This book explores the complex ideas of the Trinity and God, placing particular emphasis on the Pentecostal Church. If Jesus and the Spirit are divine to the same extent as the God of Israel, what is their relationship with the Father? Traditionally, the Western Church responds that there are three persons in the one God. How did the early Church think about the Trinity? The Church assumed that Jesus died a gruesome death on the cross to atone for our sins. This implies that God required one part of the divine to die to appease another part of the divine. A further complication arises when we consider that Jesus taught believers to forgive – why, then, did God not forgive humans? This book challenges the reader to rethink and reconsider their conception of God and the Trinity, given that God falls outside our frame of reference and outside of our universe (which we can consider our final frame of reference).

This volume offers a landmark analysis of the trinitarian impulses in contemporary worship music used by the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC). It considers whether the lyrics from the most commonly used PAOC songs are consistent with this Evangelical group’s trinitarian statement of faith. Colin Gunton’s trinitarian theology provides the theological rationale for eight original and qualitative content analyses of these songs. Three major areas are considered—the doctrine of God, human personhood, and cosmology. Making use of Gunton’s notions of relationality, particularity, and perichoresis, along with several key Pentecostal scholars, this book serves as a helpful descriptive and prescriptive theological resource for the dynamic practice of a trinitarian faith.

What's special about Oneness Pentecostals? In this penetrating analysis of Oneness theology and practice, Gregory Boyd reveals the experience of four years of personal involvement in a Oneness church. Although Oneness Pentecostals' belief in Christ's deity establishes some common ground with other Christians, their aggressive denial of the Trinity has nonetheless fostered their indisputably sub-Christian ideas about God's character, about salvation, and about Christian living.

At just over a century old, the Pentecostal Movement accounts for over 500 million believers worldwide and continues to grow. Still, confusion abounds over what Pentecostals believe and teach about the Holy Spirit, worship, salvation, healing, and much more. In 40 Questions About Pentecostalism, Jonathan Black provides an accessible overview of the historical, theological, biblical, and experiential factors that make Pentecostalism a vibrant and worldwide Christian movement. He answers questions such as these: - How did Pentecostalism begin in the United States? - What do Pentecostals believe concerning the Trinity? - Do Pentecostals affirm the prosperity gospel? - What do Pentecostals believe about healing? - What is speaking in tongues? As with all the 40 Questions books, the question-and answer format offers readers targeted guidance on the questions that matter most to them, and controversial issues are addressed with robust scholarship and in a spirit of grace.

The essays in this volume evaluate and build on Barth's theology from the perspective of Pentecostal theology and, thereby, contribute to constructive Pentecostal systematic theology by using Barth as a valuable dialogue partner. At present, a theological conversation of Pentecostals with Barth does not exist and this volume fills this void. More widely, it will aid all those who seek a convergence of the Word and the Spirit in theology. Barth and Pentecostals share some important common theological interests. Barth's mature theology has a decidedly christological emphasis. Likewise, historically, Pentecostals have often spoken of a “full gospel” with an emphasis on Christ as savior, healer, baptizer (in the Spirit), and soon-and-coming King, with some Pentecostal traditions also adding a fifth emphasis on Christ the sanctifier. Furthermore, near the end of his life, Barth anticipated “the possibility of a theology of the third article, a theology where the Holy Spirit would dominate and be decisive.” The realization of Barth's dream is no doubt coming to pass in part through the development of Pentecostal theology in as much as pneumatological theology (exploring how pneumatology affects, supplements, and might reform other doctrines) is an emerging paradigm for Pentecostal theology.

In this, the first critical study of the major theologians of pentecostalism, Christopher A. Stephenson establishes four original categories that classify recent pentecostal theologians' methodologies in systematic/constructive theology.

This book brings together the papers presented at the McMaster Divinity College 2007 Pentecostal Forum: Defining Issues in Pentecostalism: Classical and Emergent. It highlights the defining topics, past and present, of Pentecostal theology. The chapters are grouped under Pentecostal theology and biblical studies, with selections on classical and contemporary issues in each category. This book provides an introduction to the classical doctrines of Pentecostalism and key contemporary developments in Pentecostal theology in one volume. Professors desiring to introduce students to Pentecostalism will find here a concise and accessible introduction to the defining historical and contemporary issues.

Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious movement of our time. The unexpected birth of the modern-day Pentecostal movement at the doorsteps of the twentieth century is as perplexing as its continuing existence and unprecedented expansion worldwide. Once marginalized from public discourse, Pentecostals have entered into mainstream culture, religion, politics, academia, and social action. However, the unprecedented growth of Pentecostalism in all its diversity has led to characterizations ripe with platitudes, stereotypes, and misrepresentations. This Guide for the Perplexed sheds light on the most persistent contrasts characterizing the Pentecostal movement: the tension between local manifestations and global Pentecostalism, the inconsistency between spiritual discernment and charismatic excess, the gap between rampant denominationalism and the pursuit of Christian unity, the disparity between poverty among many Pentecostals and the popularity of the prosperity gospel, the division between Oneness Pentecostals and their trinitarian counterparts, and the worldview of Pentecostals beyond the confines of a religious movement. Those tensions form the essence of global Pentecostalism and represent the emergence of a global Christian world.

In From Pentecost to the Triune God Steven Studebaker puts forth a provocative Pentecostal Trinitarian theology, arguing that the Holy Spirit completes the fellowship of the triune God and therefore shapes the identities of the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit, Studebaker maintains, is not simply a passive end-product of a procession from the Father and Son but, rather, a dynamic person who plays an active role in the Trinity and a constitutional, consummational role in the history of redemption. In the course of his study, Studebaker shows the theological yield of the Pentecostal experience of the Holy Spirit and uncovers the biblical narratives of the Spirit from creation to Pentecost. A constructive and ecumenical contribution to Trinitarian theology, From Pentecost to the Triune God also engages major historical and contemporary figures such as Augustine, the Cappadocians, Weinandy, and Zizioulas, as well as representatives from the evangelical and charismatic traditions. Finally, Studebaker applies his Pentecostal Trinitarian theology to the theology of religions and creation care, proposing that Christians embrace an inclusive posture toward people of other religious traditions and have an earth orientation that sees creation care as Christian formation.

An introduction to the subject of Pentecostal theology, by a leading scholar in the field.