Heavenly Experiences and the Practicality of Pentecostal Piety

Healing practices, especially resurrection claims, are critical extensions of Pentecostal piety. As the analytical lens for this paper, I argue that piety—understood as that which attests to how adherents subversively use a distinct set of religio-cultural norms—specifically, Pentecostal piety performed by Black Pentecostal women like Bishop Ida Bell Robinson, solidified them as trusted practitioners and producers of supernatural occurrences. This paper uses the “heavenly experience” of Bishop Ida Bell Robinson, founder of the Mount Sinai Holy Church of America, to elucidate the logics inherent to relationships articulated between religious authority, belief, and practice. As such, it interrogates Pentecostal piety's religio-cultural, -social, and -economic discourses within predominantly Black and women-led congregations in the early to mid-twentieth century. This paper emphasizes how Black Pentecostal women’s demonstration of Pentecostal piety—e.g., authority over sickness and death—went beyond the confines of the liturgy and worship to have practical importance.