Abstract
Pentecostal-charismatic and process-relational theologies are perhaps the most improbable Christian traditions to find unity in the bond of the Spirit; yet, they have surprisingly common historical roots, and these roots run deep. Unobvious but accessible commonalities provide the foundation for dialogue for these otherwise disparate voices within the Christian theological spectrum. In this chapter, historical sources will be mined to demonstrate that although their contemporary expressions seem worlds apart, both pentecostal-charismatic and process-relational theologies provide rich insights into the fullness of the Christian life. Through a creative synthesis, these traditions can mutually challenge and enrich one another. These traditions find common roots in post-enlightenment reactions and primarily represent divergent trajectories as contemporary heirs of Wesleyan theology. Although pentecostal-charismatic and process-relational theologians have viewed one another on divergent ends of the theological spectrum, a renewed emphasis on love can draw them back to their common roots.
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Notes
See Frank Bartleman and William Seymour, The Azusa Street Papers: 1906–1908 (Springfield, MO: Reprinted by the General Council of the Assemblies of God, repr. 1997, 2003).
James Creech, “Visions of Glory: The Place of the Azusa Street Revival in Pentecostal History,” Church History 65, no. 3 (1996): 405–24.
Randy L. Maddox, “Celebrating the Whole Wesley: A Legacy for Contemporary Wesleyans,” Methodist History 43, no. 2 (2005): 75–89;
Randy L. Maddox, “Seeking a Response-able God: The Wesleyan Tradition and process Theology,” in Thy Nature and Thy Name is Love: Process and Wesleyan Theologies in Dialogue, ed. Bryan Stone and Tom Oord (Nashville, TN: Kingswood Books, 2001), 4.
Thomas J. Oord, “Evangelical Theologies,” in Handbook of Process Theology, ed. Jay McDaniel and Donna Bowman (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2006). The Church of the Nazarene is an Evangelical Wesleyan denomination in the United States with some measure of international influence.
David Ray Griffin, “Process Theology and the Christian Good News: A Response to Classical Free-Will Theism,” in Searching for an Adequate God: A Dialogue Between Process and Free Will Theists, ed. John W. Cobb and Clark H. Pinnock (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2000), 1–38 (38).
Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality: Corrected Edition (New York: The Free Press, 1979), 521.
David Ray Griffin, God, Power, and Evil: A Process Theodicy (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1991), 98–99.
Charles Hartshorne, Creative Synthesis and Philosophic Method (La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1970), 272.
Charles Hartshorne, A Natural Theology for Our Time (La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1967), 274.
Amos Yong, Spirit-Word-Community: Theological Hermeneutics in Trinitarian Perspective (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2002), 195.
Steven Jack Land, Pentecostal Spirituality: A Passion for the Kingdom, JPT Supplement 1 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), 49.
Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the United States (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1972), 8.
Nancey Murphy, On the Moral Nature of the Universe: Theology, Cosmology, and Ethics (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1996), 25.
Jeffery Koperski. “Metatheoretic Shaping Principles: Where Science Meets Theology,” in God in an Open Universe: Science, Metaphysics, and Open Theism, ed. William Hasker, Thomas Jay Oord, and Dean Zimmerman (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2011), 33–49.
David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Missions (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1991), 350–62.
Henry Lederle, “Life in the Spirit and Worldview: Some Preliminary Thoughts on Understanding Reality, Faith and Providence from a Charismatic Perspective,” in Spirit and Renewal: Essays in Honour of J. Rodman Williams, ed. Mark W. Wilson, JPT Supplement (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 24.
Cf. Bruce Lawrence, Defenders of God: The Fundamentalist Revolt against the Modern Age (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995).
Roger E. Olson, Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities (Westmont, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 29.
See Rick M. Nañez, Full Gospel, Fractured Minds? A Call to Use God’s Gift of the Intellect (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005).
Clark H. Pinnock, Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit (Westmont, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 166.
John Sanders, “Is Open Theism a Radical Revision or Miniscule Modification of Arminianism?” Wesleyan Theological Journal 38, no. 2 (2003): 69–102.
Thomas J. Oord, The Nature of Love: A Theology (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2010), 90.
Clark H. Pinnock, Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God’s Openness (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2001), 181.
Clark H. Pinnock, “Systematic Theology,” in The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God, ed. Clark H. Pinnock, Richard Rice, and John Sanders (Westmont, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 103.
Martyn Percy, Words, Wonders and Power (London: SPCK Publishing, 1996), 13.
Robert Mesle, Process Theology: A Basic Introduction (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 1993), 127.
James K. A. Smith calls this the “pentecostal ontology”; though process-relational theists may not embrace the “pentecostal” nomenclature, they nonetheless embrace the panentheistic dimension of such a reality. See James K. A. Smith, “Is the Universe Open for Surprise? Pentecostal Ontology and the Spirit of Naturalism,” Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 43, no. 4 (2008): 879–96.
Clark Pinnock, “Introduction” in Theological Crossfire: An Evangelical/Liberal Dialogue (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1990), 13.
Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011);
Walter Hollenweger, “Pentecostalism’s Global Language,” Christian History 58 (1998), available at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1998/issue58/58h042.html , accessed July 31, 2013.
Kenneth J. Collins, The Theology of John Wesley: Holy Love and the Shape of Grace (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2007), 151.
Amos Yong, Spirit of Love: A Trinitarian Theology of Grace (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2012).
Thomas J. Oord, “Relational Love,” in Relational Theology: A Contemporary Introduction, ed. Brint Montgomery, Thomas J. Oord, and Karen Strand Winslow (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2012), 24–27 (24).
Skip Horton-Parker, “Tracking the Theological ‘Turn’: The Pneumatological Imagination and the Renewal of Metaphysics and Theology in the 21st Century,” Penteco Studies 6, no. 1 (2007): 47–77 (65).
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© 2014 Wolfgang Vondey
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Reichard, J.D. (2014). An “Improbable Bond” of the Spirit: Historical Perspectives on the Christian Life in Pentecostal-Charismatic and Process-Relational Theologies. In: Vondey, W. (eds) The Holy Spirit and the Christian Life. CHARIS: Christianity and Renewal—Interdisciplinary Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137375995_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137375995_11
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