Holiness churches are generally the most conservative denominations in the Wesleyan/Methodist tradition. (I grew up in the Free Methodist Church, with a God’s Bible School pastor…This is not going to mean much to most, but McKevin will, I am sure, recognize whence I sprang!!)
Me too! My “Burning Bush” ancestors had some connection with the founder of GBS (Martin Wells Knapp, wasn’t it? Or am I mixing him up with someone else?), and GBS was actually one of the first places I visited in the U.S. (I remember sitting on the floor in their bookstore reading a book. . . )
The name comes from a particular doctrinal teaching called Entire Sanctification, which springs largely from the writings of Charles Wesley, who was** much** more conservative than his more famous brother John…
I’d want to qualify this in several ways. First of all, Charles was more “conservative” in certain specific respects (such as his belief in apostolic succession), but not really ways that are relevant to this discussion I think. In the second place, I’m dubious as to whether Entire Sanctification is more based in Charles’s writings than in John’s. I’d like to hear your reasons for thinking this and which writings you are talking about. I’m more used to hearing John Fletcher credited/blamed for certain aspects of the later holiness doctrine (such as the identification of sanctification with the baptism of the Spirit). You may be right about Charles, but I’m not sure.
And finally, I wouldn’t describe holiness theology as “conservative.” Of course an insistence on holiness is conservative with respect to those traditions where it is the old-fashioned view; and of course it’s conservative in the sense that it promotes moral rigorism and very old-fashioned codes of conduct (at least in the 20th-century context). But in terms of the Christian tradition as a whole it’s hardly conservative theologically-it’s one of the more innovative doctrines in Christian history (at least what you and I were brought up to think of as the “conservative” version, namely instantaneous eradication–the “softer” version that I myself would hold to is more traditional, which is why I still hold to it).
Among the things that are prohibited by various groups within the holiness fold are: dancing, make-up,
Of course!
jewelry ( sometimes including wedding bands),
My grandmother started wearing a wedding ring after moving to Britain (my grandparents ran a Bible School in Glasgow and did evangelistic work all over Britain for years), because the holiness custom was not understood and many people didn’t think my grandparents were really married. My mother followed suit, and when we moved back to this country this was one of the points of conflict with the stricter holiness folks (one of the more minor reasons why we didn’t fit into that culture any more–we were really like Rip Van Winkle).
movie attendance, work and/or shopping on Sunday ( & often no eating out either;
It involves spending money, and it makes other people work. My parents have softened on this gradually (as on many things). But they still don’t eat out very much anyway, because they are frugal and prefer to do things for themselves (we raised a lot of our own vegetables).
one pastor forbade children playing out of doors).
I was discouraged from anything that was too rowdy, although long walks were encouraged, and I could usually get away with pretending to be a missionary or an early Christian or a Protestant being persecuted by Catholics, and managed to sneak in some running and shouting that way. . . .
Many people I knew growing up (including my own grandmother) considered “gosh”, “darn”, & “heck” to be near to swearing–certainly not allowed!
My mother once gave my father a hard time for saying “shucks.”
My mother has been writing novels recently, and in one of them she had a [worldly] character say, “Don’t give me that ****.” My mother has an extremely good ear for language, and is trying to make her characters as lifelike as possible. I had a struggle of conscience as to whether I should tell her what it meant. I kept quiet until she asked me directly. . . . The really funny part was that when my mother was wondering what the word actually meant, my father said, “Isn’t it some kind of dice game?” (Actually, he may have said “card game”–I don’t remember.)
Edwin
Let me know if I can help you in any way during your RCIA Shellie, and I’ll keep you in prayer. By the way, did your Nazarene church have aisle runners? Man, ours had some real characters. They would get “blessed” during the singing and run all over that church 
It’s always something.