The Spirit, Pathos, and Liberation: Toward a Hispanic Pentecostal Theology

161 Pages·1998·3.813 MB·English

by  Samuel Solivan

Pathos and
Liberation
Toward an Hispanic Pentecostal
Theology
C0RDA9 C. BURNFTT LfBRARV
ASSEMBLIES OE GOD THEOLOGICAL 3EMWJARV
Journal of Pentecostal Theology
Supplement Series
14
Editors
John Christopher Thomas
Rickie D. Moore
StevenJ. Land
Sheffield Academic Press
Sheffield
The Spirit, Pathos
and Liberation
Toward an Hispanic Pentecostal Theology
Samuel Solivan
^r A Sheffield Academic Press
1 dedicate this study to my mother, who from infancy taught me what it
is to walk in the Spirit and to be a servant of the Body of Christ. I also
dedicate this study to my beloved wife Irene, who with so much love and
patience supported my studies, lovingly and prayerfully giving advice
and reflecting with me in the process of writing.
To my children Bonnie Lynn, Samuel Jr, Grace Ann and Marianne
who serve as constant reminders of the challenges posed by future
generations of Pentecostal children.
BfL
im
Copyright © 1998 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 The Cromwell Press
Melksham, Wiltshire
Bntish Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A cataJogu6 ^ for ^ ^ ^
from the British Library
ISBN 1-85075-942-1
CONTENTS
Abbreviations 7
Introduction 9
Chapter 1
hispanic-American Roots 15
1. The Hispanic Presence in North America 15
2. The Hispanic Protestant Ethos 26
3. Orthopathos: An Intermediary Matrix 35
4. The Need for a North American Hispanic Theology 39
Chapter 2
ROOTS OF AN APATHETIC GOD 47
1. God’s Identification with Broken Humanity 47
2. Orthopathos: Interlocutor between Orthodoxy and Praxis 60
Chapter 3
APPLICATION TO THE HISPANIC-AMERICAN REALITY:
Biblical Paradigms 70
1. A Starting-Point 70
2. Biblical Paradigms 72
3. Three Theological Principles of Orthopathos 80
4. 'Whose Weakness Was Turned to Strength’ 86
Chapter 4
CRITICAL ISSUES 93
1. Scripture and Religious Experience:
Sources and Norms 93
2. The Starting-Point of Orthopathos 97
3. The Holy Spirit as Precondition of Hope,
Love and Faith 103
4. Cultural Glossalalia: From Particularity to Universality 112
6 The Spirit, Patlws and Liberation
Chapter 5
THE HISPANIC CHURCHES AND ORTHO PATHOS:
RESOURCES AND CHALLENGES
1. New Testament Reality and Contemporary Continuity:
Orthopathos, an Affirmation of a People
2. Americanization Versus Pluralism of the Hispanic Church
3. Orthopathos: Pending Issues
Chapter 6
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index of References
Index of Authors
abbreviations
AB Anchor Bible
jn Jerusalem Bible
JPT Journal of Pentecostal Theology
JPTSup Journal of Pentecostal Theology, Supplement Series
LCC Library of Christian Classics
NIDN1T Colin Brown (ed.). The New International Dictionary of New
Testament Theology (3 vols.; Exeter: Paternoster Press. 1975)
NIV New International Version
NRSV New Revised Standard Version
PG J.-P. Migne (ed.), Patrologia cursus completa ... Series
graeca (166 vols.; Paris: Petit-Montrouge. 1857-83)
RSV Revised Standard Version
TDNT Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich (eds.). Theological
Dictionary of the New Testament (trans. Geoffrey
W. Bromiley; 10 vols.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, I964-)

INTRODUCTION
The arrival of the twenty-first century will find Americans facing the
challenges posed by the growth of America's largest minority: the
Hispanic-American community. For Hispanic Americans it will mean
an unprecedented growth in population and in opportunity. This growth
is mirrored among Hispanic Pentecostals both in the United States and
the rest of the Spanish-speaking world. For others this growth may
represent the ongoing maintenance of a social system that has played
havoc with the Hispanic family and community. Thus the twenty-first
century poses both a threat and an opportunity to Hispanic Americans
in general and Pentecostals in particular. Our response will greatly
depend on how we come to terms with who we are as an Hispanic-
American community socially and religiously, and how we creatively
integrate into the American mainstream without losing our own identity
and contribution.
The growth of the Hispanic-American population in the United
States and a parallel growth among Hispanic-American Pentecostals
pose a number of challenges to the ability of Pentecostalism's theo­
logical and socio-ethical world-view. Will Pentecostal theology be wil­
ling and able to incorporate into its hermeneutics insights gained from
the decades of the 1970s and 1980s, especially from the biblical and
theological contributions of some liberation theologians as they relate
to issues of the poor and disenfranchised members of society? This
book attempts to respond to some of these issues from an Hispanic Pen­
tecostal perspective and seeks to apply an understanding of the person
and work of the Holy Spirit to the questions and issues that an eco­
nomically disadvantaged but Spirit-filled and Spirit-led Pentecostal
community has to give to the churches. The underlying premise of this
book is the belief that the Holy Spirit continues to guide and empower
the Body of Christ in all truth. Belief in this biblical truth provides the
trust needed to examine theological perspectives and insights from
persons or traditions that would normally be suspect or rejected by tra­
ditional Pentecostal norms. As often stated by Gustavo Gutierrez, my
10 The Spirit, Pathos and Liberation
, ■ . I ..tin American liberation theology,
former professor and originator ol L‘ a si |c denomination
a theology of liberation is not the patnmox y ■ 0r th„
or tradition or theological school of thought: it is the pat.tmony
gospel and therefore of the Christian church. . .
Pentecostal preaching and teaching have, since then inccpuon,
voiced a message and a practice of liberation to those bound by sin or
illness. In line with this rich heritage of liberal,on. this book seeks to
broaden the categories of personal sin in order to encompass what the
apostle Paul called ‘principalities and power’ that manifest themselves
in social and corporate forms of social evil and injustice.
The growth of the Pentecostal community has been and continues to
be most evident among the poor and disenfranchised of the world.
Whether at Azusa Street in Los Angeles, or in the countryside at
Cherokee County, North Carolina, or in the barrios of New York or
San Paulo, the Pentecostal message has been shared and continues to be
shared most effectively with the poor and unattended. This book seeks
to examine the issues of divine suffering and its implication for those
who experience suffering, hope and trust in a loving and compassionate
God. I will also explore the social and religious factors that impact and
inform the faith of Hispanic-American Pentecostals in particular and
other Hispanic Christians.
In the United States there are approximately 30 million Hispanic
Americans who for the most part go unattended. Demographics place
Hispanic Americans among those with the highest rate of poverty, as
the least educated, and soon to be the largest minority group. In com­
munities such as East Harlem, New York, Hispanics already comprise
the largest minority group. Like their African American and Latin
American cousins, these Hispanic Americans need to assume respon­
sibility for formulating a theological perspective that is representative
of their plight, their hopes and their contribution to their churches and
communities.
This book seeks to make such a contribution. The method employed
here can be termed ‘conjunctive’. It is a ‘both/and’ theology rather than
an eit er/or theology. This conjunctive orientation reflects the mesti-
za/e (mixture) of culture, language and sociopolitical and theological
oca ion. t is a so indicative of the important role that personal and
,den.,lic„ion plays i„ f„rming a rheology for ,he
The wells from which we drink are fed by several aquifers. Hispanic