Book Review of Toward a Pentecostal Theology of Worship

Spiritus: ORU Journal of eology Volume 4 Number 2 e Healing Issue Article 11 2019 Reviews Arden C. Autry PhD Oral Roberts University, aautry@oru.edu Christopher G. Foster Oral Roberts University, cfoster@oru.edu Jennifer Greig-Berens John Austin Helm !ad R. Horner Oral Roberts University, thorner@oru.edu See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: h?ps://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/spiritus Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, Christianity Commons, Comparative Methodologies and >eories Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, History of Christianity Commons, History of Religions of Western Origin Commons, Liturgy and Worship Commons, Missions and World Christianity Commons, New Religious Movements Commons, Practical >eology Commons, and the Religious >ought, >eology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Autry, Arden C. PhD; Foster, Christopher G.; Jennifer Greig-Berens; John Austin Helm; Horner, >ad R.; Ma, Wonsuk; Richardson, Sandra; >orpe, R. Samuel; Voth, Je=rey; and Ruth Whiteford (2019) "Reviews," Spiritus: ORU Journal of eology: Vol. 4 : No. 2 , Article 11. Available at: h?ps://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/spiritus/vol4/iss2/11 >is Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by the College of >eology & Ministry at Digital Showcase. It has been accepted for inclusion in Spiritus: ORU Journal of >eology by an authorized editor of Digital Showcase. For more information, please contact digitalshowcase@oru.edu. conversion,” and “work of grace”; he keeps interpretation, however, within exegetical limitations of the biblical text. This makes the work accessible to a broad audience. Scholars, practitioners, and non-specialists alike, whether inside or outside the Wesleyan-Holiness and Pentecostal traditions, would benefit significantly from this critical examination of holiness in Paul’s letters. Christopher G. Foster is Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, Graduate School of Theology and Ministry, Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, OK, USA. Toward a Pentecostal Theology of Worship. Edited by Lee Roy Martin. Cleveland, TN: CPT Press, 2016. viii + 305 pp. A unified theology of worship from the Pentecostal perspective seems to be a daunting task given that Pentecostals value what Lee Roy Martin describes as “spontaneity and liberty” in worship over more formulaic liturgies. Nevertheless, Martin praises the creativity of the diverse voices that contribute fifteen essays to theological reflection on the topic and challenges the reader to identify a continuity in thought and shared ethos among the various contributors. The general characterization of Pentecostal worship in this book is consistent with the universal function of worship as theocentric praise and anthropological service to God. However, three overarching convictions can be discerned that demonstrate a shared Pentecostal ethos: (1) an expectation of divine encounter in the context of worship, (2) an anticipation of a personal and/or communal transformative experience in worship, and (3) an emphasis on the Spirit as the agent of encounter and transformation in the context of the Pentecostal worship service. The contributors to the book under review identify the worship service as the sacred space where Pentecostals practice their distinctive doctrines of the Holy Spirit. Reviews | 323 The first two convictions can be described using Philip Sheldrake’s typology of spirituality (“Christian Spirituality and Social Transformation,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion, 2016). The first conviction can be characterized as a mystical type of spirituality that focuses on the immediacy, or direct experience, of the transcendent God in the worship service. The second conviction represents the prophetic type of spirituality that envisions communal and social transformation. The third conviction reflects a shared theological emphasis among Pentecostals on the work of the Holy Spirit in the spiritual life of the individual and community. The mystical, prophetic, and pneumatologically-oriented qualities of Pentecostal religious experience have since been identified by Daniel Castelo (Pentecostalism as a Christian Mystical Tradition, 2017) as evidence that the Pentecostal-Charismatic Movement is, in fact, a mystical tradition. The contributors to the book under review share a conviction that God’s transcendent presence can be experienced in a direct way in the context of Pentecostal worship. Furthermore, the contributors emphasize an active, prophetic engagement in the world that is born out of the Spirit’s transforming presence in Pentecostal worship services. Scripture is a central resource for the development of a language of worship for the purpose of theological reflection on Pentecostal selfunderstanding as a worshipping community. Several contributors develop a biblical perspective on worship and identify the Pentecostal worshipping community with the covenant community of Scripture. Jerome Boone identifies the Sinai pericope (Exodus 19–24) as the central worship metanarrative that establishes the identity of the covenant community of Israel as a holy nation and priestly kingdom. The covenant identity is conferred through their participation in worship. According to R. Hollis Gause, the New Testament worshipping community participates in Israel’s communal vocation of priestly service before God through Christ, the officiating high priest and perfect sacrifice. Frank D. Macchia describes the diverse expressions in Pentecostal worship as the realization of the priesthood of all believers. The democratization of the charisms in 324 | Spiritus Vol 4, No 2 Pentecostal worship is formative and transformative for the community as the Spirit generates a unity in spirit and harmony in worship that reflects the Christocentric worship of Scripture. Several contributors engage how the liturgical language of Scripture and various worship narratives have been interpreted as descriptive and prescriptive models for Pentecostal worship. Jacqueline Grey surveys early Australian Pentecostal interpretations of Isaiah that engage the text as a prescriptive model of worship, while Lee Roy Martin finds biblical patterns in the Psalms that express the covenant theology and covenant identity of the community. Biblical patterns of worship also provide guidelines for mystical encounter and potential prophetic transformation. Recitation of the Qedushah in Isaiah, the engagement of the whole person (i.e., body, mind, emotions) in the Psalms, and the narration of Christocentric worship in John’s Apocalypse act as patterns of “true worship” and transformative encounter with God. Kimberly Ervin Alexander describes how three aspects of Pentecostal experience––rapture, rapport, and proleptic––are evident in the periodical testimonies from Pentecostal worship services. Early Pentecostals interpreted their mystical experiences in worship as anticipation and representation of their participation in the eschatological events of John’s Apocalypse. Melissa L. Archer further identifies how imitation of the liturgical activities of the narrative worshippers in the Apocalypse can be identity-forming for the community and a catalyst for divine encounter. Pentecostal worship reflects a commitment to the restoration of the identity of the covenant community through mystical encounter with God and the subsequent transformation of the individual, the community, and the world through the work of the Spirit. Daniela C. Augustine adopts the language of liturgical theology to describe how the worshipping community embodies the covenant identity of priesthood and how the community is restored to the liturgical fellowship of the cosmological temple in the Garden of Eden. Augustine describes Pentecostal worship as theologia prima, which she defines as the liturgical activity of communal witness to the divine actions of redemption and the renewal of God’s people and creation Reviews | 325 in history. The priestly service, embodied in the activities of the worshipping community, occurs in the context of the altar, which Johnathan Alvarado identifies as the central sacred space for divine encounter and spiritual transformation in Pentecostal worship services. The Spirit is the facilitator of divine encounter at the altar and creates the opportunity for the renewing of individual and communal selfunderstanding. Pentecostal worship services provide a space of liturgical, theological, and ritual play where the Pentecostal identity is cultivated through direct experience of the Spirit. Peter Althouse further develops the concept of ritual play and describes Pentecostal worship services as the liminal space of potential transformation. Several contributors offer theological reflections on distinctive Pentecostal practices in worship services. John Christopher Thomas defends the use of anointed cloths in Pentecostal services on the basis of Acts 19:11– 12. Early Pentecostals used anointed cloths as a method of prophetic engagement with people who could not attend a worship service. Daniel Castelo offers a defense of creedal forms of liturgy and Chris E. W. Green calls for reflection on trinitarian forms of Pentecostal worship. Antipas L. Harris reflects on the influence of African spirituality on enthusiastic modes of early Pentecostal practices. Finally, Wilmer Estrada-Carrasquillo discusses the participatory elements of Hispanic worship services. Thomas, Castelo, and Green raise questions regarding the role of sacramental theology and systematic theology in the development of a theology of worship, while Harris and Estrada-Carrasquillo explore the intersection between a theology of worship, culture, and social behavior. The contributors to this anthology do not offer a systematic theology of worship but raise questions regarding the theological language and methodologies that can be employed to describe and critique distinctive Pentecostal practices in the context of worship. Several contributors draw on sacramental theology, liturgical theology, and systematic theology to reflect on Pentecostal worship, while others emphasize communal and social aspects of worship. Each contributor shares the Pentecostal ethos of the 326 | Spiritus Vol 4, No 2 anticipation of divine encounter and the expectation of the Spirit’s transforming presence in worship that empowers the renewed individual and renewed community for prophetic engagement in the expansion of God’s kingdom in the world. I suggest that a taxonomy of religious experience, such as Sheldrake’s typology of spirituality, is helpful for describing and understanding the range of religious experiences and spiritual practices in Pentecostal worship. In addition to the mystical and prophetic dimensions of Pentecostal worship, Sheldrake’s ascetical type of spirituality, which emphasizes individual discipline and detachment from the material world, offers an additional avenue for theological reflection on a Pentecostal theology of worship. Jennifer L. Greig-Berens is a PhD candidate at Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA, USA. Pentecostals in the 21st Century: Identity, Beliefs, Practices. Edited by Corneliu Constantineanu and Christopher J. Scobie. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2018. x + 265 pp. Editors Corneliu Constantineanu and Christopher J. Scobie undertake the historic task of clarifying the identity, major doctrines, and practice of the Pentecostal movement. Constantineanu is Associate Professor of New Testament and Biblical Interpretation and Dean of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, Croatia, while his co-editor, Scobie, serves as adjunct professor in the same seminary as well as pastors a church in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In Pentecostals in the 21st Century, the editors invite top Pentecostal scholars and pastors to reflect on various aspects of Pentecostalism ranging from hermeneutics to Spirit-baptism to discipleship. That the task they undertake is immense they acknowledge in their introduction: “The relative newness of Pentecostalism as a movement, the lack of uniform Pentecostal doctrine across adherents, various theological Reviews | 327