Pentecostal Theology and the Christian Spiritual Tradition
Overview
In Pentecostal Theology and the Christian Spiritual Tradition, Simon Chan deals with the problem of Pentecostal “traditioning”—the process of passing on core values. Traditioning has been ineffective thus far because the richness of Pentecostal faith and experience has been inadequately captured in the classical Pentecostal doctrines of Spirit-baptism and speaking in tongues, or glossolalia. Chan proposes that a more adequate understanding of the key theological symbol of Pentecostalism—glossolalia—emerges when it is interpreted in light of the Christian spiritual tradition as a whole. Within this larger tradition glossolalia can be understood as bringing together both the ascetical and contemplative dimensions of the Christian life. Thus, Chan explores the shape of Pentecostal ecclesiology as “traditioning community.”
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Key Features
- Addresses Pentecostal traditioning
- Examines glossolalia in light of the Christian spiritual tradition as a whole
- Explores the shape of Pentecostal ecclesiology as “traditioning community”
Top Highlights
“The negative consequence of this conception is not difficult to see. The radical in-breaking of the Spirit has not always been followed through to a more mature faith and love. It has tended to stop at a lower level where the sense of God’s immediacy is more like that of people falling in love rather than that of mature lovers. Worse, some are forever stuck at this stage, preferring to prolong their honeymoon for as long as possible. They become obsessively taken up with signs and wonders and extraordinary phenomena.” (Page 75)
“To cite a case in point, the central doctrine called ‘baptism in the Spirit’ is far richer in Pentecostal experience than in Pentecostal explanation. As experience, it is nothing less than the ‘revelation’ of the triune God,13 a ‘theophany’ of the God of history and the eschaton;14 yet when it was explained, it was narrowly defined as ‘the enduement of power for life and service’” (Page 10)
“But its weakness lies in its inability to explain itself. Critical self-reflection is essential when a movement matures.” (Page 20)
“Seymour’s understanding of the Pentecostal event also helped him to see glossolalia in a far more profound way than his white counterparts. Glossolalia was not a badge to identify oneself as a Pentecostal, nor was it just a sign of a supernatural experience; it was, for Seymour, a symbol of God’s bringing together into one body people from every conceivable background. As I have noted in Chapter 2, the speaking in diverse kinds of tongues is the most appropriate symbol of an event whose primary purpose was to create a church distinguished chiefly by its all-embracing inclusiveness. For a while, the Azusa Street Mission was an embodiment of that reality.” (Page 103)
Product Details
- Title: Pentecostal Theology and the Christian Spiritual Tradition
- Author: Simon Chan
- Publisher: Wipf & Stock
- Publication Date: 2011
- Pages: 130