A Pentecostal Hermeneutic for the Twenty First Century


Book Description

The purpose of this book is to present a critically informed contemporary Pentecostal hermeneutic rooted in Pentecostal identity, in its stories, beliefs and practices. As Pentecostals began entering academic communities of higher learning, their interpretive methods became both mainstream and modernistic as they adapted the historical critical methods, or the so-called scientific hermeneutic. The proposed hermeneutic contained in this book desires to move beyond the impasse created by Modernity, instead pushing Pentecostals into the contemporary context by critically re-appropriating early Pentecostal ethos and interpretive practices for a contemporary Pentecostal community. The Pentecostal hermeneutic is a three-way interaction for theological meaning between the Holy Spirit, the Pentecostal community and sacred Scripture.




A Distinct Twenty-First Century Pentecostal Hermeneutic


Book Description

Why another book about biblical interpretation (hermeneutics)? First, this is not just another book about hermeneutics. It deals specifically with hermeneutics as practiced y Pentecostals; rather, more accurately, as hermeneutics should be practiced by Pentecostals. The book presents a distinct Pentecostal hermeneutic that moves away from exclusive use of historical-grammatical methodology. The hermeneutic presented here employs an eclectic methodology and a quadratic strategy. Scripture, Spirit, trained leader, and community, in the proposed hermeneutic, are shown to work together to produce an interpretation that engages both creative imagination and authorial intent. The text offers pastors, professors, and laity alike a method and approach that will allow them to interpret Scripture from a clearly Pentecostal perspective. An important addition to the book is an outline for an undergraduate course instructing students in this distinct Pentecostal hermeneutic.




Pentecostal Theology for the Twenty-First Century


Book Description

In our post 9/11 world where there is a growing religious fundamentalism, and when both exclusion and easy tolerance are inadequate options, this book offers a creative alternative arguing that Pentecostalism has the potential to be a peaceful harbinger of plurality. The potential lies in its spirituality - a lively pneumatology and eschatology. The eschatological Spirit is seen as orientated towards the other, crossing boundaries in redemptive embrace, transcending exclusion and easy tolerance. This book's non-Western perspective and the empirical contextual study of Singapore's multicultural and multi-faith context are unique contributions to religion and society. This is a book for students, pastors, teachers, and theologians concerned for an approach to mission that is sensitive to their context, who want to learn from a creative theological voice from what has been perhaps the largest religious movement in history, and who see the immense potential in lively theology by Christians of the Chinese diaspora who can speak to the many millions of ethnic Chinese Christians. This book will also appeal to those outside Christianity who are interested in its attempts to engage with a complex multi-ethnic and multi-religious situation such as that in Singapore.




A Pentecostal Hermeneutic


Book Description

In this state of the art study, Kenneth J. Archer provides the most detailed and comprehensive analysis of Pentecostal Hermeneutics to date. Archer identifies the hermeneutical filter through which the Pentecostal story and identity is understood and meaning is made, with specific attention given to the Central Narrative Convictions of the Pentecostal Community. The model here proposed builds upon the tridactic negotiation for meaning that draws upon the biblical text, the Pentecostal community, and the role of the Holy Spirit. Archer offers a significant paradigm for all those interested in the topic of Pentecostal hermeneutics and its significance for contemporary belief and practice. 'Archer has provided . . . an insightful proposal for the kind of Pentecostal hermeneutic that is appropriate to our contemporary context.' (R. Bauckham, Prof of NT, Univ of St Andrew's, UK).




Pentecostal and Postmodern Hermeneutics


Book Description

Pentecostal and Postmodern seeks to explore the relationship between Pentecostal hermeneutics and Pentecostalism's ability to connect with and evangelize North American youth. As as Postmodern ethos makes its presence increasingly felt in the Western world. no Christian movement should be better positioned to bring the message of Christ to youth adn young adults eager to experience the God of Miracles and wonders. Recent trends in Pentecostal hermeneutics, however, may actually make the task more difficult. No historical movement has thrived in th long term that has not carefully considered the vision for the forefront of youth ministry in the last several decades, we must also connect Pentecostal academia with evangelism efforts among youth and young adults. This work calls Pentecostal scholars to thoughtfully consider the mplications of their work for future generations.




Theological Hermeneutics in the Classical Pentecostal Tradition


Book Description

In Theological Hermeneutics in the Classical Pentecostal Tradition: A Typological Account, L. William Oliverio Jr. accounts for the development of Classical Pentecostal theology, as theological hermeneutics, through four types: the original Classical Pentecostal hermeneutic, the Evangelical-Pentecostal hermeneutic, the contextual-Pentecostal hermeneutic, and the ecumenical-Pentecostal hermeneutic. Oliverio gives special attention to key figures in shaping Pentecostal theology and the underlying philosophical assumptions which informed their theological interpretations of reality. The text concludes with a philosophical basis for future Pentecostal theological hermeneutics within the contours of a hermeneutical realism that affirms both the hermeneutical nature of all theology and the implicit affirmation of realism within theological accounts.




Pentecostal Hermeneutics


Book Description

In Pentecostal Hermeneutics: A Reader Lee Roy Martin brings together fourteen significant publications on biblical interpretation, along with a new introduction to Pentecostal hermeneutics and an extensive up-to-date bibliography on the topic. Organized chronologically, these essays trace the development of Pentecostal hermeneutics as an academic discipline. The concerns of modern historical criticism have often stood at odds with Pentecostalism’s use of Scripture. Therefore, over the last three decades, Pentecostal scholars have attempted to identify the unique characteristics and interpretive practices of their tradition and to offer constructive proposals for a Pentecostal hermeneutic that would be critically valid and, at the same time, be consistent with the Pentecostal ethos and conducive for the continued development of the global Pentecostal movement. Contributors include: Rickie D. Moore, John Christopher Thomas, Jackie David Johns, Cheryl Bridges Johns, John W. McKay, Robert O. Baker, Scott A. Ellington, Kenneth J. Archer, Robby Waddell, Andrew Davies, Clark H. Pinnock, and Lee Roy Martin.




The Hermeneutical Spirit


Book Description

In the contemporary biblical studies climate, proposals regarding the theological interpretation of Scripture are contested, particularly but not only because they privilege, encourage, and foster ecclesial or other forms of normative commitments as part and parcel of the hermeneutical horizon through which scriptural texts are read and understood. Within this context, confessional approaches have been emerging, including some from within the nascent pentecostal theological tradition. This volume builds on the author's previous work in theological method to suggest a pentecostal perspective on theological interpretation that is rooted in the conviction that all Christian reading of sacred Scripture is post-Pentecost, meaning after the Day of Pentecost outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh in anticipation of the coming reign of God. In that respect, such a pentecostal interpretative perspective is not parochially for those within the modern day movement bearing that name but is arguably apostolic in following after the scriptural imagination of the earliest disciples of Jesus the messiah and therefore has ecumenical and missional purchase across space and time. The Hermeneutical Spirit thus provides close readings of various texts across the scriptural canon as a model for Christian theological interpretation of Scripture suitable for the twenty-first-century global context.




The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in America


Book Description

Early Americans have long been considered "A People of the Book" Because the nickname was coined primarily to invoke close associations between Americans and the Bible, it is easy to overlook the central fact that it was a book-not a geographic location, a monarch, or even a shared language-that has served as a cornerstone in countless investigations into the formation and fragmentation of early American culture. Few books can lay claim to such powers of civilization-altering influence. Among those which can are sacred books, and for Americans principal among such books stands the Bible. This Handbook is designed to address a noticeable void in resources focused on analyzing the Bible in America in various historical moments and in relationship to specific institutions and cultural expressions. It takes seriously the fact that the Bible is both a physical object that has exercised considerable totemic power, as well as a text with a powerful intellectual design that has inspired everything from national religious and educational practices to a wide spectrum of artistic endeavors to our nation's politics and foreign policy. This Handbook brings together a number of established scholars, as well as younger scholars on the rise, to provide a scholarly overview--rich with bibliographic resources--to those interested in the Bible's role in American cultural formation.




Pentecostals in the 21st Century


Book Description

A little over one hundred years ago the Holy Spirit breathed a fresh awakening into little communities in Topeka, Kansas (1901) and then on Azusa Street in California (1906). Over the past century this spiritual awakening has touched every country on the globe. By 2014 there were 631 million Pentecostals in the world, comprising a quarter of all Christians, and that number is forecast to grow to 800 million by 2025. This book offers a window into some of the unique features of this phenomenal movement through expert contributions from some of the world's preeminent Pentecostal theologians. It presents a Pentecostal perspective on important theological themes that pastors, theologians, and lay leaders are grappling with in the twenty-first century.