Abstract
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.
Highlights
Pentecostals represent a diverse spectrum of beliefs and practices.1 they share a basic preference for experience as a precondition for formulating doctrine and theology, based on a hermeneutical lens that allows them to read the Bible in a specific way
From the earliest days of the movement they maintained that encounters with God within the faith community in ways similar to those recorded in the Bible, and described in terms of biblical language, form the precondition for speaking about God at all
Pentecostals regard the Bible as the inspired Word of God with authority for their lives they qualify that statement with the addition 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 (Ellington 2001:245)
Summary
Pentecostals represent a diverse spectrum of beliefs and practices.1 they share a basic preference for experience as a precondition for formulating doctrine and theology, based on a hermeneutical lens that allows them to read the Bible in a specific way. It is not clear whether it is possible to speak of a distinctive Pentecostal hermeneutics that is qualitatively different from other theological traditions.6 Pentecostals regard the Bible as the inspired Word of God with authority for their lives they qualify that statement with the addition 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 (Ellington 2001:245).
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