Stephen Barkley
Pentecostal systematic theology.
It’s not something you hear every day. In the past this often meant fundamentalist systematic theology with a supplemental chapter on the Holy Spirit. Wolfgang Vondey has created something much more valuable in Pentecostal Theology: Living the Full Gospel. He has written a theologically acute Pentecostal systematic theology that honors the narrative structure of Pentecostalism.
Vondey begins with Pentecost.
Pentecostalism can be identified by the day of Pentecost as the concern for an immediate encounter with God through the Spirit of Christ manifested in discernible signs and wonders as evidence of God’s transforming and redeeming presence directing all of life towards the kingdom of God. (4)
The day of Pentecost is the symbol that centres all Pentecostal theology. Pentecostals find within the plot of the day of Pentecost “a genuine and distinct theological tradition” (5). This tradition is fleshed out by the narrative framework of the full gospel. For those new to the full gospel, it consists of five Christocentric themes:
- Jesus saves
- Jesus sanctifies
- Jesus baptizes in the Holy Spirit
- Jesus heals
- Jesus is the soon-coming King
Pentecostal Theology is laid out in two parts. The first half focuses on the five elements of the full gospel. For Vondey, it is inadequate to discus theological themes in the abstract. In one sense, “doctrine is not the point” (11). The critical issue is how Pentecostals experience these themes “through the dominant practice of the altar call and response” (37).
The second half of Pentecostal Theology “envisions a larger theological narrative by means of expanding the lens of the full gospel to the dominant theological conversations on creation, humanity, society, church, and God” (155). Vondey roots his discussion of these themes firmly in the narrative structure of the full gospel, offering a genuinely Pentecostal perspective through-and-through.
The weight Vondey gives to the experience of the altar leads him to a critical conclusion.
Pentecostal theology calls us to the altar where salvation, sanctification, Spirit baptism, divine healing, and the coming kingdom are never ends in themselves but pathways to the full experience of God’s presence. Worship is the beginning and end of Pentecost, the full gospel is the Pentecostal liturgy.
Amen.
Vondey, Wolfgang. Pentecostal Theology: Living the Full Gospel. T&T Clark, 2017.
