{"id":1662,"date":"2010-03-05T14:12:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-05T20:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=1662"},"modified":"2015-03-13T17:03:16","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T22:03:16","slug":"society-for-pentecostal-studies-paper-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/03\/05\/society-for-pentecostal-studies-paper-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Society for Pentecostal Studies Paper: Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Good evening and thank you.\u00a0 I want to begin by thanking the executive committee of the Society for inviting me, and thank Kim Alexander in particular.\u00a0 When Kim invited me over a year ago, little did she know the time and energy she would have to put forth defending that invitation.\u00a0 I am especially thankful that the committee in general, and Kim and Arlene Sanchez-Walsh in particular, took a stand for academic independence, freedom, and integrity.<\/p>\n

I also want to thank a few others.\u00a0 I reckon myself to be a bit of a populist theologian \u2013 it\u2019s why I spend more time writing blog posts than I do on completing my dissertation.\u00a0 So, one of the ways that I prepare for a gathering like this is to ask the blogosphere and the twitterverse what they think, and the responses are almost always enlightening and edifying.\u00a0 On this topic in particular, that online community has been particularly helpful, filling in some of the many gaps in my knowledge of Pentecostalism<\/a>.\u00a0 Some people in this room have been kind enough to chime in on those discussions, including one who heartily recommended Amos Yong\u2019s book<\/a>, which I have truly enjoyed.\u00a0 My thanks to Baker Books for rushing me a review copy of that title.<\/p>\n

J\u00fcrgen Moltmann has said that hearing someone talk about theological method is akin to listening to a person clear his throat.\u00a0 But, I must confess a personal weakness for prolegomena.\u00a0 It is, in many ways, my favorite part of theology.\u00a0 It\u2019s a bit like an auto mechanic who spends his day organizing his tools, but never gets around to fixing the car.<\/p>\n

Indeed, my single favorite piece of theological writing is from Moltmann himself.\u00a0 A section in Theology of Hope<\/a> <\/em>or a paragraph from The Crucified God<\/em><\/a>?\u00a0 Nope.\u00a0 My favorite theological essay is Moltmann\u2019s preface in The Trinity and the Kingdom of God<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 On occasion, I read those six pages devotionally.<\/p>\n

Therein, Moltmann describes his methodological pivot, moving from his first three books \u2013 in which he attempts to describe the whole of theology through each of three prisms \u2013 to his latter six-book cycle, which he calls his \u201ccontributions to theology.\u201d\u00a0 These contributions are planned and orderly, he writes, but they avoid the seductions of systematic and dogmatic thinking.\u00a0 And, referring to himself, Moltmann continues, \u201cThe writer recognizes the conditions and limitations of his own position, and the relativity of his own particular environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then, he pens one of the most theologically significant statements that I have ever read:<\/p>\n

Behind all this is the conviction that, humanly speaking, truth is to be found in unhindered dialogue.\u00a0 Fellowship and freedom are the human components for knowledge of the truth, the truth of God.\u00a0 And the fellowship I mean here is the fellowship of mutual participation and unifying sympathy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The influence of this theological method on the emerging church cannot be overstated \u2013 it is what emergent is all about.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good evening and thank you.\u00a0 I want to begin by thanking the executive committee of the Society for inviting me, and thank Kim Alexander in particular.\u00a0 When Kim invited me over a year ago, little did she know the time and energy she would have to put forth defending that invitation.\u00a0 I am especially thankful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[219,486],"class_list":["post-1662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-in-america","tag-emergent","tag-pentecostalism"],"yoast_head":"\nSociety for Pentecostal Studies Paper: Introduction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Good evening and thank you.\u00a0 I want to begin by thanking the executive committee of the Society for inviting me, and thank Kim Alexander in particular.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta 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