Spirit and Method: Pentecostal Theology and the Pneumatological Imagination

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This book offers a generative and hospitable theological methodology rooted in the distinctives of pentecostal spirituality, enlivened by a Spirited imagination and opened toward critical, constructive, and conciliatory dialogue with the wider Christian tradition. This inter- and cross-disciplinary work is careful yet generous, drawing together of knowledge and wisdom from different domainshistorical, philosophical, and theologicalin ways recognizably pentecostal and effectively missional. The book begins with a description of the essence of pentecostal spirituality that holds true across the various pentecostalisms. Drawing largely on an innovative engagement with the insights of Rudolph Otto and an exploration of the dialectic between religious experience and theological development, this book contends for an identifiable but mysterious something that makes pentecostalism truly pentecostalthat is, something more than one might sum up in any set of peculiar practices, beliefs, or behaviors. The book also provides an overview of the intellectual history of English-speaking pentecostalism, specifying and assessing the movements major philosophical underpinnings and socio-cultural motivations. Finally, funded by an explicitly pentecostal metaphysics, the book sets forth a significant and boldly original pneumatological theological methodology, shaped by discerning conversation with the works of Amos Yong, L. William Oliverio, Jr., Wolfgang Vondey, and Simo Frestadius, among others.

Reviews

Ed Gungor is an intelligent and imaginative insider to Pentecostalism who is helping Pentecostals reconsider and reconstruct who we are in late modernity. Spirit and Method is ready to take its place in the canon of methodologies as a historically-informed, constructive, philosophically imaginative, and authentic Pentecostal approach to lived theology. * L. William Oliverio Jr., Northwest University, USA *
With depth of insight and clarity of thought, Edwin Gungor offers a philosophical description of the theoretical frameworks essential to pentecostalism. Prescribing a methodological way forward for pentecostals vis-a-vis their cultural contexts, Gungor is sensitive to the spiritual ethos of the movement and imaginatively open to new prospects. This is a fresh and sophisticated account of what makes pentecostal theology pentecostal. My hope and expectation is that it will experience a wide readership and influence this burgeoning field of study. * Robby Waddell, Southeastern University, USA *
With creativity and energy Edwin Rodrguez-Gungor makes a significant contribution to pentecostal theological methodology. However, this book is more than just a theoretical work on method, it also offers fresh insights into the nature of the global pentecostal movement, as well as the religious and intellectual roots of American pentecostalism. Moreover, the proposed pneumatological theological methodology is developed with practical implications in mind. This means that the work should not only be read by scholars, but anyone interested in reflecting on what embodied pentecostal and charismatic theologising should look like. * Simo Frestadius, Regents Theological College, UK; Bangor University, UK *
Although the movement is little more than a century old, Pentecostalism is desperately in need of new perspectives on its past, present, and future. Thankfully, Spirit and Method, precisely because of its unconventional, dynamic approach, offers a fresh understanding of the movements meaning and purpose in Gods designs, and in the process not only gives Pentecostal theologians permission to engage creativelythat is, playfully!with the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, but also provides a model for doing so. * Chris E. W. Green, Southeastern University, USA *

Author Bio

Edwin Rodriguez-Gungor is Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of St. Anthony, USA