Pentecostalism And Christian Unity

This volume of ecumenical documents, key texts, and critical essays is the first collection of its kind exclusively dedicated to Pentecostalism and its contributions to Christian unity. In the first part, a cadre of internationally renowned scholars addresses the ecumenical heritage and perspectives of the Pentecostal movement since the early twentieth century. Part 2 offers a collection of final reports from international dialogues with Pentecostal participation. The final part contains programmatic essays in response to The Nature and Mission of the Church, a major study on the doctrine of the church published by the World Council of Churches. Most of these essays were first presented by the ecumenical-studies group of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, currently the only organized ecumenical think tank among Pentecostals in North America. Since its formation in 2001, the group has encouraged Pentecostal participation in ecumenical concerns, has hosted Roman Catholic-Pentecostal conversations at the annual meeting of the Society, has invited international scholarly debates on ecumenical matters, and has engaged in the study of ecumenical consensus statements. The essays and documents in this collection model the dedication and commitment among Pentecostals today that engage the challenges and opportunities of Christian unity from the perspective of a tradition that has often been falsely accused of being anti-ecumenical. This collection presents an invaluable resource for teachers, scholars, and pastors interested in engaging the global Christian arena from the worldwide and ecumenical image of Pentecostalism. Contributors Carmelo E. Alvarez Harold D. Hunter Douglas Jacobsen Veli-Matti Karkkainen Frank D. Macchia Raymond R. Pfister Cecil M. Robeck Jr. Paul van der Laan Wolfgang Vondey

This book is the follow-up volume to Pentecostalism and Christian Unity: Ecumenical Documents and Critical Assessments. The first volume documented the history and ecumenical engagement of Pentecostals during the twentieth century. This new collection traces the ecumenical developments, narratives, and conversations during the first decade of the twenty-first century. The ecumenical community and Pentecostals have consistently lamented the absence of a comprehensive gathering of resources for both groups. This particular volume provides two significant assets in this regard: (1) documentation of new and emerging conversations that have not yet produced official reports, and (2) official reports from continuing conversations. The book begins with an overview of a century of Pentecostal participation in Christian unity. Part One contains ecumenical narratives on the Joint Consultative Group of Pentecostals and the World Council of Churches, Lutherans and Pentecostals, the Global Christian Forum, and Christian Churches Together in the USA. Part Two contains the extensive reports from the official dialogue of Pentecostals with the Roman Catholic Church, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Oneness-Trinitarian Pentecostal dialogue. This collection presents an invaluable resource for teachers, scholars, and pastors interested in engaging the global Christian arena from the worldwide and ecumenical perspectives of Pentecostalism.

Description: This book is the follow-up volume to Pentecostalism and Christian Unity: Ecumenical Documents and Critical Assessments. The first volume documented the history and ecumenical engagement of Pentecostals during the twentieth century. This new collection traces the ecumenical developments, narratives, and conversations during the first decade of the twenty-first century. The ecumenical community and Pentecostals have consistently lamented the absence of a comprehensive gathering of resources for both groups. This particular volume provides two significant assets in this regard: (1) documentation of new and emerging conversations that have not yet produced official reports, and (2) official reports from continuing conversations. The book begins with an overview of a century of Pentecostal participation in Christian unity. Part One contains ecumenical narratives on the Joint Consultative Group of Pentecostals and the World Council of Churches, Lutherans and Pentecostals, the Global Christian Forum, and Christian Churches Together in the USA. Part Two contains the extensive reports from the official dialogue of Pentecostals with the Roman Catholic Church, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Oneness-Trinitarian Pentecostal dialogue. This collection presents an invaluable resource for teachers, scholars, and pastors interested in engaging the global Christian arena from the worldwide and ecumenical perspectives of Pentecostalism. Endorsements: ""Wolfgang Vondey's latest collection of twenty-first-century reports, the fruit of a variety of ecumenical dialogues with pentecostal participation, should go far toward informing Pentecostals of the facts. They should also alleviate pentecostal fears concerning the theological agenda of the ecumenical movement and those Pentecostals who have been called to work in it."" --Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., Professor of Church History and Ecumenics, Fuller Theological Seminary ""The second volume of Pentecostalism and Christian Unity, like the first, is a gift to the whole church. Here again Wolfgang Vondey gathers documents from ecumenical dialogues involving Pentecostals. . . . These two volumes are a vital resource for understanding not only Pentecostalism, but also the church itself. These volumes document and herald the much-sought entry of Pentecostalism into the ecumenical movement. May they have the impact--within Pentecostalism and beyond it--they so richly deserve."" --Barry Ensign-George, Associate for Theology, Presbyterian Church (USA) About the Contributor(s): Wolfgang Vondey is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at the Regent University School of Divinity and Director of the Regent Center for Renewal Studies. He is the author of Pentecostalism: A Guide for the Perplexed (2013) and Beyond Pentecostalism: The Crisis of Global Christianity and the Renewal of the Theological Agenda (2010).

Pentecostal Theology and Ecumenical Theology: Interpretations, Intersections, and Inspirations is a collection of essays from both globally recognized and newer scholars on the complex relationship between Pentecostalism and the Ecumenical Movement.

This is a pioneering study in pentecostal Spirit-baptism as an ecumenical power to transform Christian life and witness. Crowe begins by describing the conditions that changed the Assemblies of God from a grass-roots revival movement into a high-profile, quasi-evangelical denomination. He then discusses the American Catholic charismatic renewal, the largest lay movement of the twentieth century. Crowe argues for Spirit-baptism's power to unite and galvanize such theologically divided pentecostals. He envisions Spirit-baptism as God's gift to unite all Christians. Pentecostal Unity is the result of three years of research that included visits to pentecostal communities throughout the country and interviews with charismatic and pentecostal leaders.

Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious movement of our time. The unexpected birth of the modern-day Pentecostal movement at the doorsteps of the twentieth century is as perplexing as its continuing existence and unprecedented expansion worldwide. Once marginalized from public discourse, Pentecostals have entered into mainstream culture, religion, politics, academia, and social action. However, the unprecedented growth of Pentecostalism in all its diversity has led to characterizations ripe with platitudes, stereotypes, and misrepresentations. This Guide for the Perplexed sheds light on the most persistent contrasts characterizing the Pentecostal movement: the tension between local manifestations and global Pentecostalism, the inconsistency between spiritual discernment and charismatic excess, the gap between rampant denominationalism and the pursuit of Christian unity, the disparity between poverty among many Pentecostals and the popularity of the prosperity gospel, the division between Oneness Pentecostals and their trinitarian counterparts, and the worldview of Pentecostals beyond the confines of a religious movement. Those tensions form the essence of global Pentecostalism and represent the emergence of a global Christian world.

As the charismatic movement penetrated the Protestant churches and then impacted the Catholic Church, great hopes for Christian unity were aroused among many. These hopes peaked with the great Kansas City conference of 1977 and the "Pentecost over Europe" gathering in Strasbourg, France, in 1982. After these high points, the Renewal's unity dynamic weakened at the same time as the ecumenical movement was losing momentum. Dr. Hocken argues that the charismatic movement was always a grace for unity, and that this can be seen from how it began and spread. Its deep orientation to unity finds its foundation in the "end-times" significance of baptism in the Spirit poured out on Christians from so many traditions that reinforces the "one hope" for the coming of the Lord. Many developments of the last twenty years indicate that the time is now ripe for an ecumenism of the Spirit within which the charismatic impulses of the Holy Spirit can purify and deepen the wider movement for Christian unity. Growing reconciliation between Evangelicals and Catholics suddenly seems less utopian as Pope Francis shows the servant face of a humbler Catholic Church.