Finis Jennings Dake

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The Dake Annotated Study Bible

Finis Jennings Dake (1902-1987) was an American Pentecostal minister and evangelist known primarily for his voluminous writings on the subjects of Pentecostal (or Charismatic) Evangelical Christian spirituality and Premillennial Dispensationalism: his most well known work being his Dake Annotated Reference Bible.

Dake’s work was arguably the first popularly received study bible produced by someone from a Pentecostal theological framework. Previous similar efforts were invariably produced from ardent anti-pentecostalists (such as C.I.Scofield’s Study Bible).

[edit] Religious conversion and personal life

Dake received Jesus Christ as his personal Savior at the age of 17. Dake claimed that he also received a 'special anointing' that allowed him to quote major portions of Scripture from memory. Dake preached his first sermon in 1925 and was ordained by the Assemblies of God denomination two years later. After working as a pastor and evangelist in Texas and Oklahoma, he moved to Zion, Illinois, in order to become the pastor of the Christian Assembly Church. In Zion, he also founded Shiloh Bible Institute, which ultimately merged with Central Bible Institute and which was located in the home formerly owned by controversial faith healer John Alexander Dowie.

During Dake’s ministry in Zion, he was the center of a controversy. In 1937, he was convicted of violating the Mann Act by willfully transporting 16-year-old hitchhiker Emma Barelli across the Wisconsin state line “for the purpose of debauchery and other immoral practices.” Dake pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in a Milwaukee jail. Though he maintained his innocence of intent, Dake subsequently lost ordination with the Assemblies of God.

His writings have been the source of some controversy within certain Christian circles: He has been accused of advocating a nonstandard interpretation of the Trinity, as well as other controversial viewpoints and beliefs such as the gap theory, adoptionism, and even racial segregation. For example, concerning the question if Jesus existed "in relationship" as God the Father's "Son" before the manger in Bethlem (the question of the eternal sonship of Jesus), he writes in the notes of the annotated reference bible "As God, the person we now know of as Jesus Christ had no beginning, was not begotten, was not a Son, and did not come into being . . . .but as man and as God's Son He was not eternal, He did have a beginning, He was begotten, this being the same time Mary had a Son. Therefore, the doctrine of eternal sonship of Jesus Christ is irreconcilable to reason, is unscriptural, and is contradictory to itself" (p. 139).

Besides the Dake Study Bible, he is known for the two-year Bible course, "God's Plan for Man."

In spite of the critics his influence among contemporary Charismatic and Pentecostal should not been underestimated. Popular televangelist Benny Hinn has credited Finis Dake with helping to mold his theological beliefs. Indeed his influence has been so strong that at least two popular Pentecostal evangelists have been accused of actually plagiarizing his writings: Kenneth Hagin and and Jimmy Swaggart.