Types of Pentecostal Theology: Method, System, Spirit
Christopher A. Stephenson
Abstract
This book is the first critical study of the major academic theologians within pentecostalism, one of the fastest growing and influential religious traditions worldwide. As a typological study, it establishes four original categories that classify recent pentecostal theologians’ methodologies in systematic/constructive theology. After assessing the methodological types, the book offers a suggestion for pentecostal theological method that builds on the strengths of each methodological type, while also advancing an original constructive contribution. Specifically, it argues for a reciprocal rela ... More
This book is the first critical study of the major academic theologians within pentecostalism, one of the fastest growing and influential religious traditions worldwide. As a typological study, it establishes four original categories that classify recent pentecostal theologians’ methodologies in systematic/constructive theology. After assessing the methodological types, the book offers a suggestion for pentecostal theological method that builds on the strengths of each methodological type, while also advancing an original constructive contribution. Specifically, it argues for a reciprocal relationship between pentecostal spirituality and doctrine that follows the pattern of lex orandi, lex credendi. The book then develops a doctrine of the Lord’s supper as an initial exercise in this reciprocal relationship. This book is concerned with such issues as the relationship between theology and philosophy, the dynamic between scripture and tradition, fundamental and philosophical theology, and similarities and differences between recent pentecostal theology and other currents in contemporary theology. As a synthesis and analysis of a large amount of primary source literature, this book introduces readers to the scholars leading current theological conversations within pentecostalism.
Keywords:
Pentecostal Theology,
Systematic Theology,
Fundamental Theology,
Philosophical Theology,
Theological Method,
Lex Orandi,
Lex Credendi,
Lord’s Supper
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2012 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199916795 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2013 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199916795.001.0001 |
