Please add new comments at the bottom of the page.
A fact from Latter Rain (1880s movement) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 5 August 2010 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Christianity, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Christianity on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ChristianityWikipedia:WikiProject ChristianityTemplate:WikiProject ChristianityChristianity articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Religion, a project to improve Wikipedia's articles on Religion-related subjects. Please participate by editing the article, and help us assess and improve articles to good and 1.0 standards, or visit the wikiproject page for more details.ReligionWikipedia:WikiProject ReligionTemplate:WikiProject ReligionReligion articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions.
Latter Rain (1880s movement) is within the scope of WikiProject Tennessee, an open collaborative effort to coordinate work for and sustain comprehensive coverage of Tennessee and related subjects in the Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, and even become a member. [Project Articles] • [Project Page] • [Project Talk] • [Assessment] • [Template Usage]TennesseeWikipedia:WikiProject TennesseeTemplate:WikiProject TennesseeTennessee articles
I've started off the article based upon the sources I have. I'm certain that there is more which can be said about the subject. My main concern in making this introduction was to provide something for readers searching on the subject and who were instead landing on Latter Rain (post-World War II movement). • Astynaxtalk 22:42, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
After reading over this article, it seems to me that this duplicates the early and formative history of the Church of God (Cleveland) and its various splinter groups. If that is the case, maybe this article should be merged into that article's "Origins" section. Or this article could be revised to more clearly link this revival to the early development of the Church of God. If that happened, then we could summarize the early COG history at that article and link to this article.
I started the article precisely because "Latter Rain Movement" does not consist only of, or even primarily of, the 1940s movement (also sometimes termed as either "New Order of the Latter Rain" or "Latter Rain Revival" in references). Nor does the earlier movement exactly coincide with the history of the CoG-Cleveland (others share in those origins more than they do directly with CoG-Cleveland). Sources certainly distinguish between the "latter rain" movements, and there is no reason why we should funnel people searching on the term mainly toward one of the movements claiming that title. There is certainly more which can be added from references to further expand this article, and I doubt that will occur if its focused is narrowed by being merged into CoG-Cleveland. Moreover, there appear to be enough scholarly references that an article focused on the various uses of "Latter Rain" is possible, and renaming Latter Rain (post–World War II movement) to "Latter Rain" would be even more confusing if such an article is produced. • Astynaxtalk 18:18, 24 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia's guidelines on disambiguation says that if there is a primary topic, then that topic should have the undisambiguated title, with a notice at the top of the article linking to Latter Rain Movement (disambiguation). Any search on the internet will show that the later movement is the primary topic.
You say that this revival encompassed more than just the COG, but I'm not seeing them represented in this article. I see one paragraph mentioning Parham and Seymour but they are not specifically linked to this revival, just early Pentecostlism as a whole. Yes, early Pentecostalism was called the Latter Rain outpouring, but this article isn't about that. As written now it is about a single revival that occurred in the Southeast and contributed to the COG. If there is more than it needs to be added to the article.
And let me be clear, I'm suggesting the current article named Latter Rain (post–World War II movement) be renamed as Latter Rain Movement as it is by Wikipdia's definition the primary topic that most people who look up "Latter Rain Movement" will be looking for. There should then be a Latter Rain Movement (disambiguation) page to distinguish between any other movements going by that name which is noted and linked to at the top of the Latter Rain Movement page. In my opinion Latter Rain should be its own article which discusses the origins, development, and various uses of the Latter Rain motif within Pentecostalism and other Christian movements. I would be willing to contribute to such an article. Ltwin (talk) 20:01, 25 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]
