The Scandal of Pentecost: A Theology of the Public Church

(Hardback)

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Through a systematic analysis of the conflicts emerging when the public church encounters the public world, The Scandal of Pentecost argues that the public advent of the church stands in continuity with the public scandal of the incarnate and crucified Christ. Despite the historical significance of the day of Pentecost for the Judeo-Christian community, there exists no comprehensive evaluation of the events which combines their historical context in classical antiquity with contemporary theological concerns for the nature and mission of the church . The effects of the scandal transform both the disciples individual and communal witness and their public recognition as the church. Through the lens of a symbolic hermeneutic, the public witness of the church at Pentecost reveals a Christian scandal of anthropological proportions: with the outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh the church emerges as the symbol of humanity. The book traces the contours of this scandal in the confrontation of the dominant ruling hermeneutic of authority with a Christian hermeneutic of resistance. This highlights the brokenness of the human condition manifested by the church in the drunkenness of the disciples, the speaking in other tongues, the baptism with the Spirit, the empowerment of the flesh, and its public witness to a scandalized world.

Reviews

The church has domesticated Pentecost! According to Vondey, modern-day Pentecostal Christianity has privatised and personalized Pentecost, comfortably establishing itself in the language of individualism, power and prosperity. The modern church prefers a theology of itself as symbolizing wholeness and unity. The scandal of Pentecost is that it was in its inconsistencies and struggles that the church emerged as a symbol of the brokenness and the transformation of humanity in all its dimensions. The modern church owns the Spirit. The forgotten scandal of Pentecost, according to Vondey, is that the church burst into public life. The scandal is that the Spirit was given to all flesh. The scandal of this important and finely argued book is that it challenges the church to be the scandal of Pentecost. * Graham H. Twelftree, London School of Theology, UK *

Author Bio

Wolfgang Vondey is Professor of Christian Theology and Pentecostal Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK.