Download or read book A Dramatic Pentecostal Charismatic Anti Theodicy written by Stephen Torr and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2013-11-08 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The response of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches to those suffering in their midst has generally been to seek the intervention of the Holy Spirit to bring about healing and transformation, or perhaps, education. But what happens when the suffering continues, it appears to be innocent and meaningless, and God seems to be absent? This study, drawing on Kevin Vanhoozer's "dramatic" approach to theology, argues that the way God calls us to "perform" as we seek to communicate with him amidst such situations is to lament, and to do so with the aid of the Holy Spirit. Rather than offering such an approach purely in opposition to the more "triumphalistic" responses common in Pentecostal/Charismatic theology and practice, this book seeks to show how a performance of lament is conducive to such theology and practice while acting as a much-needed corrective to certain aspects of it. What is provided here is therefore relevant reading for both scholars and pastors alike, particularly of Pentecostal/Charismatic church tradition, who grapple with the realities of suffering and the questions such realities produce.
Download or read book God Suffering and Pentecostals written by Marius Nel and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2022-02-04 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pentecostals emphasize that God is still the Healer of all illnesses, implying that God answers all prayers. What about those who are not healed? How do we explain suffering? Why does a good God allow suffering? Is God not powerful enough to prevent it? In this publication, the author reconsiders these questions from a Pentecostal hermeneutical perspective to develop a novel way to think about God’s involvement with suffering among people. His experimental theology speculates how a Pentecostal ethos accommodates a theodicy that acknowledges suffering and God’s involvement in people’s lives. Although the book is a theologically constituted attempt, anyone can follow and understand its arguments. It concludes with alternative views of suffering, evil, God’s loving attention to people, the doctrine of original sin, and Satan. The author also suggests some ways to respond to suffering.
Download or read book Transforming Renewal written by Andy Lord and published by Lutterworth Press. This book was released on 2015-10-29 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pentecostal and charismatic renewal movements have seen great growth over the last century and have engaged with many Christian traditions. Yet there are signs that all is not well, and there is a need to develop theologies of renewal that engage with practice and across the traditions if the movements are to continue to grow. In particular, this book seeks an ecumenical engagement between David Watson and Thomas Merton, leaders in the charismatic and monastic renewal movements. The aim is to reflect on the theological roots of these renewal movements through a study of particular people who lived them in practice and sought to help others understand how the triune God was at work. This is done against the wider background of contemporary renewalist theology to develop constructive proposals for renewal theology in the future. Receptive ecumenism provides the method for bringing the different voices into conversation in ways that also point forward in approaches to ecumenical dialogue. It is thus a studyrelevant to those seeking new ways in theology, those involved in renewal and ecumenical movements, students of Thomas Merton, and all who seek to better understand the Christian renewal movements that have swept the world.
Download or read book A Dramatic Pentecostal written by Stephen Charles Torr and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By engaging with Kevin Vanhoozer's Theo-dramatic paradigm for understanding the metanarrative of salvation history, this thesis sets up and answers the question: What does it mean to produce a fitting Pentecostal/Charismatic performance in the face of seemingly innocent, meaningless suffering when God appears to be absent? The answer offered - classified, in reference to previous and current responses to the problem of evil and suffering, as an 'Anti-Theodicy' - provides Biblically rooted, systematic guidance for such a performance by proposing an improvisation on the divine command performance of Jesus during the suffering experienced in the Easter event. In proposing such an improvisation, it is argued that the practice of lament, so prominent in the Old Testament, becomes a Christologically qualified and justified practice to be used in the current scenes of the drama in response to the type of suffering in question. However, rather than simply arguing for recovery of this practice alone, a pneumatological twist is offered in which the Spirit is understood to be given as an aid to help with the practice of lament, post-ascension. In addition, practical suggestions are made regarding how the use of testimony in Pentecostal/Charismatic communities could be modified in the light of this thesis.
Download or read book The Church Militant written by Graham R. Smith and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2016-11-08 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A worldview of "spiritual warfare" is widely held among charismatics and Pentecostals, but it has been criticized for producing paranoia and denying personal responsibility. It is less well known that the term was first used in print around 1970 by Anglican charismatics. What did it mean to them then, and what are the practical effects of their worldview? Should we now be adopting a more sophisticated ontology of evil, such as Nigel Wright's "non-ontological realist" view or Amos Yong's "apophatic theology" of the demonic, rather than the traditional one that Satan and demons are real ontological entities? This practical theological study begins with a study of Anglican charismatic pioneers, and an in-depth case study of a charismatic Anglican congregation, before grappling with the ontological question in dialogue with Wright (together with Barth and Walter Wink), Yong, and Gregory Boyd. A fresh engagement with the biblical texts then argues for a positive, realist ontology for rebellious demonic powers and presents a Trinitarian model of spiritual warfare praxis that emphasizes personal responsibility and promotes freedom from fear.
Download or read book Kerygmatic Hermeneutics written by Swee Sum Lam and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-09-30 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kerygmatic Hermeneutics takes a reader at once into a concrete apprehension of God in his scriptural truth through flowing in the Spirit. With the Spirit working with Scripture, a reader navigates in a to-ing and fro-ing between the general claims of God and the patterns of his actions in the world, and the embodiment of these general claims in the concrete particularity of contemporary living. This to-ing and fro-ing shapes an embodied witness to the world. In this account, an interpretation of scriptural truth is incomplete until Christ is proclaimed in the power of the Spirit to bring life. This brings the world into an encounter with God. Kerygmatic Hermeneutics is an account of how one may make theology in the Pentecostal-charismatic tradition. This constructive theological account also yields a practice of interpretation of Scripture in a community of faith. This formulation of kerygmatic theology and its hermeneutical practice opens theology to empirical enquiry and spiritual discernment in a post-Christian western world. This account is also existentially relevant for the global south and east, especially where readers find themselves having to speak apologetically into diverse religious and spiritual practices in daily encounters.
Download or read book Manifesting the Spirit written by Mbanyane Mhango and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-09-30 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fewer subjects have generated intense debate in Christian thought and practice than sacraments. A reductionist view of the term "sacrament" often causes this debate and engenders tension between the so-called "sacramental" and "non-sacramental" churches largely based on whether one views the Water Baptism and the Lord's Supper as ordinances or as sacraments (means of encountering God). Drawing from the theological view that Christ is the primordial sacrament of the encounter with God, this book posits that all believers are sacraments of an encounter with God. This claim has ecumenical import. Conversion, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, the Empowerment, Gifts, and Fruit of the Spirit, Worship, Testimonies of Triumphs or Sufferings, Eschatological Hope, etc., enable believers to manifest the Spirit. Pentecost inaugurated all believers as both macrocosmic and microcosmic sacrament(s). The notion of sacramentality of believers intersects with the theological triad of Orthodoxy, Orthopraxy, and Orthopathy.
Download or read book Renewal Worship written by Steven Félix-Jäger and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2022-09-06 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theologian Steven Félix-Jäger offers a theology of renewal worship, including its biblical foundations, how its global nature is expressed in particular localities, and how charismatic worship shapes the community of faith. With this guidance, the whole church might better understand what it means to pray, "Come, Holy Spirit!"
Download or read book Who is Present in Absence written by Pamela F. Engelbert and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2019-01-16 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What transpires when Classical Pentecostals pray for God to intervene within their suffering, but God does not? Traditionally, Classical Pentecostals center on encountering God as demonstrated through the relating of testimonies of their experiences with God. In seeking to contribute to a theology of suffering for Pentecostals, Pam Engelbert lifts up the stories of eight Classical Pentecostals to discover how they experienced God and others amidst their extended suffering even when God did not intervene as they had prayed. By valuing each story, this qualitative practical theology work embraces a Pentecostal hermeneutic of experience combined with Scripture, namely the Gospel of John. As a Pentecostal practical theological project it offers a praxis (theology of action) of suffering and healing during times when we experience the apparent absence of God. It invites the reader to enter into the space of the other's suffering by way of empathy, and thereby participate in God's act of ministry to humanity through God's expression of empathy in the very person of Jesus.
Download or read book Sensational Piety written by Murtala Ibrahim and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-08-11 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grounded in anthropological comparison and the concept of materiality, this book offers an in-depth ethnographic study of the similarities and differences among various forms of religious practices in a Pentecostal Church (Christ Embassy) and an Islamic group (NASFAT) in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Scholarship in this area tends to focus on inter-religious contestations and conflicts; however, this book proposes that another dynamic is unfolding between Christians and Muslims that is characterised by conviviality, interfaith joint action programmes, mutual influences and even the exchange of religious forms. The comparative approach reveals that, notwithstanding the seemingly opposed worldviews and divergences between Muslims and Christians, they all face similar challenges and apply similar techniques for meeting the challenges posed by the precarious Nigerian urban environment. It is through practices – especially those conducted in (semi-) public settings – that people from different religious persuasions define, encroach on and feel the weight of each other's presence.
Download or read book T T Clark Handbook of Suffering and the Problem of Evil written by Matthias Grebe and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-07-13 with total page 753 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The T&T Clark Handbook of Suffering and the Problem of Evil provides an extensive exploration of the theology of theodicy, asking questions such as should all instances of suffering necessarily be understood as evil? Why would an omnipotent and benevolent God allow or perpetrate evil? Is God unable or unwilling to reduce human and non-human suffering on Earth? Does humanity have the capacity to exercise a moral evaluation of God's motives and intentions? Conventional disciplinary boundaries have tended to separate theological approaches to these questions from philosophical ones. This volume aims to overcome these boundaries by including biblical (Part I), historical (Part II), doctrinal (Part III), philosophical (Part IV), and pastoral, interreligious perspectives and alternative intersections (Part V) on theodicy. Authors include thinkers from analytic and continental traditions, multiple Christian denominations and other religions, and both established and younger scholars, providing a full variety of approaches. What unites the essays is an attempt to answer these questions from the perspective of biblical testimony, historical scholarship, modern theological and philosophical thinking about the concept of God, non-Christian religions, science and the arts. The result is a combination of in-depth analysis and breadth of scope, making this a benchmark work for further studies in the theology of suffering and evil.
Download or read book The Last Great Spiritual Conflict written by Michael D Fortner and published by Thunder Press. This book was released on 2024-03-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (This book will be published in June 2024.) Christian historian and investigator, Michael D. Fortner, discovered a vision published in 1916 that predicted two great attacks that will come upon modern Pentecostals and Charismatics. He argues that the second attack was the rise of the Word of Faith movement and its related revivals with strange signs and wonders, such as chicken clucking and dog barking. Fortner traces the creation of the WOF through Kenneth Hagin, and how he was directly deceived by Satan. This book also details how WOF doctrines spread around the world and have gradually grown worse. He also asserts that some of these WOF preachers are the "anointed" false teachers predicted to rise in a prophecy given by Stanley H. Frodsham in 1965. The author criticizes WOF preachers on TV, suggesting that many of them are either deceived or knowingly lying to make money. He even presents evidence that some of these preachers have made actual deals with the devil to become rich and famous. The author exposes how the WOF movement has strayed from historical Christianity, stating that they teach a heretical version of the gospel that undermines the divinity of Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross. Most books on this subject were written by those who oppose the entire Pentecostal/ Charismatic movement. But Fortner does not oppose original Pentecostalism, as he grew up attending an old-fashioned Pentecostal church that warned about the false doctrines of the WOF movement.
Download or read book Afro Pentecostalism written by Amos Yong and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2011-05-16 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2006, the contemporary American Pentecostal movement celebrated its 100th birthday. Over that time, its African American sector has been markedly influential, not only vis-à-vis other branches of Pentecostalism but also throughout the Christian church. Black Christians have been integrally involved in every aspect of the Pentecostal movement since its inception and have made significant contributions to its founding as well as the evolution of Pentecostal/charismatic styles of worship, preaching, music, engagement of social issues, and theology. Yet despite its being one of the fastest growing segments of the Black Church, Afro-Pentecostalism has not received the kind of critical attention it deserves. Afro-Pentecostalism brings together fourteen interdisciplinary scholars to examine different facets of the movement, including its early history, issues of gender, relations with other black denominations, intersections with popular culture, and missionary activities, as well as the movement’s distinctive theology. Bolstered by editorial introductions to each section, the chapters reflect on the state of the movement, chart its trajectories, discuss pertinent issues, and anticipate future developments. Contributors: Estrelda Y. Alexander, Valerie C. Cooper, David D. Daniels III, Louis B. Gallien, Jr., Clarence E. Hardy III, Dale T. Irvin, Ogbu U. Kalu, Leonard Lovett, Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., Cheryl J. Sanders, Craig Scandrett-Leatherman, William C. Turner, Jr., Frederick L. Ware, and Amos Yong
Download or read book African Charismatics written by Johnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides significant insights into current historical and theological developments affecting independent indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana. The information used originates from a specific African context, but serves as a window for understanding modern African Christianity.
Download or read book A Diagram for Fire written by Jon Bialecki and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the work that miracles do in American Charismatic Evangelicalism? How can miracles be unanticipated and yet worked for? And finally, what do miracles tell us about other kinds of Christianity and even the category of religion? A Diagram for Fire engages with these questions in a detailed sociocultural ethnographic study of the Vineyard, an American Evangelical movement that originated in Southern California. The Vineyard is known worldwide for its intense musical forms of worship and for advocating the belief that all Christians can perform biblical-style miracles. Examining the miracle as both a strength and a challenge to institutional cohesion and human planning, this book situates the miracle as a fundamentally social means of producing change—surprise and the unexpected used to reimagine and reconfigure the will. Jon Bialecki shows how this configuration of the miraculous shapes typical Pentecostal and Charismatic religious practices as well as music, reading, economic choices, and conservative and progressive political imaginaries.
Download or read book Journal of Religion in Africa written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Reformed Theology written by Paul T. Nimmo and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-26 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Companion offers an introduction to Reformed theology, one of the most historically important, ecumenically active, and currently generative traditions of doctrinal enquiry, by way of reflecting upon its origins, its development, and its significance. The first part, Theological Topics, indicates the distinct array of doctrinal concerns which gives coherence over time to the identity of this tradition in all its diversity. The second part, Theological Figures, explores the life and work of a small number of theologians who have not only worked within this tradition, but have constructively shaped and inspired it in vital ways. The final part, Theological Contexts, considers the ways in which the resultant Reformed sensibilities in theology have had a marked impact both upon theological and ecclesiastical landscapes in different places and upon the wider societal landscapes of history. The result is a fascinating and compelling guide to this dynamic and vibrant theological tradition.
