand, in Leaves of Healing (9 July 1904) both Arthur and
Kate were described as Elders of the Zion church and in the 24 September issue,
Elder A. S. Booth-Clibborn was still recorded as the representative of Zion living
in Amsterdam. The accuracy of the Schweizer Evangelist report is extremely
doubtful. Circumstances at that time were hardly propitious for her to engage in
an independent ministry. Hurt by the fact that Salvation Army halls were closed
to her and that her former comrades proved stiff in their dealings with both of
them, she had resigned herself to never preaching again, fearing it would be
interpreted as her setting up in opposition to the Army. In any case, she was
hardly in a fit state, either mentally or physically, to engage in public ministry:
she confided in her diary, "depression, timidity, fear, and sadness, mark my
character today"' (her emphasis).
EUROPEAN PENTECOSTALISM
It was during this period that Arthur, unbeknown to himself, was to make one of
his most marked contributions to the Pentecostal cause in Europe. Gemt Roelof
Polman (1868-1932) began his ministry in the Dutch Salvation Army under the
direction of Booth-Clibborn. With the cadets in the Army's training school,
Polman raised questions about divine healing and the Second Coming that were
sparked by Dowie's visit to Europe in 1900. The resignation of the Booth-
Clibborns from the Salvation Army in January 1902 precipitated the departure of
some key officers from the Salvation Army in the Netherlands, among them
Polman. Two years later, through Booth-Clibborn, he made contact with Dowie
in Zion City and stayed there until 1906 when he and his wife were sent back, as
ordained messengers, to the Netherlands "to make known the glorious
Everlasting Gospel of Salvation, Healing and Holy Living"' Stirred by reports of
the Welsh Revival and Azusa Street, and particularly by news of Pentecostal
manifestations in Zurich as witnessed by one of their number, the group formed
round Polman became Pentecostal in 1907. His wife received her Spirit-baptism
on the 29 October 1907, the date identified by Polman as their break with the
Zion movement and the start of the Pentecostal work in the Netherlands. Polman
' C. van der Laan, op. cit., 70,n.62
Carolyn Scon, op. cit., 205. This from one normally the most feisty of women. Her grandson
described her as "a woman of enormous practical ability and energy and sheer nerve" (Notes on
the life of Stanley Booth-Clibborn, 1). Richard Collier, writing of their Salvation Army days in
Switzerland when they were forbidden by the government to hold public meetings, commented
that Kate's reaction was predictable; "She would test the power of the decree by disobeying it"
(Quoted in C. van der Laan, op. cit., 63).
' C. van der Laan, op, cit., 86.