Longenecker: New Testament Exegesis

“‘Can we reproduce the exegesis of the New Testament?’ I suggest that we must answer both ‘No’ and ‘Yes’. Where that exegesis founds itself upon a revelatory stance and where it evidences itself to be circumstantial in character, ‘No’.  Where, however, it treats the Old Testament in more literal fashion, following the course of what we speak of today as historical-grammatical exegesis, ‘Yes’. Our commitment as Christians is to the reproduction of the apostolic faith and doctrine, and only secondarily (if at all) to the specific apostolic exegetical practices. Orthodoxy has always distinguished between the descriptive and the normative in other areas; e.g. in matters pertaining to ecclesiastical government, the apostolic office, and the charismatic gifts, to name only a few. I propose that in the area of exegesis as well we may appreciate the manner in which the interpretations of the New Testament writers were derived and may reproduce their conclusions via historical-grammatical exegesis, but we cannot assume that the explanation of their methods is necessarily the norm for our exegesis today.”

–Richard Longenecker, “Can we Reproduce the Exegesis of the New Testament?” Tyndale Bulletin 21 (1970): 38.

See also: Richard Longenecker, Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period (1999).

Maccha: Sin & Salvation

“Sin means that our relational reality is distorted, plagued by the threat of alienation from others as well as the threat of assimilation to the unjust expectations of others.  We yearn for redemption, for a liberated existence within a web of loving and just relationships.  We yearn for the communion of the triune God, and within God, the communion of saints.”

–Frank D. Macchia, The Trinity, Practically Speaking, 146.

Day 4: #SPS2012

The Society for Pentecostal Studies Annual Meeting 2012. The last day of the conference I went to the morning Ecumenical Studies session: “Pentecostal-Mennonite Convergence on the Pneumatological Foundations for Holistic Witness” presented by Jacob Dodson and responded to by Martin Mittelstadt.

I don’t know much about the Mennonite Church USA, but it was interesting to hear about the Missional Vision and Purposeful Plan for Mennonite Church USA which was adopted recently.

Next, I listened to the SPS Presidential Address: “It Seems Good to the Holy Spirit and to Us: The Ecclesial Vocation of the Pentecostal Scholar” read by Cecil (“Mel”) Robeck for the current President of SPS Jeffrey Gros.

This address provided need direction at just the right time, especially in light of the current proposal to change SPS’ Constitution and identity as a society and forum in service to the Church!  I won’t get into all the issues right now, but I’ll be sharing more about this in the future.

Then, I sat in on, “Philosophical Reviews of Amos Yong’s Spirit of Creation: The Modern Science and Divine Action in the Pentecostal Imagination.” This session was chaired by William Oliverio, and had the following presenters:

• Douglas F. Olena, Evangel University
• Christopher Vena, Toccoa Falls College
• Jack Wisemore, Northwest University
• Frederick Ware, Howard University School of Divinity
• Respondent: Amos Yong, Regent University

Now, this was one long heavy philosophical discussion!  While there was so much in play during this session, I just want to note one statement Dr. Yong made that I’ll be chewing on: “I adopt process philosophy, but not process theology.” Hmmm…

I look forward to next year’s joint meeting between the Society for Pentecostal Studies and the Wesleyan Theological Society at Seattle Pacific University (Seattle, WA), March 21-23, 2013!  The theme: Holiness. See you there!

Day 3: #SPS2012

The Society for Pentecostal Studies Annual Meeting 2012. Again, I could not attend many sessions due to working at the FPHC booth, but I’d like to share some pics and highlights in my day from my limited perspective.

I did get to attend a session in Ecumenical Studies with the following presentations:

“Liturgy and Eschatology in a Pentecostal-Charismatic Ecumenism” by Peter Hocken with a response by Ralph Del Colle.

“A Postmodern Pentecostal Perspective on Apostolicity” by Harold Hunter with a response by both Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen and Xanthi Morfi.

In the context of this Ecumenical studies session, Dr. Hunter threw out a thought provoking statement at the beginning of his presentation, which he didn’t expound upon: “Global Pentecostals are not ‘Protestant’ and are not ‘Western.’”  I agree! It is important to keep in mind the ecumenical significance of the global Pentecostal movement as it penetrates and spans the major streams/traditions within Christianity (Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant).

Later that night, I had the privilege of joining Darrin Rodgers, Sami Awad, and Steve Strang for dinner at Kervan Kebab House (Chesapeake, VA) topped off with a quick run to Starbucks!

Lastly, there was another joint meeting with both SPS and Empowered21 at the Rock Church (Virginia Beach, VA).  Here are some photos of the event:

While there was a large crowd in attendance, from my vantage point I did not see many recognizable faces from SPS.  Similar to Day 1′s joint plenary session, I had some critical reflections on the service.  However, there were certainly some powerful moments of the Spirit speaking and moving.

Let me say a brief comment on two of the speakers that night (I will not share who they were because the other two really didn’t resonate with me).  The two speakers that pleasantly surprised me did have some exegetical errors in their preaching, yet at the same time there were some very good and timely points communicated!  I had a conversation with a few people later that night concerning these sermons.  Some were turned off, some were loved it.  One of my friends tweeted: “The Spirit should not be looked to as a substitute for a lack of exegesis.”  I agree, and yet I also recognize that the Spirit can use and still work powerfully through faulty exegetical preaching.  I definitely felt an inner tension and struggle between rejecting faulty exegesis and accepting the what Spirit still communicated!  I ended up “eating the meat and spitting out the bones.”

The day ended very nicely with a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Sundae from Friendly’s!  What a day!

Day 2: #SPS2012

The Society for Pentecostal Studies Annual Meeting 2012. This morning we hit the ground running with a clear, concise, and insightful message by Dr. George Wood addressing both the challenges and future opportunities in North American Pentecostalism, which was followed by a group discussion with a few others that were around us. 

In our small group, among others, we had Margaret Poloma, Darrin Rodgers, and the General Secretary of the Assemblies of God USA Jim Bradford. We talked about how the church needs to be empowered in both love and truth and what that looks like!

For most of the day I worked our booth for the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center.  It was great to meet many people and help them get connected to the rich historical resources that the FPHC preserves and make available to researchers!

I did attend the Plenary Session tonight, which featured two speakers Samuel Awad, and Wayne Hilsden on “Spirit-empowerment, U.S. Christians, and hope for the land of Pentecost.”

Sami Awad

Wayne Hilsden

While there was unspoken political tensions in the air, they both showed civility and spoke in love. 

Also, earlier in the night Jeff Farmer, the current Chairman of the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America, gave powerful and moving call upon Pentecostals to declare war on Malaria (See www.worldvision.org/malariasunday)

Father, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

Day 1: #SPS2012

The Society for Pentecostal Studies Annual Meeting 2012.

Sat with Dan Morrison the first session

I made it to SPS 2012/ Converge21! So far I just scoped out the campus because I’ve never been here before, and hung out with some friends.  The is year’s SPS meeting is with Empowered21, which brought church leaders, next generation leaders, and scholars together at a single conference “Converge21″.

Bummer my phone died after a full day of travel, so I didn’t get more pics. Last night’s meeting (I sat with Dan Morrison) was interesting to say the least and I’m sure there will be more to come! Honestly, I felt myself get critical about the worship songs, the sermon, the prophetic message given (and I still am). Yet, I strive to be discerning in full dependance upon the Holy Spirit, and open to all God has for us at this great opportunity for Pentecostal unity across denominations, across the generations, and healing the Church/Academy divide!

Olson: Pietism & Pentecostalism

Roger E. Olson, J. Rodman Williams Lecturer in Renewal Theology, February 21, 2012.
“Pietism and Pentecostalism: Spiritual Cousins or Competitors?“
Abstract: Pietism and Pentecostalism share many spiritual and theological features and yet the two are seldom linked together or compared favorably with each other.  Pietism forms one of Pentecostalism’s historical, spiritual and theological roots; Pentecostalism is one of Pietism’s legacies to contemporary Christian renewal.  While the Pietist movement predates Pentecostalism by centuries, the Pietist ethos lives on in Pentecostalism’s lively sense of spiritual transformation as the essence of authentic Christianity.  While the Pentecostal movement arose later than Pietism, the Pentecostal ethos can be found incipient in Pietism’s core doctrine of spiritual transformation of the inner man as the center of Christian life.  Together Pietism and Pentecostalism can rightly be regarded as one paradigm of authentic evangelical Christianity.

Pelikan: Tradition

“Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.”

–Jaroslav Pelikan, The Vindication of Tradition, 65.

Fee: Normative Narrative?

“The Word of God in Acts that may be regarded as normative for Christians is related primarily to what any given narrative was intended to teach….  Historical precedent, to have normative value, must be related to intent.  That is, if it can be shown that the purpose of a given narrative is to establish precedent, then such precedent should be regarded as normative.”

– Gordon Fee, How to Read the Bible for all its Worth (1982), 99.

Pentecostal Scholars Unite!

The Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies is upon us!  This year SPS will be joined by Empowered21!

Regent University is hosting the meeting, April 29-March 3, 2012.  Early registration is closed, but on-site registration costs $159.

Stay tuned for pics and news…