The Revolutionary Power of Pentecostal Spirituality

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Links to the Spirit-Baptism and the Prophetic Imagination series

Prologue to Spirit-Baptism and the Prophetic Imagination

Part 1: The Revolutionary Power of Pentecostal Spirituality

Part 2: The Decline of Pentecostalism As A Revival Movement

Part 3: A Vision for True Pentecostal Revival

Part 4: The Prophetic Purpose of Pentecostal Spirit-baptism

To be published within several weeks’ time.

SPIRIT-BAPTISM & THE PROPHETIC IMAGINATION

Part 1: The Revolutionary Power of Pentecostal Spirituality

“Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing.  And Miriam sang to them:

“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;

the horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.

Exodus 15:20-21

Pentecostalism and the global indigenisation of Christianity

I have come to agree with a small yet concerned and critically informed group of observers that the spiritual and moral force of Pentecostalism, both within the universal Church and in the world, is now waning.  This is not dismiss, ignore, nor devalue the continued influence of Pentecostalism as a globalising movement, which is still expanding throughout the Southern and Eastern Hemispheres.[1] The centre of gravity of World Christianity has of course shifted over the past 50 years towards the Southern Hemisphere.  Yet it’s been much documented and acknowledged that much of this past and present growth, arises from both direct and indirect influence of Pentecostalism upon the universal Church.  Even more so, Pentecostalism has and continues to facilitate the worldwide indigenisation of Christianity.

The orality of Pentecostalism

In this brief acknowledgement to the continuing force of Pentecostalism within Christianity and the world, several features and core distinctives to Classic Pentecostal ethos and spirituality warrant brief mention.  First, is that Pentecostalism’s distinctive role towards Christian globalisation and indigenisation, much arises from its inherent power to nurture local expressions of church and theology.[2] An important variable accounting for the globalisation of Pentecostalism has been its distinctive “oral-aural” oriented epistemology (how we know, define, and describe reality).[3] This variable should also be held particularly accountable for the expanding plurality of indigenous and localised pentecostal forms and movements throughout the world.  The research and literature demonstrating this observation is indeed substantial.

Any discussion however on the “orality” of Pentecostal spirituality, must acknowledge the work of Walter J. Hollenweger, whom I would acknowledge as perhaps the most perennially important and seminal Pentecostal theologian of the 20th century.  Perhaps more than anyone else within Pentecostalism, Hollenweger has passionately called attention to the spiritual and social redemptive power of Pentecostal “orality.”  Oral-aural” (or “spoke-heard”) epistemology essentially defines an ancient pre-literate yet basic human “mode of knowing,” which arises when people come together in a “storying event, filling the roles of storytellers and story-listeners.  Such an event possesses a unique imaginative and generative power towards the construction of new and alternative “story-worlds.”  These “story-worlds” provide participants in the “story event” a unique space wherein a “new quantum reality is born.”  And in that space, both teller and listener thereby enter into a new future.[4]

During the past 500 year epoch of Western modernity- with its attendant shift to a more print based, epistemological compulsion towards technological preciseness, empirical certitude, and finality in meaning, orality has been characteristically indicative of non-Western cultures, particularly of agrarian based or pre-industrialised cultures.[5] The oral orientation Pentecostalism has thus significantly enabled Pentecostal ethos and spirituality to effectively resonate with the pre-modernised religious and “cultural subconscious” of Asian, African and Latin American cultures.[6]

Pentecostal narrative and story-driven ministry approach

An important aspect to Pentecostal orality is how Pentecostals have traditionally adhered to a narrative driven hermeneutic and “story” oriented approach to preaching, ministry and congregational liturgy.[7] Historically and ideally, it was through the ethos of an oral liturgy, that the Word of God was imparted through Pentecostal spirituality.  Hollenweger famous description of Pentecostal spirituality here deserves mention: it is a spirituality imparted not through “books” but “parables,” not “theses” but “testimonies,” not “dissertations” but “dances,” not through a “system of thinking,” but through “stories and songs,” not through “definitions,” but through “descriptions,” not through “arguments” but through “transformed lives.”[8]

This “oral narrative” character of the Pentecostal Gospel, has perennially demonstrated throughout the 20th century, a seminally redemptive power towards spiritual and social-economic uplift throughout the world.  In doing so, Pentecostalism has significantly contributed to the democratisation of ministry amongst the non-ordained and the ministerial participation of laity within churches.  This factor alone has thus also empowered people who for often social-economic reasons, were traditionally marginalised within the more mainline churches.[9]

20th century Pentecostalism thus played a decisive, if not primary, role towards shifting Christian traditions throughout the world away from the Constantanian paradigm of church ministry.  The term “Constantanianism” signifies the professional clergy-driven ministry model that emerged with the Christianisation of the Roman Empire after Constantine.[10] We sometimes use the idea of the Constantanian paradigm with reference to a premise assumedly rooted within the historical period demarked by Constantine’s conversion to Christianity.  This is thus an age-old premise that has tended to emphasise a conviction that the Church primarily fulfils it’s “ministry” in the world through institutionalised church offices (eg, clergy / laity dichotomy).

Pentecostalism however had decisively helped to shift Christian traditions more towards a ‘laicization’ of the church, thus demarking the end of “Constantanianism.”  Pentecostalism was therefore a significant and explicated development of the earlier Protestant Reformation renewal regarding the “priesthood of all believers.” In early years, Pentecostalism significantly facilitated the 20th century rediscovery of the Pauline organic conception of community.[11] This re-discovery of Paul’s organic church metaphor simultaneously reflected and resonated with the greater Post-Enlightenment shift from a hierarchal conception of cosmology, to a more systemic worldview and organic cosmology.[12]

Democratising nature of Pentecostal oral liturgy

It was Pentecostalism altogether, which decisively popularised within the greater Christian tradition, the now common assumption that Christians should affirm every local church as a “charismatic community” of the Spirit.[13] Highly illustrative towards this trajectory, is that it was Pentecostal “participatory” ecclesiology, which directly popularised the 20th century koinonia “fellowship-language.”  Furthermore, it was this “fellowship” language, which the movement found most appropriate for expressing it’s understanding of the entire church community as charismatically endowed with gifts of the Holy Spirit.[14]

Yet, crucial still to the Pentecostal assumption of the Church as a charismatic community, is that for this to be properly expressed, each believer must seek a “personal Pentecost.”[15] This “oral-participatory” ecclesiology of Pentecostalism was in fact originally descriptive of the Pentecostal outpouring at Azusa Street.  For at Azusa the African-American father of modern Pentecostalism, William J. Seymour, encouraged a circular seating arrangement, without elevated platform seating.  As there was no platform, “all were on a [eg, same] level.”[16] Elevated platform seating however, which places not just the Word but the clergy above the laity, has always been an architectural design theologically motivated by the Constantanian clergy model.[17] Pentecostalism ushered in the decisive blow to this century-old, hierarchal skewering of Christians gathered for worship.

Ultimately, the “oral-participatory” ecclesiology, that at least theoretically fully affirms each believer as a privileged and empowered contributing minister to the Pentecostal liturgy, arises from the Pentecostal pneumatological envisioning of the gospel.  This involves a greater pneumatological focus on what other Protestant traditions normally observe.  This pneumatological envisioning of the Gospel is the conviction that Pentecost means a democratising of the Spirit’s prophetic anointing.  For through virtue of Jesus’ resurrection, in these “latter days” as also in the former days, God has poured out and is still pouring out the Spirit “upon all flesh.”[18] Through a literal reading that the promise of Pentecost was given “upon all flesh,” early Pentecostalism was motivated to confront and shatter the “norms of middle class society.”  It did so through envisioning an ecclesiological fellowship and leadership that was to be inclusive of both male and females, minorities, and the poor as well as the wealthy.[19]

Recognising that the term “liturgy” signifies the “service of the people- the laity, an authentic Pentecostal ethos is indeed liturgical in the truest sense of the term.  This observation is notwithstanding the common practice of ascribing the term to what we sometimes wrongly call the “liturgical” ethos of more Eucharistic oriented church traditions, which are strongly reliant upon permanently fixed printed “liturgies.”  Early Pentecostalism did utilise a liturgy.  Yet this was therefore an oral liturgy, which by its very oral nature, conveyed and evoked a radical social transformation.  This social transformation envisioned the eradication of social-economic demarcations wherever they may exist.  Moreover, this had first begun within the gathered church, gathered together in worship before God.[20]

It is in light of the social ramifications of Pentecostal oral liturgy, that we must also therefore appreciate the reconciling nature and purpose of tongues within the gathered Pentecostal worshiping community.  We must do so by recognising tongues as an experience and practice facilitating profound “social and revolutionary implications.”  For from the perspective of the prophetic tradition, we can appreciate how the orality and experience of tongues empowers every believer into full immediate and vocalised participation within the gathered community.  It does so regardless of education, race, or social strata.

Tongues therefore also functions as the perennial sign of God’s reconciling purpose, which is He significantly executes through granting us the experience of Spirit-baptism.[21] In the context of Pentecostal oral liturgy, tongues plays a “democratising” function amongst people of varied social, economical, and racial backgrounds; the democratising nature and practice of tongues.  It thus also helped grant the movement a continued empowerment towards “people who live on the fringes of society.”[22] This “democratising function” also simultaneously signifies then above else, the reversal of Babel- meaning the reconciliation of all peoples into a common tongue through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Resonance between Pentecostalism and Postmodernity

The “oral orientation” Pentecostalism has also facilitated the movement’s influence into and across other Christian traditions.[23] Given the current global postmodern transition, even within the industrialised and technologically enriched world towards again a more oral-aural based epistemology, there thus exists a deep and potentially engaging resonance between Classic Pentecostal spirituality and the evolving postmodern, “dialogical turn.”[24] This is a turning towards a narrative-inspired imagination.  This turn, coupled with an appreciation towards cultivating an embodied gestalt and left-brain sense of intuition, can potentially lead to an even greater expansion of the Pentecostal spirituality into the Greater Christian tradition.  This is possible given the emerging and an symbolically enriched audio-visual-relational context as a core modes for perceiving spiritual realities within the postmodern worldview.[25]

Given the biblical theism and story world of Pentecostalism as part of the Christian Tradition, we should not conclude that the general Pentecostal and postmodern worldviews are epistemologically parallel.  Nonetheless, we can observe that, given the global indelible influence of Pentecostalism upon the 20th century, “Pentecostalism may indeed be a part of the stream that is ushering in the postmodern era.”[26] Having been well received within Pentecostalism, Sociologist Margaret Poloma provides a helpful analysis of the movement in relation to postmodernity.  Poloma suggested that we should appreciate the movement as an “anthropological protest against modernity.”[27] What we need to foremost grasp here then, is that this resonance between Pentecostalism and postmodernity, demonstrates the potential Pentecostalism has towards sustaining a viable and leading contribution towards the witness and presence of the Christian faith in the 21st century world.[28] This is certainly therefore, a trajectory which will be periodically recalled and addressed throughout this project.

Relation between Pentecostal orality and charismatic ministry

Second to note is that historically within Pentecostalism, the Pentecostal oral-aural ethos and spirituality together synergise towards creating a heightened awareness of God’s presence.  These features work directly in tandem of course, with the Classic Pentecostal experience of Spirit-baptism, This is particularly true within Pentecostal congregational and ministry settings that nurture the oral-aural ethos as a means of “meeting with God.”[29] The Pentecostal oral-aural ethos thus creates a “space” to meet with God.  Moreover, there is a coinciding receptiveness within that space, to hear (not read!) from God, often through a spoken, and perceived prophetic “word of the Lord.”[30] The “‘orality’ of Pentecostalism,” thus “accents the intuitive” dimension of spiritual life, even more so of spiritual realities.[31] It creates “an ethos in communion with the Holy Spirit,” where the Pentecostal oral-aural ethos grants a heighten intuitiveness towards hearing the “word of the Lord.”[32]

Pertinent here are observations derived from social scientific studies on New Testament social-cultural settings.  These observations demonstrate that the congregational ethos of early Christian community was characteristically more oral-aural than print driven.[33] The New Testament church ethos was thus far more oriented towards the immediate role and ministry of prophets rather than of scribes.  This made the New Testament church ethos far more postured towards a oral-aural dialogical engagement with the spoken “word of the Lord,” charismatically delivered through the prophetic anointing of the Holy Spirit.[34] It was this openness towards the Holy Spirit, mediated through the oral-aural early church culture, that thus accounted for the “movement metaphors” descriptive of the archetypical Pentecost story and experience.  This was is an archetypical experience described as “the feeling of being seized and possessed by something overwhelmingly powerful, namely, the “rushing of a mighty wind” (eg., Acts 2:1-4).[35]

Christianity long ago suffered a heavy loss in its charismatic power under the institutionalising forces that emerged through the post-patristic, Constantanian formalising of church polity and creedalisation.  To say this is not to dismiss the Spirit’s providential work through the first five centuries of ancient Christianity.  For it was largely from the very needful process of creedalisation, that Classic Christian Tradition- Christian Orthodoxy, had emerged.[36] Christian orthodoxy as narrated through the canonically preserved and fixed memory of the creeds, councils, and liturgies of Classic Christianity is by nature however a double-edge sword.  It is a double-edged sword towards the challenge of maintaining not only Christian orthodoxy, but also Christian orthopathy and orthopraxis.  For these three concerns should together characterise the charismatic ethos of Christian spirituality.[37]

As originally a Jewish renewal movement, the charismatic power of Christianity inevitably underwent the common institutionalising phase that is common to the history of religious revival movements.  This is a process wherein oral stories, creeds, rituals and symbols tend to transition into fixed literary forms, and worse, fossilised dead forms. [38] This in turn leads to a transition from a primarily oral nuanced culture to a print nuanced culture.[39] Furthermore, all the way up through the ninth century,  this concern towards insuring Orthodoxy involved so much preoccupation with the identity of Christ, needful though it was, that “what was said of the Holy Spirit was largely an appendage to theology.”  And as an “appendage, it was even more “limited largely to matters of ontology,” rather than with regards to the Spirit’s role in the world.[40] Institutional efforts towards insuring the continuance of Christian Orthodoxy after the apostolic age had served the Church well in preparing for its historical emergence up through human history.  Yet it also inevitably left harmful influence of Greek philosophical premises in the theologising of the patristic church.  What is most important to this discussion is that result was that the patristic process of institutionalisation contributed to a historical “marginalization” and even “frequent domestication of the Spirit,” throughout the history of the Christian Church.[41]

So even through the Reformation and all through modernity, Western European Christianity suffered a further loss to its early oral ethos.  For as it underwent a “textualization” of faith” within the emerging print driven culture, biblical literacy became highly shaped through the paradigms of Aristotelian logical discourse reasoning.  This included the shaping of Christian faith according to the propositional theology of Medieval Scholasticism. [42] The common Evangelical assumption that the Holy Spirit primarily speaks to believers primarily through a correctly interpreted delivery of an assumed authorial intent of a Bible text- wholly discovered through to historical-grammatical exegesis, is in fact an outgrowth of this “textualization” process.  This was also a direct outgrowth of the “Enlightenment’s strict separation between subject and object” and “value free” quest for factual data through modern scientific methodology.[43]

Even more so then, as a movement historically integrated to the mechanical industrialisation of Europe, Protestant spirituality, particularly in its Reformed Evangelical forms, has become indeed a highly printed-”word”-centred spirituality, that is far more accentuated towards rational cerebral right brain thinking modes rather than towards a more gestalt, affective and left brain thinking modes.  To say this is not however to ignore the fact that beginning with the invention of modern printing, industrialisation led to European biblical literacy, directly resulting from both the widespread availability of printed Bibles and also the transformation of Europe into a highly literate culture.[44] High print dominated cultures however, given their attendant disposition towards scientific preciseness and disenchantment towards ambiguity, are less intuitively disposed towards perceiving trans-rational or “spiritual” phenomena arising within a given setting.[45]

The result of this trajectory was disastrous regarding towards any endeavour or felt desire for that matter, towards recovering the early New Testament church charismatic experience of seeking or anticipating a prophetic word within the gathered congregation.[46] Through its privileging of literacy and a construing of biblical exposition according to a rigid written, text-centred theory of homiletics and pedagogical instruction, Protestant Evangelicalism further “suppressed” the oral-aural ethos of early Christian community, and thereby also “killed and quenched the ongoing revelatory ministry of the Spirit by silencing the prophets.”[47] Indeed, as mainline and Evangelical Protestantism have both historically drank from the wells of scientific modernity, both have sought- however unintentionally, to “domesticate” the charismatic role of the Spirit within the Church.  This was largely due to the influence of modern philosophical pragmatism, and this trend began long ago through the influences of Medieval European Scholasticism.[48]

Pentecostalism as a restorationist movement

This brief historical survey demonstrates that Pentecostalism emerged not only as a renewal movement, but also even more so, as a definitive restoration of the early church charismatic experience of the Holy Spirit.  For what Pentecostalism restored was early Christian orality.  The Pentecostal restoration of Christian orality has also included the role it should serve towards facilitating an open posture towards the charismatic presence of the Holy Spirit.  What believers within Pentecostalism experienced and recovered was not just the charismatic outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but a preliterate and pre-modern oral-aural ethos.  This is important because it is a preliterate and pre-modern oral-aural ethos which nurtures and decisively facilitates congregational openness to the Pentecostal experience of Spirit-baptism, the more miraculous and extraordinary expressions of spiritual gifts, and the prophetic “word of the Lord.”

There is indeed I would argue, some viable element of truth to the restorationist “fall” paradigm.  This is notwithstanding the rightful role of seeking and maintaining continuity with classic Christian Tradition within the Church.  For notwithstanding that there remains a vast negligence to the Holy Spirit in Christian theology, 20th century Christian theology had still altogether experienced a turning not only towards trinitarian motifs, but towards pneumatology as well, which much arose through the global emergence and spread of Pentecostalism.[49]

Amongst other factors, it was also through restoring the oral-aural ethos to the Christian congregational setting, that Pentecostalism directly facilitated the global indigenisation of Christianity.  This is particularly so throughout the oral-aural oriented cultures of the Southern hemisphere.  For throughout the 20th century it is was largely within the Southern hemisphere that people were more culturally disposed towards discerning trans-rational information, than people living in more print-driven, and low context cultures.[50] Pentecostal orality has thus been deeply congruent to not only its own sacralistic worldview, but also to the sacralistic worldview that predominately characterised 20th century Asian, African, and Latin American societies.[51]

Pentecostal ethos and spirituality has also thus resonated with common assumptions held throughout the two-thirds world that life is often plagued by spiritual malaises whose power must be confronted and broken.  This directly contributed to a dynamic, narrative and dialogical congregational reading of the Scriptures.  Within this dialogical, congregational reading of the Scripture, worshippers come anticipating a supernatural “word from the Lord.”  So a major critical factor has simply been that people who are raised in an oral-aural oriented culture, are naturally able to posture themselves towards a more relational engagement with Scripture, even in its spoken rather than written form.[52]

Christians who are more culturally disposed towards an oral-aural driven culture, naturally approach the Scriptures more so from the affective-oriented, left-brain hemisphere, which comprises the gestalt aspect of human knowing.  Because the pre-literature oral-aural paradigm teaches one to discern information from the context of the situation at hand, people in oral-aural cultures found far greater resonance with Pentecostal liturgy than the print-driven congregational ethos that is descriptive of other Christian traditions.[53] In addition, their tolerance for ambiguity therefore facilitates their intuitive perception towards the supernatural.  This thus also means that their tolerance for ambiguity also facilitates in their midst, the charismatic presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit (eg., Luke 12:11-12).[54]

The radical crisis experience of Spirit-baptism

Another major variable responsible for the fruit of 20th century Pentecostalism is most certainly, the Pentecostal experience of Spirit-baptism.  For within Pentecostal spirituality, Spirit-baptism decisively provides an initiation into a heightened awareness of God’s presence and anointing, which has thus also simultaneously often granted believers a decisive certainty of divine commission to be a witness of the Christian gospel.  Classic Pentecostals had generally not experienced this initiation as a quiet or gradual awareness of the Holy Spirit.  It is rather usually experienced as a definitive crisis experience; a “shattering effect of the Holy Spirit,” which leads to “an apocalyptic revaluation of everything that till then had been taken for granted.”[55]

Finally, another core feature that has enabled the globalisation of Pentecostalism, is that within Pentecostal spirituality, Pentecostals have often experienced Spirit-baptism as really, a literal and existential baptism into biblical story-world.[56] Spirit-baptism has often granted a indelible transformation of one’s personal identity; for through the experience of Spirit-baptism one often begins interpreting his or her identity as one of the characters in the “story world,” particularly in the book of Acts.[57] Pentecostal spirituality has therefore significantly facilitated within its diverse streams, the actual intent of Scripture according to the promise of “narrative theology.”  This provides believers a means whereby they can existentially “enter into the world” of the biblical story.  Moreover, by existentially entering into the biblical story, believers are thereby granted the capacity to “reinterpret” their “personal and social existence,” their personal and Christian “identity,” as a member of the biblical story of God’s people journeying towards the biblical vision of God’s eschatological shalom.[58]

Spirit-baptism as gateway into the biblical story-world

The power of the Pentecostal nuance upon the biblical narrative framework, with its hermeneutical priority given to Acts and the Gospels, is that this nuance grants the individual believer personal ownership towards comprehending the biblical narrative- meaning, the biblical story world.  Believers largely influenced by the modernity, too often forfeit this personal ownership through the “concordance model” of Bible reading.  I refer here to the practice whereby believers are intentionally or unintentionally led to believe that “biblical truth- correct doctrine, is more readily at hand in the latest systematic compilation offered by the skilled theologian.”[59] Therefore, rather than approaching Scripture as a medium through which the Holy Spirit may directly speak to the believer, such believers primarily approach Scripture as a medium through which propositional truths or doctrinal statements may be observed.  What this has ultimately led to even more however, is the “silencing of the text in the church.”[60]

We must thus know that “the central purpose of the Bible is not to provide raw materials for constructing a systematic theological edifice.  Rather, the central purpose of the Bible is “to discern the Spirit’s voice through the appropriate text.”[61] What makes the Bible “authoritative” for us is that it is the one story through which the Sprit speaks to us.[62] We harm the community’s engagement with Scripture, when we thus indoctrinate them with the belief that the purpose of doctrine is “codify the meaning of the text in a series of systematically arranged assertions.”  What we must thus acknowledge is that all theological constructions are only tools- not the truth itself.  They are only tools to help lead us back towards and into the primacy of the Biblical story.[63] Sometimes however, we may do better without these tools.

In a stimulating paper titled, “Divine Relationality: A Pentecostal Contribution to the Doctrine of God,” Clark Pinnock discusses Pentecostalism’s observed and distinctive narrative-centred Bible hermeneutic, through which they believe they can “inhabit the story-world of the Bible.”  Pinnock draws attention to how through this kind of hermeneutic, Pentecostals thus “engage with the narrative . . .  existentially.”[64] Pinnock argues that this existential, narrative-centred hermeneutic specifically causes Pentecostals to gravitate towards a theology of God that is highly “relational.”  It is a relational theology and understanding of God that stands in radical contrast to more deterministic theisms.

Pinnock furthermore believes that further promoting the “relational theism” of Pentecostalism is the movement’s doctrine of Spirit-baptism as a second work of grace, subsequent to the conversion-initiation experience.” [65] Pinnock reasons that within Pentecostalism, “Grace makes Spirit baptism possible, but people must seek the experience or it will not happen.”  This supports of course Pinnock’s project towards open theism.  For Pentecostals do naturally perceive a certain degree of “openess” about God and His posture towards us.  Pinnock notes for instance that in Pentecostalism, “God does not fill people with the Spirit automatically- they need to seek the fullness.”[66]

For purposes of my discussion however, what is most important to note from Pinnock’s thesis, is how he perceives the Pentecostal tendency to build theology from narrative and read the narrative in order to existentially “inhabit” its story-world.  This is a distinctive Christian spirituality; it is a “Pentecostal” spirituality.  In fact, Pinnock also suggests that it has been this narrative-centred hermeneutic has directly also aided the movements historical growth amongst lower classes and the poor.[67] I say this to emphasis therefore, that the classic Pentecostal  approach to narrative and thus to Luke-Acts, has been integral to the facilitating core features of Pentecostal spirituality, as its narrative and story orientation, orality, and past effectiveness towards “redemption and lift.”

The fact is as, discussed by John McKay, people who have experienced the Pentecostal baptism in the Sprit commonly look back on that experience as a “disclosure experience.”  It is a “disclosure experience” wherein the Bible is read differently than prior to their experience with Spirit-baptism.”[68] In Classic Pentecostalism, the doctrine of Spirit-baptism therefore “plays a hermeneutical role in which major Christian beliefs are ‘interpreted and explored.’”[69] The classic Pentecostal experience of Spirit-baptism as entered into subsequent to conversion-initiation, has indeed tended to produce within Spirit-filled believers, a paradigm-shifting hermeneutic towards the Bible.

This specifically relates to the believer’s existential posture towards the biblical story-world, particularly within the purely narrative parts of Scripture.  Spirit-baptism not only results from a theological reading of narrative; it also produces a narrative-centered hermeneutic that prioritises Luke-Acts as a foundational source for understanding the experience of Spirit-baptism.  Pentecostal scholarship has at times been bold enough to suggest therefore that Spirit-baptism grants believers a new existential advantage towards understanding the Scriptures, in a way not shared by believers whom have never entered into the Pentecostal experience of Spirit-baptism.[70]

Pentecostal and charismatic believers, church leaders, and even many who are academically trained leaders, often unreservedly believe that their Spirit-baptism granted them a distinct spiritual illumination into the meaning of the Bible.  Well, I do agree with this to some extent.  Yet as we all know, Spirit-baptised believers are often certainly no more morally or spiritually perfected than nonPentecostals or Charismatics!  Perhaps if on this matter we consciously hold in check our tendency to dichotomise the spiritual from the natural, we may articulate a more realistic, and conversely more diplomatic, rationale for appreciating Spirit-baptism as a definitive hermeneutical help towards aiding the believer’s connection with the Bible.

My suggestion here is that Spirit-baptism simply orientates believers towards a more narrative-driven and centred understanding of the Bible; in other words, a more “storying” orientation towards the Bible.  Consequently, it is not that the Spirit-baptised believer is “more spiritual” than the non Spirit-baptised believer, but simply that he simply now has a more “storying” Bible-reading paradigm, that is naturally more congruent with the oracular and storying nature of the Bible itself.  Mckay helps sharpen this thesis by likening the hermeneutical contrast a believer experiences through Spirit-baptism through the analogy of a theatrical drama.  Through the experience of Spirit-baptism, our existential identity as participants within the biblical story-world is heightened, as we find ourselves seemingly transported from the audience to the stage itself.[71]

McKay’s reflection is autobiographical.  And being himself formally trained in theological studies, he draws special attention to the antagonism experienced between Charismatics who tend to become very “anti-intellectual” and generally disheartened or ambivalent towards biblical or theological scholarship, and non Charismatic or Pentecostals altogether.[72] McKay goes on to argue that it is this very existential reading of the biblical narratives- made possible through the “baptism in the Spirit,” that “often give less literate people a much better appreciation of the message of the Bible” than often times what can be derived through formal theological training.[73]

McKay empathises with the ambivalence of many Spirit-baptised believers towards formal theological scholarship, because he believes that like his non-formally trained Charismatic brethren, he has also experienced through Spirit-baptism, a “lifting of the veil: “I found myself reading my Bible with completely new understanding.  The veil Paul spoke about had been lifted and for the first time in my life, I discovered that it all made very good sense.”[74] As earlier mentioned, in something of an autobiographical reflection, McKay likens the experience of Spirit-baptism to an experience of finding one’s self called out from the audience to join the actors on the stage.

“It bids us [to] align ourselves with Jesus and the apostles, to share their experience, to come out of the audience, and join the players in the final acts, to wait in our own Jerusalems until we too are endued with the same power from on high.  Once we do that, we find the curtain (or the veil) removed altogether and ourselves on stage holding hands with the apostles and seeing everything from their Pentecostal perspective.”[75]

Monte Lee Rice (© Copyright September 2008)

Links to the Spirit-Baptism and the Prophetic Imagination series

NOTES

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[1] Stanley M. Burgess and Eduard M. van der Mass, “Global Statistics,” in The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, eds. Stanley M. Burgess and Eduard M. van der Mass, rev ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2002), 286-289; Note Amos Yong’s survey of Burgess and Mass’ research, and analysis of Global Pentecostalism , particularly of Latin American, African, and Asian Pentecostal movements: “‘Poured Out upon All Flesh:’ Salvation, the Spirit, and World Pentecostalism,” in The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh: Pentecostalism and the Possibility of Global Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005). 19, 31-80.

[2] Two helpful essays acknowledging the role of Pentecostalism towards 20th century Christian indigenisation throughout the Southern hemisphere are: Dana L. Robert, “Shifting Southward: Global Christianity Since 1945,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 24, no 2 (April 2000) 50-58 (53-54, 55-56); Philip Jenkins, “After the Next Christendom,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 28, vol 1 (January 2004): 20-22 (21); Yong, The Spirit Poured Out, 24.

[3] Walter J. Hollenweger, Pentecostalism: Origins and Developments Worldwide (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997), 2, 19-39, 112, 161, 177, 195-196, 269-278, 291-295, 322, 397-398.  Also significant is Allan H. Anderson, who further expanded Hollenweger’s project on Pentecostal orality; “The Pentecostal Gospel and Third World Cultures.” http://artsweb.bham.ac.uk/anderson/Publications/pentecostal_gospel_.htm (12/23/2004); Anderson, “Global Pentecostalism in the New Millennium,” in Pentecostals after a Century: Global Perspectives on a Movement in Transition, eds. Allan H. Anderson, and Walter J. Hollenweger (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), 223.  Other helpful sources concerning the role Pentecostal orality in global indigenisation include: Russell P. Spittler, “Implicit Values in Pentecostal Missions,” Missiology: An International Review 16, no. 4 (October 1988): 409-424 (413-414); Simon Chan, Pentecostal Theology and the Christian Spiritual Tradition, Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement Series 21 (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000), 20f, 24.

[4] Kevin M. Bradt, Story as a Way of Knowing (Kansas City, KA: Sheed & Ward, 1997), 3-11, 14, 17.

[5] Del Tarr, Double Image: Biblical Insights from African Parables (New York, NY; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994), 6-7; “The Role of the Holy Spirit in Interpersonal Relations,” in Theology & Theory, vol 1 of The Holy Spirit & Counselling, eds Marvin G. Gilbert and Raymond T. Brock (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1985), 7, 19; Hollenweger, Pentecostalism, 273.

[6] Harvey Cox, Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-first Century (London, UK: Cassell, 1996), 219, 228; quoted in Allan H. Anderson, “Pentecostalism in East Asia: Indigenous Oriental Christianity?” PNEUMA: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, 22, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 115-132 (130-131).

[7] Early Pentecostal narrative driven preaching and communication methods deeply resonated with the two-thirds world, thus contributing to the success of Pentecostal missions; Tarr, “Preaching the Word in the Power of the Spirit,” in Called and Empowered: Global Mission in Pentecostal Perspective, eds. Murray A. Dempster, Byron D. Klaus, and Douglas Petersen (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1991), 123; Hollenweger, Pentecostalism, 195-196.  Note also Simon Chan’s reflections on the epistemological effectiveness of narrative preaching within Asian contexts in, “Problem and Possibility of an Asian Theological Hermeneutic,” Trinity Theological Journal, vol 9 (2000): 47-59 (55-56).

[8] Hollenweger, Pentecostalism, 196.

[9] Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971, 1997), 179; Hollenweger, Pentecostalism, 23-24, 35, 273; Anderson, “Global Pentecostalism in the New Millennium,” in Pentecostals after a Century, 210-211, 213; Chan, Pentecostal Theology, 20; Yong, The Spirit Poured Out, 34, 42; Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, “Church as Charismatic Fellowship: Ecclesiological Reflections from the Pentecostal-Roman Catholic Dialogue,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 18 (2001): 100-121 (101, 114-115, 119).

[10] David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991), 467, 469-470; Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit:  A Contribution to Messianic Ecclesiology, trans. by Margaret Kohl (New York, NY: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1975), 10, 314-315f.

[11] Robert Banks, Paul’s Idea of Community: The Early House Churches in their Cultural Setting, rev. ed. (Peabody, MA:  Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), 192; Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 300-336, esp 314-315f.

[12] Bosch, Transforming Mission, 262-263, 351; Jackie David Johns, “Pentecostalism and the Postmodern Worldview.” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 7 (1995): 73-96 (79-82)

[13] Simon Chan, Liturgical Theology: The Church as Worshiping Community (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic; InterVarsity Press, 2006), 34.

[14] Kärkkäinen, “Church as Charismatic Fellowship,” 101, 111-112, 116, 119, 121).

[15] L. Grant McClung, Jr., “Truth on Fire: Pentecostals and an Urgent Missiology,” in Azusa Street and Beyond: Pentecostal Missions and Church Growth in the Twentieth Century, ed. L. Grant McClung, Jr. (South Plainfield, NJ: Bridge Publishing, Inc; Logos, 1986), 49.

[16] Hollenweger, Pentecostalism, 23-24; Frank Bartleman, Azusa Street: The Roots of Modern-day Pentecost (South Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1980; unabridged reprint of, How “Pentecost” Came to Los Angeles- How It Was in the Beginning, np,1925), 57.

[17] Hollenweger, Pentecostalism, 23-24.

[18] In his magisterial work, Transforming Mission, Bosch unfortunately failed to mention the role of Pentecostalism towards the democratisation of the Church as well as a globalising force towards Christian indigenisation.  He does refer to Rolland Allen, who as an Anglican priest, was perhaps the first Western clergy to publicly call for an end to Western colonial and paternalistic missionary practices; Bosch, Transforming Mission, 379; Roland Allen. Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Co., 1962).  But it was initially Pentecostals who more than any other 20th century Christian tradition, who first resolutely implemented Allen’s missiology and vision towards local Christian indigenisation.  This was foremost achieved through the influence of American AG missiologist Melvin Hodges, who effectively “Pentecostalized Allen’s principles and rephrased them” in a manner highly resonant to Pentecostal doctrine and spirituality; Samuel Escobar, A Time for Mission: The Challenge for Global Christianity (Leicester, UK: Inter-Varsity Press, 2003), 117; Melvin A. Hodges, The Indigenous Church, rev. ed. (Springfield, MO:  Gospel Publishing House, Gospel Publishing House, 1976).  In a similar vein, Kärkkäinen laments Bosch’s virtual disinterest in his Paradigm Shifts text, towards discussing the missiological role of the Holy Spirit, as illustrative of the continued disinterest within current missiological studies towards articulating a “pneumatological outlook in modern missiology;” “‘Truth on Fire:’ Pentecostal Theology of Mission and the Challenges of a New Millennium,” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 3, no. 1(200): 33-60 (38).  See also Gary B. McGee, “Strategies for Global Mission,” in Called and Empowered, 212; Hollenweger, Pentecostalism, 20, 23, 298.

[19] Kärkkäinen, “‘Culture, Contextualization, and Conversion’: Missiological Reflections from the Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue (1990-1997),” Journal of Asian Mission 2, vol. 2 (September 2000): 261-275 (273).

[20] Hollenweger, The Pentecostals: The Charismatic Movement in the Churches (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1969), 457; Pentecostalism, 273.

[21] Anderson, “The Pentecostal Gospel and Third World Cultures,” 1; Hollenweger, Pentecostalism, 269-275.

[22] Hollenweger, Pentecostalism, 272.

[23] Bonjour Bay, “The Current Tendencies of the Wesleyan-Holiness Movement and the Growth of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity,” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 7, no. 2 (2004): 255-264 (255-256).

[24] Carl Raschke, The Next Reformation: Why Evangelicals Must Embrace Postmodernity (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic; Baker Publishing Group, 2004), 212; Terry Cross, “A Proposal to Break the Ice:  What Can Pentecostal Theology Offer Evangelical Theology.” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 10, No. 2 (April 2002): 44-73 (55).

[25] Robert E. Webber, The Younger Evangelicals: Facing the Challenges of the New World (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books; Baker Book House Co, 2002), 50-51, 66, 68, 90-92; Craig Van Gelder, “Postmodernism and Evangelicals: A Unique Missiological Challenge at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century,” Missiology: An International Review, 30, no. 4 (October 2002): 491-504 (498-499); Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003), 99-103.

[26] Jackie David Johns, “Pentecostalism and the Postmodern Worldview,” 73-96 (96); see also, Harvey Cox, “Forward,” in Pentecostals after a Century, 10.

[27] Margaret M. Poloma, The Assemblies of God at the Crossroads: Charisma and Institutional Dilemmas (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1989), 19; quoted in Yee Tham Wan, “Defining Pentecostalism,” Journal of Asian Evangelical Theology 12 (2004): 95-124 (114).

[28] Bosch cites the emergence of Pentecostalism as a major example signifying the collapsing power of the modern worldview within much of the Christian tradition.  Bosch then posits that Pentecostalism illustrates a growing transition from theologising through the methods of modern scientific epistemology, to methods rather illustrative of pre-modern epistemology.  He thus mentions as example, the growing appreciation towards “narrative theology,” and of spiritual experience as a valid component to a rational comprehension of reality; Transforming Mission, 352-354.

[29] Daniel E. Albrecht, “Pentecostal Spirituality: Looking Through the Lens of Ritual,” PNUEMA: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 14, no. 2 (Fall 1992): 107-125 (110-111, 114, 118-119).

[30] Tarr, “The Prophetic Ministry of the People of God,” ,” Lecture 4 of “The Role of the Charismata in the Pentecostal World.” The 9th William Menzies Annual Lectureship (Baguio, Philippines: Asia Pacific Theological Seminary, January 15-19, 2001), 91-93; 41; “The Role of  the Holy spirit in Interpersonal Relations,” Lecture 2 of “The Role of the Charismata in the Pentecostal World,” 43-46; “The Role of the Holy Spirit in Interpersonal Relations,” in Theology & Theory, 9-14, 23.

[31] Hollenweger, “Pentecostalism’s Global  Language,” An Interview with Walter J. Hollenweger, Christian History Magazine (Christianity Today), 17, no. 2 (Spring 1998): 42.

[32] Marcela A. Chaván de Matviuk, “Latin American Pentecostal Growth: Culture, Orality and the Power of Testimonies,” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 5, no. 2 (July 2002): 205-222 (217).

[33] Bruce J. Malina and Richard L. Rohrbaugh, The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology (Atlanta, GA: John Know Press, 1981); Richard L. Rohrbaugh, The Biblical Interpreter: An Agrarian Bible in an Industrial Age (Philadelphia, PN: Fortress Press, 1978).

[34] James K. A. Smith, “The Closing of the Book: Pentecostals, Evangelical, and the Sacred Writings,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 11 (1997): 49, 53f; cited in Tarr, “The Prophetic Ministry of the People of God,” Lecture 4 of “The Role of the Charismata in the Pentecostal World.” The 9th William Menzies Annual Lectureship (Baguio, Philippines:  Asia Pacific Theological Seminary, January 15-19, 2001), 92-93.

[35] Moltmann, The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation, trans. by Margaret Kohl (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2001), 278.

[36] I am referring to the crystallisation of the classic, Christian Tradition through the canonisation of the Christian Bible, and the Orthodox creedal confessions (the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian and Chalcedon creeds) forged through the ecumenical councils of the early Fathers; Thomas C. Oden, Life in the Spirit, Systematic Theology, vol. 3 (New York, NY: HarperSanFransicso; HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), 481.

[37] Jackie David Johns, “Pentecostalism and the Postmodern Worldview,” 92-93.

[38] David O. Moberg, The Church as a Social Institution (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1962), 119-123; cited in William B. Menzies, Anointed to Serve:  The Story of the Assemblies of God (Springfield, MI: Gospel Publishing House, 1971), 381.

[39] Past Pentecostal and Roman Catholic dialogues have most illustrated this tension.  Roman Catholicism represents one of the enduring representations of institutional Christianity, while Pentecostalism represents a modern expression of other past renewal movements within Christianity.  Consequently: “One of the perennial problems of ecclesiology has been the relationship between the Spirit/charism and institution;” with each tradition thus illustrating it peculiar nuance- Pentecostalism as a revival movement “seeking for balance between charisma and structure whereas Catholics look of balance between structure and charisma;” Kärkkäinen, “Church as Charismatic Fellowship,” 104-10.

[40] William W. Menzies, “The Holy Spirit in Christian Theology,” in Perspectives on Evangelical Theology, Papers from the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, eds. Kenneth S. Kantzer and Stanley N. Gundry (Grand Rapids, MI:  Baker Book House, n.d), 67.

[41] Gordon Fee, God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1994), 899.

[42] Smith, “The Closing of the Book,” 64; quoted in Tarr, “The Prophetic Ministry of the People of God,” 93-94.

[43] Bosch, Transforming Mission, 266, 270-271.

[44] Escobar, A Time for Mission, 129-130.

[45] Tarr, Double Image, 6-8, 97-98.

[46] Smith, “The Closing of the Book,” 64; quoted in Tarr, “The Prophetic Ministry of the People of God,” 93-94.

[47] Mark J. Cartledge, “Charismatic Prophesy: A Definition and Description,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 5 (1994): 79-120 (62); cited in Tarr, “The Prophetic Ministry of the People of God,” 95-96.

[48] Richard E. Wentz, “The Domestication of the Divine,” Theology Today 57, no. 1 (April 2000): 24-34 (24-25).

[49] Escobar, A Time for Mission, 113, 118; Moltmann, The Spirit of Life, 1-4; Clark Pinnock, “The Recovery of the Holy Spirit in Evangelical Theology,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 13, no. 1 (2004): 3-18 (5); the most well known testimony to this development was of course Leslie Newbigin’s description of Pentecostalism as an ecclesiology that is as now comparably equal to Catholic and Protestant ecclesiological paradigms; Newbigin, The Household of Faith (Friendship, 1954), 9.

[50] Tarr, Double Image, 8;

[51] Russell Spittler, “Implicit Values in Pentecostal Missions,” Missiology: An International Review, 16, no. 4 (October 1988): 409-424 (414-415).

[52] People in many oral-aural cultural setting often assume in general, that spoken words contain inherent power.  This is essential to the oral-aural culture worldview.  Therefore, how much more then, it is easy to believe that divine words, like God’s words- and especially the Word of God, have a present, dynamic, divine power; Tarr, Double Image, 163; Jenkins, “After the Next Christendom,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 21.

[53] Tarr, Double Image, 8, 102.

[54] Tarr, Double Image, 100.

[55] Matthew Clark, “Questioning Every Consensus: A Plea for a Return to the Radical Roots of Pentecostalism,” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 5, No. 1 (2002): 73-86 (75).

[56] John McKay, “When the Veil is Taken Away: The Impact of Prophetic Experience on Biblical Interpretation,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 5 (1994): 17-40 (35, 37).

[57] Clark H. Pinnock, “Divine Relationality: A Pentecostal Contribution to the Doctrine of God,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 16 (2000): 3-26 (8-9).

[58] George Stroup, The Promise of Narrative Theology (London, UK: SCM Press, 1981), 81, 96-97.

[59] Stanley J. Grenz and John R. Franke, Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 63.

[60] Grenz and Franke, Beyond Foundationalism, 63.

[61] Grenz and Franke, Beyond Foundationalism, 84; Grenz and Franke thus quote from Stanley Hauerwas: “doctrines . . . are not the upshot of the stories; they are not the meaning or heart of the stories.  Rather they are tools . . . meant to help us tell the story better;” Hauerwas, The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics (Notre Dame, ID: University of Notre Dame Press, 1983), 26; quoted in Grenz and Franke, Beyond Foundationalism, 84.

[62] Grenz, “The Sprit and the Word: The World-Creating Function of the Text,” Theology Today 57. no. 3 (October 2000): 357-374 (358).

[63] Grenz and Franke, Beyond Foundationalism, 84.

[64] Pinnock, “Divine Relationality,” 9.

[65] Pinnock, “Divine Relationality,” 4-8, 15-17.

[66] Pinnock, “Divine Relationality,” 12; Pinnock is here referring to early classic Pentecostal teaching, as illustrated by Myer Pearlman, Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible (Springfield MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1937), 306, 316-318; also Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1988), 47.

[67] Pinnock, “Divine Relationality,” 9.

[68] John McKay, “When the Veil is Taken Away: The Impact of Prophetic Experience on Biblical Interpretation,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 5 (1994): 17-40 (21).

[69] San-Whan Lee, “Pentecostal Prophecy,” Spirit and Church 3 (May 2001): 148-49; quoted in Macchia, Baptized in the Spirit: A Global Pentecostal Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 21.

[70] Roger Stronstad, “Pentecostal Experience and Hermeneutics,” Paraclete (Winter 1992):  14-30.

[71] McKay, “When the Veil is Taken Away,” 32.

[72] McKay, “When the Veil is Taken Away,” 24-25, 37-40.

[73] McKay, “When the Veil is Taken Away,” 37.

[74] McKay, “When the Veil is Taken Away,” 36.

[75] McKay, “When the Veil is Taken Away,” 35.

Prologue to Spirit-Baptism and the Prophetic Imagination

Part 1: The Revolutionary Power of Pentecostal Spirituality

Part 2: The Decline of Pentecostalism As A Revival Movement

Part 3: A Vision for True Pentecostal Revival

Part 4: The Prophetic Purpose of Pentecostal Spirit-baptism

To be published within several weeks’ time.