Led by the Spirit: Toward a Practical Theology of Pentecostal Discernment & Decision Making. (Journal of Pentecostal Theology. Supplement Series, 7)

230 Pages·1996·7.476 MB·English

by  Stephen E. Parker

Journal of Pentecostal Theology
Supplement Series
7
Editors
John Christopher Thomas
Rickie D. Moore
Steven J. Land
Sheffield Academic Press
Sheffield

Led by the
Spirit_____
Toward a Practical Theology
of Pentecostal Discernment
and Decision Making
Stephen E. Parker
r^ A
Sheffield Academic Press
Copyright © 1996 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
Mansion House
19 Kingfield Road
Sheffield SI 1 9AS
England
Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain
by Cromwell Press
Melksham, Wiltshire
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 1-85075-746-1
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments 7
Chapter 1
Toward a Practical theology of Pentecostal
DISCERNMENT AND DECISION MAKING 9
Introduction 9
Definitions 12
Concerns that Generated this Study 16
Some Questions , 17
The Plan of the Book 18
Chapter 2
The Role of Experience in Pentecostal theological
Construction and the Problem of Discernment
and Decision Making 20
Literature Bearing on the Role of Experience in Pentecostal
Theological Reflection 21
Literature Bearing on the Problem of Pentecostal
Discernment and Decision Making 31
Conclusions 37
Chapter 3
A Revised Methodology for Practical theological
Construction 39
Sources of the Methodology 39
Selecting the Participants and Perspectives 48
Chapter 4
A PENTECOSTAL UNDERSTANDING OF DISCERNMENT AND
DECISION MAKING: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF A
Local Congregation 62
Background and Description of the Congregation Selected 62
Conversations about Spirit Leading 73
6 Led by the Spirit
Example of Spirit Leading in a Service 93
Summary Observations 101
Conclusion 116
Chapter 5
PENTECOSTAL DISCERNMENT AND DECISION MAKING AS
‘CREATIVE REGRESSION’: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 117
Creative Regression 117
Discernment and Decision Making as Creative Regression 130
Conclusion 143
Chapter 6
PENTECOSTAL DISCERNMENT AND DECISION MAKING FROM
THE PERSPECTIVE OF PAUL TILLICH’S THEOLOGY 145
Overview of Tillich’s Theological System 145
Revelation in Tillich’s Theology 149
Discernment and Decision Making as Revelatory Occurrences 158
Summary Conclusions 172
Chapter 7
Toward a practical Theology of Pentecostal
Discernment and decision Making 175
Summary of what Has Been Learned 175
Guidelines for Evaluation: Revision of Discernment
and Decision Making 190
Summary Conclusions 203
Appendix I: Varieties of Pentecostalism 206
Appendix II: Interview Guide on Spirit Leading 208
Appendix III: Interview Guide on Family Background 210
Appendix IV: Descriptive Data 212
Bibliography 214
Index of Authors 225
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I owe thanks to many people for their contribution to this work. The
administration, faculty, staff and students of Tomlinson College have
encouraged me for several years as I labored with this project. I am
especially grateful for the love and assistance extended during the illness
and death of my mother in the Spring of 1991. Without the support of
colleagues and students, a trying and painful time would have been
much harder to bear. Larry Duncan, Vice-President for Academic
Affairs, helped arrange a sabbatical in the Spring of 1990 in which the
initial writing was begun. Gayla Cassidy, Librarian, helped secure hard
to find materials on several occasions. Elsie Johnson, Gary Riggins, Phil
Smith and James Wallace read and made helpful comments on earlier
drafts of various chapters.
Members of the Theology and Personality Department, Emory
University have also been a source of encouragement. The favorable
responses to earlier proposals and presentations led to stimulating critique
and dialogue that sharpened my focus and approach to this subject.
Dr Charles Gerkin provided valuable comments on an early draft of
Chapter 5 that helped me expand and redirect that chapter and
Dr Theodore Runyon offered helpful comments on Chapter 6. Dr James
Fowler’s comments on the entire manuscript helped sharpen the pre­
sentation of the material. Dr Rodney Hunter provided invaluable help
and encouragement during the progress of this study. His careful reading
through several drafts of each chapter significantly improved the scope
and argument of this work: during my mother’s illness he offered under­
standing and encouragement when work on the study moved slowly.
I wish to thank John Christopher Thomas and the editors of the
Journal of Pentecostal Theology for their help in bringing this work to
publication. Innovative, interdisciplinary works can be difficult to market;
I deeply appreciate their desire to give this study exposure to a wider
audience.
I owe a special thanks to the people of ‘King's Avenue’. My debt of
gratitude to the people who appear as case studies in this project can never
Led by the Spirit
be expressed adequately. Their willingness to share their background
and spiritual experiences has immeasurably enriched my understanding
of the Spirit’s work in 'earthen vessels’. Though they may not always
agree with my conclusions, I will always feel a deep appreciation for
what they have taught me.
My parents, Daniel and LaBerta Parker, have been a source of
support and encouragement throughout my academic pursuits. My wife,
Regina, and my son, Sean, have shown patience and understanding long
past the allotted time for this project. Regina's encouragement provided
impetus to begin again on several occasions; Sean’s willingness to live
with my absences also contributed to my ability to finish this endeavour.
To them I owe the greatest thanks.
Chapter 1
TOWARD A PRACTICAL THEOLOGY OF PENTECOSTAL
DISCERNMENT AND DECISION MAKING
Introduction
It is probably fair—and important—to note that in general the
Pentecostals’ experience has preceded their hermeneutics (Fee 1976: 122).
At the heart of Penetcostal practice is an experience of the Spirit’s
immediate presence, an experience that often involves claims to direct
guidance from the Spirit for decisions and actions by Pentecostal believers.
Understanding and evaluating such claims has been problematic for
Pentecostals and non-Pentecostals alike. This study aims at the creation
of a ‘practical theology’ of Pentecostal discernment and decision making
that is true to the experiential nature of Pentecostalism and yet meets the
criteria for a ‘critical’ theology that can evaluate claims to being led by
the Spirit.
Friend (Fee 1976) and foe (Bruner 1970) alike have noted the ten­
dency of Pentecostals to be more oriented toward ‘experience' than
‘theology’, especially when talking about the central focus of their belief
and practice: Floly Spirit baptism. The earliest Pentecostal writings on
Spirit baptism had what William MacDonald (1976) called ‘the character
of a “witness” experience’. Such ‘witness’ theologies, rooted as they
were in the oral-aural nature of Pentecostalism, offered "testimonies’ to
an ‘experience’ rather than reasoned answers to theological inquiry.
Their testimony-based writings left Pentecostals open to charges that
they uncritically appropriated Scripture and thus had neither biblical nor
theological groundings for their most distinctive belief and practice
(Bruner 1970).
In the attempt to answer such charges with more sophisticated
theologies (i.e. to show that they were critical and had biblical and theo­
logical warrant for their practices and beliefs), a new generation of
Pentecostals produced exegetical and historical studies to support the