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Books > Christianity > Protestantism & Protestant Churches > Other Protestant & Nonconformist Churches > Pentecostal Churches
"Can anything orthodox come from Pentecostalism?" This recasting of
Nathaniel's familiar question from the Gospel is a fair summary of
many modern Christians' assessment of the Pentecostal tradition.
Yet in recent years, a growing number of Pentecostals have been
turning afresh to the ancient, creedal Christian faith. Bishop
Emilio Alvarez has himself been at the forefront of this movement.
In Pentecostal Orthodoxy he introduces the phenomenon, and extends
the project of paleo-orthodox ressourcement (associated with
scholars such as Thomas Oden and Robert Webber) to include orthodox
expressions within Pentecostalism, particularly his own Afro-Latino
Pentecostal movement. This book is a manifesto of sorts, promising
not only to open up the possibility of a genuinely orthodox
Pentecostalism, but to reframe modern ecumenical dialogue as well.
Documentary as Exorcism is an interdisciplinary study that builds
upon the insights of postcolonial studies, critical race theory,
theological and religious studies and media and film studies to
showcase the role of documentary film as a system of signifying
capable of registering complex theological ideas while pursuing the
authentic aims of documentary filmmaking. Robert Beckford marries
the concepts of 'theology as visual practice' and 'theology as
political engagement' to develop a new mode of documentary
filmmaking that embeds emancipation from oppression in its
aesthetic. In various documentaries made for Channel 4 and the BBC,
Beckford narrates the complicit relationship of Christianity with
European expansion, slavery, and colonialism as a historic
manifestation of evil. In light of the cannibalistic practices of
colonialism that devoured black life, and the church's role in the
subjugation and theological legitimation of black bodies, Beckford
characterises this form of historic Christian faith as 'colonial
Christianity' and its malevolent or 'occult' practices as a form of
'bewitchment' that must be 'exorcised'. He identifies and exorcises
the evil practices of colonialism and their present impact upon
African Caribbean Christian communities in Britain in films such as
Britain's Slave Trade and Empire Pays Back through a deliberate
process of encoding/decoding. The emancipatory impact of this form
of documentary filmmaking is demonstrated by its ability to bring
issues such as reparations to the public square for debate, and its
capacity to change a corporation's trade policies for the good of
Africans.
This volume approaches the Word of Faith as a worldview, and
analyses the movement through N. T. Wright's model for
worldview-analysis in order to provide necessary nuance and
complexity to scholarly interpretations of the Word of Faith. The
reader receives insights into the movement's narrative, semiotic,
practical and propositional dimensions, which cumulatively offer a
multifaceted understanding of how the Word of Faith interprets
reality and engages with the world. The analysis shows that there
is a narrative core to Word of Faith beliefs in the form of a
unique theological story with focus set on the present restoration
of Eden's authority and blessings. This study demonstrates how the
Word of Faith operates as a distinct worldview that parses the
world through the lens of faith's causative power to affect a
direct correspondence between present reality and Eden's
perfection. The findings advance a critical and therapeutic
approach that acknowledges how the worldview both strengthens and
subverts Pentecostalism.
Among all groups in Christendom, the Pentecostal/Charismatic
movement is second in size only to the Roman Catholic Church, with
growth that shows no signs of abatement. Its adherents declare the
Pentecostal Movement, which began at Azusa Street in 1906, to be
unprecedented in Christian history since the first century of the
Church in its embrace of manifestations of the Holy Spirit such as
divine healing, miracles, and speaking in tongues. Yet although it
may be unprecedented in size and rate of growth, Stanley M. Burgess
argues that is hardly unprecedented in concept. In "Christian
Peoples of the Spirit," Burgess collects documentary evidence for
two thousand years of individuals and groups who have evidenced
Pentecostal/charismatic-like spiritual giftings, worship, and
experience.
The documents in this collection, bolstered by concise editorial
introductions, offer the original writings of a wide variety of
"peoples of the spirit," from Tertullian and Antony of the Desert
to the Shakers and Sunder Singh, as well as of their enemies or
detractors. Though virtually all of the parties in this volume
considered themselves Spirit-gifted, or given special qualities by
God, they are in many ways as different from one another as the
cultures from which they have emerged. In providing such an
impressive array of voices, Burgess convincingly demonstrates that
there have indeed been Spirit-filled worship and charismatic saints
in all periods of church history.
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