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| 169 10 Pneumatology Contributions from African American Christian Thought to the Pentecostal Theological Task William C. Turner Jr. Introduction: Pentecostalism and Pneumatology The maturity of Pentecostal theology demands development of a more robust theology of the Holy Spirit because of the centrality of the Spirit in Pentecostal spirituality and because the immanent and economic history of the Spirit is marked by movement toward liberty. A critical pneumatological discourse is essential for carrying Pentecostal theology beyond the apologetics that have come to be prominent in the tradition. What is needed is a pneumatology that moves the locus of discussion from narrow sectarian interests to those of the worldwide Christian communion. An important clarification is in order here: Pneumatology as a contribution of African American Pentecostal theologians is not to be confused with “valorized history” or the torturing of texts to yield or reiterate the Pentecostal litmus test.1 Neither does it devalue the positive contributions and pioneering work done as black theology. Rather, it attempts to fasten on an early critique raised among the first interlocutors of black theology, and to respond to a direct plea to African American Pentecostal theologians. Further, it gestures toward making explicit the pneumatological hermeneutic implicit in its prophetic version of Christian faith. In short, this essay is meant to contribute to the ongoing quest for an African American Pentecostal theology, and to do so by way of articulating a more ecumenical pneumatology forged in dialogue with the broader black theological tradition. This chapter does not argue for “pneumatomonism” as a remedy for the “Christomonism” with which Christianity in the West has been charged.2 Rather, it attempts to expand the company of interlocutors to include disciplined reflection by those who have been baptized both in the Spirit (as understood by Pentecostals) and in the fires of racist oppression. And it is 170 | Pneumatology precisely this emerging tradition of critical black Pentecostal theologians who do not settle for an experience without critical reflection. Instead, they embody the truths that learning does not interfere with burning; fire is not quenched by focus; education intensifies sanctification; the clean life enhances the keen mind; emotion and intellect do not run on a collision course. The hope is for a seminal contribution to pneumatology as a critical and systematic discourse to assist in guiding a church in search of and open to the Spirit, whose mission is transfiguring the world as the home of God. African American Experience as a Source for Pneumatology Where Christianity grows in the postmodern world, people tend to be at home with traditional (pre-Enlightenment) ways of knowing that world. In this culture, the testimony of Scripture resonates with the world people experience . Barriers to preaching and believing the gospel’s “pre-scientific claims” are lower than in a world where science and history are the sole arbiters of truth. Even those who are trained in theology under Western tutors have learned to “indigenize their faith” by coming to know God for themselves. Where they cannot remove the impress of Western thought, there is the prospect for achieving a “second naïveté,” which amounts to a critical appropriation of historical and scientific knowledges within bounded domains. Their worldview is more akin to that found in Christian scriptures in which the spirits are known and tried, and in which the Spirit of God possesses greater power.3 Because theology is reasoning about God, in the strictest sense there is no divine encounter that escapes pneumatology, even if implicitly. For Africans in America, theology was rooted in the struggle to make sense of capture and the ordeal of slavery. This included the sense of abandonment by the gods known to them from their lands. But it also meant coming to terms with the God of their captors, especially when enslavement was said to be sanctioned in his service. Theology had fruitful extension in the preaching moments during which slaves were participants, and in their experiences of conversion, visions, and other forms of rapture. The immediate issues of concern in these new communities were soteriology and doxology—salvation and the worship of God. Testimonies gave consistent witness to the encounters wherein their lives were transformed. Indeed, the testimony of conversion was the very staple of these early communities. Such conversion was often the content of preaching, and it formed the core of the songs they sang.4 Closely related to these productions—indeed their purpose in many [3.129.39.55] Project MUSE (2024-04-18 23:49...

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