# Alexander Boddy

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alexander_Boddy
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alexander_Boddy.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Boddy
> Source revision: 1274553196
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Vicar and Pioneer of Anglican Pentecostalism (1854–1930)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox clergy
| child            = 
| honorific_prefix = [The Reverend](/source/The_Reverend)
| name             = Alexander Boddy
| honorific_suffix = 
| image            = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing [brackets](/source/brackets) -->
| image_size       = 
| alt              = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption          = 
| nationality      = <!-- use only when necessary per [WP:INFONAT](/source/WP%3AINFONAT) -->
| citizenship      = <!-- use only when necessary per [WP:INFONAT](/source/WP%3AINFONAT) -->
| pronunciation    = 
| birth_name       = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date       = 15 November 1854
| birth_place      = 
| burial_place     = 
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=y|10 September 1930|15 November 1854}}
| death_place      = 
| death_cause      = <!--should only be included when the cause of death has significance for the subject's notability-->
| other_names      = 
| years_active     = 
| occupation       = 
| education        = 
| alma_mater       = 
| known_for        = 
| spouse           = {{marriage|Mary|1891}}
| partner          = <!-- (unmarried long-term partner) -->
| parents          = <!-- overrides mother and father parameters -->
| children         = 
| relatives        = 
| website          = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| footnotes        = 
| signature        = 
| signature_alt    = 
| nocat_wdimage    = 
| religion         = [Church of England](/source/Church_of_England)
| church           = [All Saints' Church, Monkwearmouth](/source/All_Saints'_Church%2C_Monkwearmouth) (1884–1922)<ref>{{cite web |title=Alexander A. Boddy |url=https://keithmalcomson.weebly.com/alexander-a-boddy.html |website=Keith Malcomson |access-date=5 October 2024 |language=en}}</ref> [St Laurence's Church, Pittington, Durham](/source/St_Laurence's_Church%2C_Pittington%2C_Durham)
| ordained         = 
| laicised         = 
| writings         = 
| congregations    = 
| offices_held     = 
| title            = 
| module           =  
}}
'''Alexander Alfred Boddy''' (15 November 1854 – 10 September 1930) was an [Anglican](/source/Anglican) vicar and one of the founders of [Pentecostalism](/source/Pentecostalism) in [Britain](/source/United_Kingdom).

==Early life==
Boddy was born into an ecclesiastical family: his father was a vicar, and his mother was a descendant of Mary Vazeille, who had been married to [John Wesley](/source/John_Wesley). Although he trained to be a [solicitor](/source/solicitor), a religious experience at the [Keswick Convention](/source/Keswick_Convention) convinced him he should become ordained into the [Church of England](/source/Church_of_England). Following several appointments, the [Bishop of Durham](/source/Bishop_of_Durham), [J. B. Lightfoot](/source/Joseph_Lightfoot), placed him in [All Saints](/source/All_Saints'_Church%2C_Monkwearmouth) Church in [Monkwearmouth](/source/Monkwearmouth), [Sunderland](/source/Sunderland%2C_Tyne_and_Wear) in 1884.<ref name="Pent. Dict.">{{cite book|last=Bundy|first=David D.|title=The new international dictionary of Pentecostal and charismatic movements.|year=2002|publisher=Zondervan Pub. House|location=Grand Rapids, Mich.|isbn=0310224810|edition=Rev. and expanded|editor=Stanley M. Burgess|pages=436–437|chapter=Boddy, Alexander Alfred}}</ref> In 1891 he married Mary Pollock.

Boddy was inspired by the [Holiness Movement](/source/Holiness_Movement), and he had an intense religious experience in 1892. In 1899 his wife Mary experienced a healing from asthma and they both believed that she had a gift for healing through the laying-on of hands. In 1904 he visited [Wales](/source/Wales) during the [Welsh Revival](/source/1904-1905_Welsh_Revival) and met [Evan Roberts](/source/Evan_Roberts_(minister)), and in 1907<ref name="seeking4truth.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.seeking4truth.com/boddy.htm |title=BODDY, ALEXANDER ALFRED (1854-1930) |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Seeking4Truth |access-date=December 25, 2018 |quote=}}</ref> he travelled to [Oslo](/source/Oslo), where [T. B. Barratt](/source/Thomas_Ball_Barratt) was leading a religious revival modelled on the events of the [Azusa Street Revival](/source/Azusa_Street_Revival) in [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles). Barratt was invited to Boddy's church, and subsequently Boddy and his wife began to experience speaking in tongues.

==Boddy in Pentecostal history==
All Saints in [Monkwearmouth](/source/Monkwearmouth) became a centre for British Pentecostalism, and on Tuesday 28 October 1907, Mary Boddy laid hands on the evangelist [Smith Wigglesworth](/source/Smith_Wigglesworth).<ref>{{cite book |last=Gee |first=Donald |date=1941 |title=The Pentecostal Movement   |publisher=Elim Publishing |page=24  }}</ref> From 1908 to 1914 Boddy hosted a series of Sunderland Whitsuntide Conventions, which gained national press attention.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gee |first=Donald |date=3 December 2014 |title=The Pentecostal Movement - A Short History And An Interpretation For British Readers |publisher=Masterson Press |isbn=9781447493983 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IBh9CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT78 |at=Ch. 7 |quote=England awoke one morning to find the entire front page of the Daily Mirror taken up with a picture of Smith Wigglesworth baptising a company in the North Sea, and that in the month of May. The picture doubtless was very appropriately headed - "PENTECOSTAL CHILL BAPTISM." |edition=Kindle }}</ref>

Boddy also helped to found the Pentecostal Missionary Union, with [Cecil Polhill](/source/Cecil_Polhill),<ref>{{cite journal|last=Blumhofer|first=Edith|title=Alexander Boddy and the Rise of Pentecostalism in Great Britain|journal=[Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies](/source/Pneuma%3A_The_Journal_of_the_Society_for_Pentecostal_Studies)|date=Spring 1986|volume=8|issue=1|pages=31–40|doi=10.1163/157007486x00039|doi-access=free}}</ref>  and he was a member of the Pentecostal International Advisory Council (IAC). As a Church of England minister, he tried to discourage the creation of separate [denomination](/source/Christian_denomination)s.

==Teachings==
Boddy taught that the purpose of the [Holy Spirit](/source/Holy_Spirit) was to emphasise [Christ](/source/Christ), and that divine love was more important than speaking in tongues. He continued to have a high view of the [sacrament](/source/sacrament)s, and defended the practice of [infant baptism](/source/infant_baptism). He warned against exaggeration as regards healing testimonies. He also believed that the [Second Coming](/source/Second_Coming) of Christ was imminent, and he suggested that certain events during [World War I](/source/World_War_I) were portents of Biblical prophecy. After visiting the [USA](/source/United_States), he was disturbed by an emphasis among Pentecostal churches there on money. Unlike some other Pentecostals, he supported the British war effort.

==Publications==
Prior to his Pentecostal experience Boddy composed a number of ''Roker Tracts'' on Holiness subjects. He also wrote several travel books on [Russia](/source/Russia), [Canada](/source/Canada), [Palestine](/source/Palestine_(region)), and [Egypt](/source/Egypt). From 1908&ndash;1926 he was the editor of and chief contributor to ''Confidence'' magazine.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*Wakefield, Gavin, ''The First Pentecostal Anglican: The Life and Legacy of Alexander Boddy'', Grove Books Limited: Cambridge, 2001.
*Wakefield, Gavin, ''Alexander Boddy Pentecostal Anglican Pioneer'', Paternoster Press: {{ISBN|978-1-84227-346-3}}, 2007.

==External links==
* [http://www.pentecostalpioneers.org Pentecostal Pioneers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103100014/http://www.pentecostalpioneers.org/ |date=2011-11-03 }}
* [https://www.amazon.com/Vicars-Testimony-Pentecost-Sunderland-ebook/dp/B009B5CY6S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355861164&sr=8-1&keywords=boddy+a+vicar%27s+testimony A Vicar's Testimony]
* [https://www.amazon.com/Pleading-of-the-Blood-ebook/dp/B008LY2N48/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355862345&sr=1-1&keywords=alexander+a+boddy+pleading+of+the+blood (The True) Pleading of the Blood (Kindle Edition)]
* [https://www.amazon.com/The-Laying-Hands-ebook/dp/B0084UYFL8/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355862415&sr=1-2&keywords=alexander+a+boddy The Laying on of Hands (Kindle Edition)]
* [https://www.amazon.com/Pentecost-for-England-ebook/dp/B008LX6ZCK/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355862415&sr=1-3&keywords=alexander+a+boddy Pentecost for England (Kindle Edition)]

==Video==
''Outpouring of the Holy Spirit'' is a church history [documentary](/source/documentary_film) about the 1907 Sunderland Revival and Alexander Boddy. (www.garywilkinson.eu)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boddy, Alexander}}
Category:1854 births
Category:1930 deaths
Category:19th-century English Anglican priests
Category:20th-century English Anglican priests
Category:English Pentecostals

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alexander Boddy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Boddy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Boddy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.