This article interprets the accounts and testimonies of native Chilean Pentecostalism, from a philosophical approach. In these accounts Pentecostal dilemmas are expressed and that oppressed beings prove by the economical and social conditions that the Chilean society lived in the 20th century. These dilemmas manifest anguish produced by absurd, emptiness and loneliness; that rise due to illness, alcoholism and poverty, which leads the individual to critical situations that push him to choose being Pentecostal, stigmatized beings and socially excluded, (...) or to suffer and death. Once they have chosen being Pentecostal the symbolic exodus starts, interpreting the past, the society and individuality in a tragic way. (shrink)

El presente artículo interpreta desde un punto de vista filosófico, los relatos y testimonios del pentecostalismo criollo chileno. En dichos relatos se expresan los dilemas pentecostales que evidencian seres oprimidos por las condiciones económicas y sociales que vivió la sociedad chilena en el siglo XX. Estos dilemas manifiestan angustias producto del absurdo, el nadismo y la soledad, que aflora frente a la enfermedad, el alcoholismo y la pobreza, lo que le lleva a situaciones límites que lo empujan a elegir el (...) ser pentecostal, seres estigmatizados y excluidos sociales, o el sufrimiento y la muerte. Y una vez que han elegido el ser pentecostal comienza el éxodo simbólico, interpretando el pasado, la sociedad y la individualidad de una manera trágica. (shrink)

Religion mediates and shapes how people negotiate and navigate their existential realities. Christianity accentuates the belief in Jesus Christ and prescribes how that belief should influence the worldview and actions of people. One of the challenges of the reception of Christianity in Africa is that African Traditional Religion remains the cosmic lens through which Christians confront their spiritual and ethical dilemmas and choices vis-à-vis the exhortations of the Bible message. This paper examines the force of the Christian message for African (...) Christians. It looks at how the Christian message was presented, how African Christians appropriate the gospel message and how they fill the ‘gaps’ in their practice of Christianity. As movies bring to bear stories about lived realities and shape attitudes and behaviour, this paper also examines the reception of the Biblical message by reviewing a selection of African movies. I argue that Christianity must provide answers to the critical questions and unmet needs essential to Africans. To achieve this would require paying attention to what Michel Foucault describes as the ‘insurrection of subjugated knowledges,’ which take into account naïve knowledges operating at local or regional levels but serve as the local discursivities that amplify how the ‘subjugated knowledges’ influence the reception of the Biblical message in the African cultural matrix. Contribution: This paper reveals the enduring cross-pressures of Africans as they are invited to subjugate their primordial knowledges and practices to the orthodoxy of mainstream Christianity. It cites the examples of neo-Pentecostal and para-Christian enactments as offering possible insights into a need for Christianity to be more responsive and functionally relevant to the African reality. Such an approach resonates with the orientation of HTS Teologiese Studies (HTS) towards scholarship that is discursively dynamic and contextually sensitive to the multilayered contexts, cultures and cosmologies of the African Christian. (shrink)

The debate over the possibility of Christian philosophy remains largely intractable because of the modern assumption of a sharp distinction between philosophy and theology. The metaphysical basis of this assumption is an understanding of the world's relationship to God that emphasizes efficient causality and thus introduces a hiatus between the world and God. This contrastive understanding of transcendence parallels insistence on the disciplinary distinction between philosophy and theology. ;St. Gregory Palamas , in his two major works, the Triads and One (...) Hundred and Fifty Chapters, articulates a metaphysics according to which all beings participate in God as their formal principle. This metaphysics maintains God's transcendence in a non-contrastive manner such that it coincides with divine immanence. The possibility to be explored is whether this metaphysics may support an alternative approach to the Christian philosophy debate. ;In Chapter One I argue that the prevailing, anti-philosophical reading of Palamas is misled by his rhetoric and therefore fails to recognize that the target of his criticism is not philosophy in general, but a nascent Byzantine modernism. Chapter Two details the nature of this target as presented by Palamas's main opponent, Barlaam of Calabria. In Chapter Three I examine the metaphysics of participation, which presents the coincidence of transcendence and immanence that is the basis both of Palamas's well-known distinction between God's ousia and activities and of Palamas's radical Dionysian apophaticism. ;In Chapter Four I develop the implication of this metaphysics: the world is radically and thoroughly theophanic or symbolic. The proper comportment of one's soul before such a reality must be contemplative. Therefore, I argue in Chapter Five, the soul must be transformed by the spiritual exercises that constitute philosophy as such a way of life. For Palamas, philosophy is intrinsically constituted by the soul's eros for God. In Chapter Six I argue that once philosophy is understood in this way, the assumed disciplinary distinction between philosophy and theology disappears. Palamas's antimodern stance, then, undermines the modern presuppositions of the Christian philosophy debate and thus may provide an alternative solution. (shrink)

In this article we examine the figure of the doctor in animated debates around public sector medicine in contemporary South Africa. The loss of health professionals from the South African public system is a key contributor to the present healthcare crisis. South African medical schools have revised curricula to engage trainee doctors with a broader set of social concerns, but the disjunctures between training, health systems failures, and a high disease burden call into question whether junior doctors are adequately prepared (...) or whether conditions of care extend beyond medical training. A concern with 'resilience' suggests a correct ethical relation to a putative obligation to provide care in a struggling system. By examining the ways in which trainee doctors are expected to 'cope' with the demands of medical practice, to adopt the correct moral posture in relation to the urgency of care, and to enact a desirable ethical relation to the broader social and political context of medical practice, we examine the picture of humanist concern that animates the subjectivities and techniques of the self called for by this training, and advocate for endurance as an alternative framework for understanding the political and ethical relations between doctors, patients and health systems. (shrink)

In the year 2000 the artist Eduardo Kac made TV news by declaring he had ordered the « creation » of a genetically modified bunny. In 2004 the artist Steve Kurtz was detained by the FBI on the suspiscion of bioterrorism, because of the laboratory equipment he uses in installations that demistify biotechnology. The contrast between an artist-publicist who lends a showy allure to biotech and an artist-researcher who critiques its effects serves as the departure point for an examination of (...) the functions of science and art in a neoliberal society. Faced with trade secrets, the privatization of knowledge and ever-tightening control of laboratories, the artist-researcher can intervene to make public the research process and the consequences of commercializing a given discovery, particularly by using installations that allow the participant to manipulate both lab equipment and scientific concepts. But to do so, the artist must also interrupt the normal functioning of the neoliberal art world, where institutions supported by private sponsorship retain exclusive rights over fetishized products, destined to feed financial speculation. The article closes with a look at the work of Brandon Ballangee, an artist-researcher working in the field of ecology. (shrink)

One rarely encounters a work of such metaphysical breadth and ambition. Ford offers no narrowly focused criticism or proposal, but, as the title claims, a transformation of process theism. This is no maverick project, but one based on careful critical analysis and appropriation of the thought of Whitehead and his major interpreters. Ford’s commitment to Whitehead’s thought, although evident, is not uncritical. He is prepared to make modifications, even radical ones, so long as the general tendency of Whitehead’s thought is (...) not abandoned. Thus, Ford seeks to develop Whitehead’s process theism but holds that Whitehead’s mature notion of God is inadequate and that his successors have not successfully addressed this inadequacy. Ford therefore undertakes the current project. His transformation of process theism involves jettisoning Whitehead’s notion of God’s primordial nature and reconceiving God as pure everlasting concrescence, indeed, as future activity. This last notion constitutes Ford’s most radical development. Fully aware that the notion initially appears perplexing, perhaps unintelligible, Ford devotes much attention to developing it and drawing out its implications. He divides his project into three parts: Whitehead’s thought and the unresolved problem in his notion of God; responses to that problem by Whitehead’s interpreters and followers; and Ford’s own transformative project. (shrink)

This book not only articulates a tradition-specific Pentecostal rationality of Biblical Pragmatism, but also provides the first intellectual history of a major British classical Pentecostal denomination. Pentecostal theologians increasingly acknowledge that their theological methodology should be informed by a Pentecostal rationality, epistemology and theological hermeneutics. Simo Frestadius offers such a Pentecostal rationality from a Foursquare perspective. Frestadius first analyses and evaluates some of the main contemporary Pentecostal rationalities and epistemologies to date, with a particular (...) emphasis on the works of Amos Yong and James K.A. Smith and L. William Oliverio Jr., before proposing that Alasdair MacIntyre's tradition-focused and historically-minded narrative approach is conducive in providing a more tradition-constituted Pentecostal rationality. Utilising the methodological insights of MacIntyre, the book then provides a philosophically informed historical narrative of a major British Pentecostal tradition, namely, the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance, by exploring its underlying context and roots as a classical Pentecostal movement, its emergence as a religious tradition, and its two major 'epistemological crises'. Based on this historical narration and analysis, it is argued that Elim's tacit Pentecostal rationality is best defined as Pentecostal Biblical Pragmatism in a Foursquare Gospel framework. This form of rationality is then developed vis-à-vis Elim's Pentecostal concept of truth, biblical hermeneutics, and pragmatic epistemic justification in dialogue with William P. Alston. In doing the above, the book not only articulates a tradition-specific Pentecostal rationality of Biblical Pragmatism but also provides the first intellectual history of a major British classical Pentecostal denomination. (shrink)

Early Pentecostals came mostly from the ranks of the marginalised and disenfranchised, leading some researchers to describe the origin, attraction and expansion of Pentecostalism as some form of Social Deprivation theory. The article hypothesises that its origins among the marginalised rather demonstrate its hermeneutical concerns, especially in its identification with the portrayal of Jesus in the Gospels and specifically with Luke. The early Pentecostal hermeneutic is described in terms of its predilection for the marginalised, and some of the most (...) significant implications of such a hermeneutic for the contemporary movement that, to a large extent, lost its emphasis on the marginalised are portrayed. (shrink)

Churches are considered one of the important structures responsible for providing care and support to vulnerable populations. One such population are children in need of care and support. This article presents the support provided by Pentecostal religious leaders to children needing care and protection. The study was conducted in Pentecostal churches in Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, which is found in Gauteng province, South Africa. This qualitative study used an interpretative phenomenological analysis design. Data were collected from nineteen purposively selected (...) leaders in Pentecostal churches using face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was guided by the interpretative phenomenological analysis framework for data analysis. Findings indicate that religious leaders within Pentecostal churches are involved in providing care and support to children in need of care. The process they are engaged in include proper identification of those children, attending to physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs. However, each religious leaders use their approach depending on the relationship they have with members of government institutions such as police services and social workers. In order to enhance the support provided the children in need of care and protection, by religious leaders within Pentecostal churches, it is recommended that religious leaders are well informed about the role of different members of multidisciplinary teams such as social workers, psychologists, police officers, parents and other community structures. Moreover, there should be formalised collaboration and referral processes that will ensure that the child’s rights are not further violated in the process of provision of support.Contribution: The study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the role Pentecostal church religious leaders are playing in child protection. Furthermore, it sheds light on the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to ensure that children in need of care and protection are holistically supported. (shrink)

In faith and practice, Pentecostals put emphasis on practical issues as well as spiritual experience in their theological understanding and doctrinal teachings. The Pentecostals take their doctrine from certain empirical events. One of the spiritual experiences often underlined is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In interpreting the Book of Acts, Pentecostals tend to emphasise the theological character of the narratives and seldom their historical uniqueness. That is why Pentecostals stress the normative theological intent of the historical record for contemporary (...) Christian experience. This article therefore examines critically Pentecostal paradigm of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, deriving examples from the Acts of the Apostles. It is concluded that the practice of the baptism of the Holy Spirit carried out by Christians today, arguably, has no biblical basis. This is because, there is nowhere the Bible commands people to seek baptism in the Holy Spirit. The observation is that, all the events or experiences of Christians baptised in the Holy Spirit in Acts are not necessarily universal normative for every Christian and for this reason, there is no need to be dogmatic.Contribution: This article challenges the practice of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in church today. This study supports the fact that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not a universal experience for every Christians and there is no need to be dogmatised. (shrink)

Logoi : the history and definition of art and aesthetics -- The broader context -- An ontological foundation -- Doxa : the nature of art -- Inspired by the spirit -- Universal beauty -- Aesthetics of hope -- Praxis : the purpose of art -- Art and creation as play -- Serious art qo -- Church art.

In the article by О.Pidluzhna "Pentecostal hamartiologiya and the doctrine of the salvation of man in the theology of Christians of the Evangelical Faith" it is pointed out that Pentecostals do not have the doctrinal corpus of documents of their faith unified for all communities. This gives rise to certain difficulties in their own self-presentation and agreement with each other, as well as in scientific attempts to interpret Pentecostal practices. The author proves that the doctrine of saving man (...) in Pentecostal is the most multifaceted and perfect, it is almost impossible to find differences for the existence of other interpretations, otherwise it will contradict the Holy Scripture. An attempt has been made to emphasize the study of the main components of the biblical doctrine of human salvation within the theology of the Assemblies of the Churches of God, in contrast to the scientific generalized joint experience of the classical Pentecostals and charismatics. (shrink)

In Indonesia, violence in the name of religion has occurred many times since the reformation began. The trigger is religious fundamentalism and radicalism that increases and affects intolerant actions, inter-religious conflicts and even terrorism. The Indonesian government has initiated religious moderation through the Ministry of Religion to minimise the negative impacts of excessive religious fanaticism. Christians, who are often victims of many acts of violence, should evaluate the religious practices that have been carried out so far. The mission of Christian (...) evangelism has been a scourge that triggered anti-Christian sentiments, thus giving rise to the stigma of Christianisation. One of the most energetic Christian groups with an evangelistic mission is the Pentecostal group. This article aims to propose constructing the Pentecostal mission, which is rooted in the religious life of the early church as a mission model, through the discourse of their hospitality. The thesis is that hospitality, especially embodied by the early church, expresses a moderate religious way. Therefore, this mission is very suitable to be implemented by Pentecostal groups in Indonesia, which takes a theological locus on the Pentecost narratives in Acts 2.Contribution: This article addresses early church hospitality as a discourse of Pentecostal mission, especially in Indonesia. This article considers that hospitality can be a model for doing church missions in the frame of religious moderation in Indonesia. (shrink)

The provision of social services by Pentecostal/charismatic churches in Ghana is discussed in this article. Focusing on four selected Pentecostal/charismatic churches in Ghana, it is argued that Pentecostal/charismatic churches are not only concerned with the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ but are also actively engaged in the provision of social and welfare services aimed at transforming the lives of their constituents. This development, in the author’s view, points to a paradigm shift from the well-known otherworldly (...) nature of the Pentecostal/charismatic movements and projects a rather new movement whose growing social sensitivity has implications for national development. (shrink)

Conflicts in the Pentecostal church leadership have been growing since time immemorial. However, leadership disputes have become traumatic and tragic in Zimbabwe to the extent that junior pastors are committing suicide and killing each other because of these conflicts. The article uses the practical theological framework to explore the complex intersections of conflict within the Pentecostal church, analysing the various factors and dynamics contributing to these conflicts. This work examines and addresses the ramifications of a leadership conflict within (...) the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM). The junior pastors, who have been impacted by the leadership dispute, have endured trauma stemming from the ongoing conflict among the church’s prominent leaders, which is the central focus of this study. To better understand the lived experience of trauma among these pastors, a qualitative research design was employed. Through purposeful sampling and face-to-face interviews, participants were given the opportunity to share their narratives of leadership trauma. The result is that junior pastors are internalising the trauma, which is affecting them spiritually, emotionally and physically in ministry. This article proposes a healing methodology utilising the Gerkin and Positive Deconstruction approach.Contribution: This study leverages a practical theological framework to examine the challenges of providing pastoral care for junior ministers who were impacted by leadership disputes within AFM thereby contributing to Pentecostal approaches to care. (shrink)

Western academic theology do not succeed in accounting for the identity and faith culture of African Pentecostals for at least two reasons. In the first place, because as part of the Pentecostal movement it grew from the holiness, divine healing and revivalist movement that went back to Pietism and emphasised a holistic effective spirituality, and secondly, because it links with the holistic tradition of African traditional religions and worldview that share some aspects of the Old Testament realist way of (...) thinking. African Pentecostalism needs another language to describe its unique way of doing theology in direct conjunction with spirituality. It is argued that the language of the time-honoured practice of mysticism is suitable for explaining its spirituality. Theology and spirituality should mutually inform and constitute each other, as emphasised in mystical theology, for Pentecostal theology to be a valid reflection and meditation on the experience of consciousness of the involvement of God. African Pentecostals will benefit by learning from this ancient tradition by using concepts of mystical theology to find words to state the unsayable. The article closes by asking what the language of mysticism would entail for Pentecostals. Several aspects that define Pentecostal spirituality demonstrate their relation with mystical theology, such as a separate experience of sanctification, an acknowledgement of affections in expressing religious sentiments, a different way of interpreting and participating in reality, ecstatic speech and a continual emphasis on a personal, experiential encounter with the Spirit of God. (shrink)

Preaching is an important part of congregational worship in various church traditions globally. Through the years, there has been vast literature on preaching but not much about the phenomenon as it happens specifically in the Assemblies of God (Back to God). This article sought to explore factors affecting preaching, and its Christological aspects, in Pentecostal churches of the Western Reef Region of the Assemblies of God (Back to God), South Africa. The article aimed at contributing to research in this (...) area and suggesting improvements where necessary. This article presented a qualitative study conducted in the churches of the aforementioned region by applying the analysis of sermons and semistructured interviews with some preachers in the region. The study revealed some extent of Christ-centred preaching and a fair understanding of concepts of Pentecostalism, preaching and Christology by participants. Also, the study showed that there are various factors affecting preaching in the region, resulting in a generally unsatisfactory level of preaching and Christology not being sufficiently expressed in the preaching. Contribution: This article aimed to contribute to research in the practice of preaching in Pentecostal churches. It is hoped that this article will also contribute to improvement in preaching in the Assemblies of God (Back to God) churches. (shrink)

Pentecostal Republic: Religion and the Struggle for State Power in Nigeria By ObadareEbenezer, xviii + 214 pp. Price PB £16.99. EAN 978–1786992376.

Scholarship on Pentecostal potential and practice forms a significant part of the debate on religion and development, not least when the focus is on sub-Saharan Africa. Yet in this debate African Pentecostal migrant communities have scarcely been represented. The article focuses on two such communities in South Africa, arguing that they may be regarded as developmental agents in the context of racialized xenophobia, even if they do not portray themselves as such. The argument is based on ethnographic fieldwork (...) and shaped through employing the concept of transformational development that centers on restoring relationships. The article concludes that the two communities – living in a context affected by racialized xenophobia – contribute meaningfully towards restoring relationships between people and God, one's relationship with oneself, relationships within the church community as well as relationships between the church community and the neighborhood. (shrink)

Many contemporary theologies have given considerable attention to the inbreaking work of God whereby the Spirit imbues creation with life and vitality, but in the process the seriousness of the destructive forces that plague the world has been overlooked. This oversight not only has significant theological consequences, but it also generates a tension with scientific postulates about physical reality. Paradoxically, increasing complexity, including emergent life systems, arise in spite of the overarching conditions. I posit from a theological perspective that the (...) Spirit acts within the world to generate pockets of organization out of disorder. The Spirit not only was present and active at initial creation but also continues to act within the cosmos, sustaining the natural order and giving rise to innovative acts of creation. The world, which groans for and anticipates transformation, experiences local decreases in entropy as proleptic events of God's inbreaking kingdom. This theological hypothesis provides the framework for considering an eschatological response to the world's decay. (shrink)

Pentecostals have their own ethos to bring to the theological table. Although they represent a diverse spectrum of beliefs, they share a basic preference for experience co-determining their theology, along with their interpretation of Scripture. Their hermeneutical viewpoint since the 1970s that links them with that of early Pentecostals allows them to regard the Bible as the inspired Word of God with authority for their lives although they qualify that statement by adding that encounters with God within the faith community (...) in ways similar to those recorded in the Bible is conditional for understanding and interpreting biblical accounts of God and God's faith community. It is proposed that Pentecostals need to develop a perspective on the all-inclusive difference made by their experience of God in all areas of their lives. Their experience of God through his Spirit shifts their loci communes and theological method. It is argued that Pentecostal theology should rethink every aspect of theological enterprise through the lens of the reality of God's encounter with human beings as experienced in the faith community. In the last section, this is demonstrated in terms of one subject, of God as the object of theology. (shrink)

According to Kristen Deede Johnson, Augustinian theology provides resources for overcoming debates about the consolidation or protection of difference in plural society. Johnson’s Augustine invites us to unite with others in loving and humble interactions with difference. I seek to further concretize the kind of communication that Johnson’s theology entails, putting it in conversation with Iris Marion Young’s theory of “communicative democracy.” Drawing on Willie James Jennings’s interpretive work on Pentecost in his magisterial commentary on Acts, I trace in the (...) event of Pentecost a paradigm for communication between divergent communities that respects difference and underscores possibilities for union. The community born at Pentecost is comprised of divergent constituencies, and yet is nevertheless integrated by communicative practices. The paper invites reflection on how divinely granted visions might be translated into conversations that facilitate what Jennings calls “joining.”. (shrink)

In general, early Pentecostals did not use any pulpits in their halls in order to underline their emphasis that each believer is a prophet and priest equipped by the Holy Spirit with gifts for the edification of other members of the assembly. All participated in the worship service by way of praying, prophesying, witnessing and bringing a message from God. From the 1940s, Pentecostals in their desire to be acceptable in their communities formed an alliance with evangelicals, accepted their hermeneutical (...) viewpoint and built traditional churches in accordance with the Protestant tradition. From the 1980s, the pulpit started disappearing from the front of Pentecostal churches. This is explained in terms of new alliances that Pentecostals made with neo-Pentecostalist churches and a new hermeneutical viewpoint. The hypothesis of the article is that the Pentecostal stance towards the pulpit was determined by its hermeneutical perspectives. It is described by way of a comparative literature study and applied to a specific case study, the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa. (shrink)

Luke’s story of Pentecost gathers into itself many biblical motifs having to do with the work of the Spirit, which creates and re-creates communities of faith, even if it remains out of their control. Trinity Sunday returns us to the richness of Scripture’s reflections on God, where we find the constant feature to be the claim that, in all God’s doing, God acts for us and for our salvation.

Although testimonies of divine healing figure prominently in pentecostal missions, pentecostals are frequently reluctant to subject testimonials to empirical investigation. In an age of evidence-based medicine, many people insist on medical corroboration before giving claims credence. Hence, pentecostal resistance toward medical validation comes at a price of reduced missionary impact. Investigation of healing claims reveals medically unexpected healings for which there is no obvious medical explanation, and recoveries that can be explained naturalistically or seem not to have occurred. (...) Since fraudulent cases tend to attract the most notice, they are widely perceived as normative in the absence of countervailing examples. (shrink)

DISSERTAÇÃO DE MESTRADO SANTOS, Ariadna de Oliveira. Discurso pentecostal e diálogo inter-religioso: um estudo sob a perspectiva da metáfora conceptual. 2011. 111 folhas. Dissertação (Mestrado) – Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências da Religião, Belo Horizonte.

Elaine J. Lawless. Handmaidens of the Lord: Pentecostal Women Preachers and Traditional Religion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988. ISBN 0812212657. Paper, $18.95. ISBN 0812281004. Hardcover, $41.95. Pp. xx+272.

The past several decades have seen a renaissance in Christian philosophy, led by the work of Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstorff, William Alston, Eleonore Stump, and others. In the spirit of Plantinga s famous manifesto, Advice to Christian Philosophers, James K. A. Smith here offers not only advice to Pentecostal philosophers but also some Pentecostal advice to Christian philosophers. In this inaugural Pentecostal Manifestos volume Smith begins from the conviction that implicit in Pentecostal and charismatic spirituality is (...) a tacit worldview or social imaginary. Thinking in Tongues unpacks and articulates the key elements of this Pentecostal worldview and then explores their implications for philosophical reflection on ontology, epistemology, aesthetics, language, science, and philosophy of religion. In each case, Smith demonstrates how the implicit wisdom of Pentecostal spirituality makes unique contributions to current conversations in Christian philosophy. (shrink)

This paper explores recent Pentecostal scholarship in its attempt to articulate a Pentecostal theological method. In order to appreciate the roots of the academic study of Pentecostalism more broadly this study refers to the field of intercultural theology. Intercultural theology denotes the creative dialogue that local theologies have one with another. Two very different approaches to theology are considered in particular which have engaged with the Pentecostal tradition. The conclusion suggests an integration of Pentecostal-charismatic spirituality, as (...) per the insights of Pentecostal theological method, within the process of practical theology as an intercultural and comparative empirical discipline. (shrink)

In this paper we explore the idea that Pentecostalism is best supported by conjoining it to a postmodern, narrative epistemology in which everything is a text requiring interpretation. On this view, truth doesn’t consist in a set of uninterpreted facts that make the claims of Christianity true; rather, as James K. A. Smith says, truth emerges when there is a “fit” or proportionality between the Christian story and one’s affective and emotional life. We argue that Pentecostals should reject this account (...) of truth, since it leads to either a self-refuting story-relativism or the equally problematic fallacy of story-ism: favoring one’s own story over others without legitimate reason. In either case, we contend, the gospel itself is placed at risk. (shrink)

The experience and understanding of ‘church’ in the Global South differs radically from the North. This is due to differences in size, background cultures and spiritualities, different experiences of the public space, varying resources and diverse leadership models, among other aspects. However, Pentecostalism in the North is more influential in theologizing and publishing, while the texts they produce do not always resonate with Southern needs and contexts. This paper wrestles with this situation and attempts to outline some tentative aspects of (...) a Pentecostal ecclesiology from the South. (shrink)

Resenha OLIVEIRA, David Mesquiati de; TERRA, Kenner Roger Cazotto. Experiência e hermenêutica pentecostal: reflexões e propostas para a construção de uma identidade teológica. Rio de Janeiro: CPAD, 2018, 224p.

Pentecostal phenomenon from history has always moved with migration. Reading Acts 1:8, Jesus linked the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the migration of his disciples and the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Migration has become a worldwide, multi-directional phenomenon which is reshaping the Christian landscape. In this light, the article discussed Pentecostalism and migration by using two Ghanaian Classical Pentecostal churches in South Africa as a case study. The (...) article looked at their history, leadership development, transfer of missionaries from Ghana and its implications, their concept of contextualisation as well as some of their impact in South Africa. The article submits that it is time for both churches to start thinking of decolonising their foreign mission churches by helping them have autonomous status. Contribution: The article contributes to the on-going body of knowledge and research on migration with special emphasis on African classical Pentecostalism and migration. The study used Ghanaian Classical Pentecostal Churches in South Africa as a case study. (shrink)

As igrejas e indivíduos de tendência pentecostal que hoje ocupam o poder no governo brasileiro pensam e agem a partir de uma teologia política teocrática. Essa perspectiva pré-moderna superada pelas filosofias políticas antropocêntricas persiste como visão que se traduz em discursos, em atitudes e em políticas públicas. Trata-se da busca de um fundamento religioso capaz de superar a crise pela qual estariam passando o Estado e a sociedade brasileira. A afirmação de que Deus está no comando da política por (...) meio de representantes eleitos pelo povo faz confluir o exercício democrático do poder com fundamentos teocráticos. A ascensão dos pentecostais ao poder nacional vem de algumas décadas e revelou sua presença na formação das “bancadas evangélicas”. O Estado laico institucionalmente estabelecido tem suportado gestões religiosas que se apresentam como legítimas e como urgentes para a salvação da nação do grande inimigo: as esquerdas. Projeto ultraliberal e exercício autoritário do poder têm sido a tradução política concreta do poder de Deus em ação no governo atual. (shrink)

This article reflects and makes recommendations on the recent unusual practices within some Neo-Pentecostal churches in South Africa. Neo-Pentecostal churches in South Africa refer to churches that have crossed denominational boundaries. These churches idolise the miraculous, healing, deliverance and enactment of bizarre church performances often performed by charismatic and highly influential spiritual leaders. There have been unusual practices within some Neo-Pentecostal churches that include, among others, the eating of grass, eating of snakes, drinking of petrol, spraying of (...) Doom on the congregants and other experiences. There are many possible theological, psychological and socio-economic explanations for these unusual practices. Given the facts that many South Africans experience various socio-economic challenges, it is argued here that the socio-economic factor is the main explanation for the support of these unusual practices. The unusual practices within some Neo-Pentecostal churches in South Africa are critically unpacked by looking at various churches where the incidents happened. The possible theological, psychological and socio-economic explanations for such practices are outlined in detail. Recommendations are made based on the scientific findings on the unusual practices. (shrink)

This paper looks, in the first place, at gender issues in Pentecostal Christianity in Nigeria. This is especially as captured by the Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, in her novel, Americanah. It is found that women in Nigerian Pentecostalism are more than the men in number and participate more actively both in church activities and in spiritual efforts at home. However, it is mostly the men who are the pastors and leaders of the Nigerian Pentecostal churches, even if (...) at home, by what is sometimes called ‘domestication’ of the same men, the women are empowered in some ways. The paper then considers what their place has in common with the place of women in the Roman Catholic Church in contemporary Nigeria. The paper adds to the existing literature on the place and role of women in both Pentecostalism and Catholicism in contemporary Nigeria. (shrink)