Abstract Iris Murdoch and Emmanuel Lévinas contributed significantly to the concept of the ethics of responsibility. Murdoch emphasizes the internal aspect of the human self that attracts individuals to be responsible, which manifests as a response to the Other with the practice of unselfing and attention. Meanwhile, Lévinas focuses on the external aspect of the human self, particularly the vulnerable faces of the Other that call upon individuals to take responsibility. In this article, the author will analyze the internal and external dimensions of Murdoch’s and Lévinas’ ethics of responsibility in conjunction with Amos Yong’s anthropology and pneumatology. The author aims to explore how this philosophical and theological approach can contribute towards developing a spirituality of responsibility, one characterized by relationality to oneself and others and guided by the discernment of the Spirit.

Abstract This article examines the calculation of the number of the beast in Rev. 13.18, arguing that its persistent ambiguity across interpretive history is an intended affect. Through the lens of Affect Theory, this article proposes that the text evokes feelings of uncertainty and frustration, driving the continuous act of discernment. Building on this, the essay constructs a framework for a Pentecostal affective hermeneutic, grounded in a non-dualistic, experiential worldview that aligns with Pentecostal spirituality’s integration of affections, belief, and practices.

Abstract Sin, while often addressed at some level in most Pentecostal theologies – especially within Classical Pentecostalism – is often done so through a relatively nuanced approach. Meaning that, while light is shed upon the doctrine of sin, it is through a colored lens, one that has been predetermined by the nature of the primary topic under examination. The author hopes to initiate some remedy to this deficit by providing a more comprehensive look at the doctrine of sin, in and of itself, while simultaneously notating how Pentecostal soteriology, as a whole, might be benefited by such an endeavor. Utilizing a theological framework, borrowed from the work of Steve Land, this article seeks to investigate sin through the three-fold architectonic of understanding sin primarily as an objective, dispositional, and relational reality.

Abstract Pentecostal scholarship in the South African context has come a long way if contributions by early historians and biographers are anything to go by. The field is growing in the 21 st century, considering the interdisciplinary inputs made by the current Pentecostal scholars in South African public universities. However, the reviewed literature demonstrated that Pentecostal scholarship is underutilised in the South African theological studies context. This article looked at how the contribution of Pentecostal scholarship to theological studies can be enhanced using the theoretical framework of pneumatological imagination. This framework is basically used to outline a Spirit-inspired scholarship. The background of the Pentecostal scholarship in the South African context was conducted to identify the research gaps. The pneumatological imagination was outlined and applied to Pentecostal scholarship. The main objective was to demonstrate the value of a pneumatological Pentecostal scholarship to theological studies in the present and its potential for the future.

Abstract Intrinsic to Western culture is the preconscious embrace of a Platonic dualism that bifurcates human life into two dimensions: the physical and the spiritual. Although pervasive in Western culture, this Greek dualism contrasts with the Hebraic anthropology of the Bible, which espouses a Spirit-animated and holistic integration of the physical and spiritual. This article presupposes that a fully integrated union of the physical and spiritual is the biblical anthropology of human life. Furthermore, only this integrated living provides a coherent Christian faith when viewed through the lens of Western culture. This article will establish a biblical anthropology of a Spirit-animated, integrated human life on a biblical and theological foundation, with the hope that a contemporary movement toward integration and Gospel coherence will result through individual Christians and the collective Christian Church proclaiming the ministry of full reconciliation in Christ to the world.

Abstract The article discusses the idea of embodiment within Pentecostal theology and spirituality through an Eastern European perspective. It highlights the Pentecostal understanding of embodiment in terms of discipleship on the journey of one’s personal and communal Christoformation. In light of this assertion, the article discusses the event of the Incarnation as being paradigmatic for the Christian life of discipleship, looking into the enfleshment of the eternal Word in the Last Adam, revealing him as the telos of humanity and the rest of creation. It proceeds with reflections on the event of Pentecost and the Church as the body of Christ, and on the human and communal ecclesial body in worship. The text concludes with discussing the hallowed, sanctified body as an embodiment of the divine love and unconditional hospitality in the midst of the present world.

Abstract This article examines the historical and theological background of Eastern Orthodox attitudes toward the human body, as well as the physicality of worship and ascetic practices. The article reflects also on current attitudes toward medicine, bioethics, healing, and marriage, all of which have involved some controversial and difficult discussions within the Orthodox Church.

Abstract In Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination, Blosser and Sullivan argue that the glossolalic interpretation of tongues was an invention of the early Pentecostals aided by rationalistic higher critics in ignorance of the ecclesial tradition of tongues as xenolalia. The author here argues against Blosser and Sullivan that the early Pentecostal account of tongues was a rediscovery rather than an invention; the higher critical account of tongues as glossolalia was not due to rationalistic bias but a fresh reading of Scripture in historical context; and the patristic tradition shows evidence of glossolalic tongues in the early centuries with the xenolalic interpretation only emerging after a decline in charismatic gifts.

Abstract The letter of James’s structure, sources, thought, and frequent ambiguities present difficulties for interpreters. James 4.5 is difficult, first with respect to the referent of the citation and second with respect to the actual meaning of the statement. In an argument contrasting relationship with God and relationship with ‘the world’, James includes a saying he attributes to ‘Scripture’ about the envy or jealousy either or God or of ‘the S/spirit’ (πνεῦμα) which God ‘has made to dwell in us’. This saying supports James’s exhortations to humility and unity. Beyond its linguistic ambiguities, there is no consensus as to whose ‘S/spirit’ is in view, and if it is not the Holy Spirit, James joins only three other NT texts without reference to the Spirit. The first part of this article will explore the meaning of Jas 4.5 and its role in the broader argument of James 3.13–4.10. This exploration leads to the conclusion that it is unlikely that James refers to the Holy Spirit. The second part of this article will explore the possibility of a Pentecostal reading of James even without a direct mention of the Holy Spirit, thereby further developing contemporary Pentecostal hermeneutics.