The Spirit of Atonement

Pentecostal Contributions and Challenges to the Christian Traditions

Steven M. Studebaker

• Éditeur: T&T Clark
• Année: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780567682406
• Édition: 1
• Sujet: Theology & Religion
• Sous-sujet: Theology

Steven M. Studebaker proposes a Pentecostal approach to a major Christian doctrine, the atonement. The book moves Pentecostal theology of the atonement from a primarily Christocentric and crucicentric register to one that articulates the pneumatological and holistic nature of Pentecostal praxis. Studebaker examines the irony of Classical Pentecostalism relying on the Christocentrism of Protestantism evangelical atonement theology to articulate its experience of the Holy Spirit, as well as the Pneumatological nature of Pentecostal praxis. He then develops a Pentecostal theology of atonement based on the biblical narrative of the Spirit of Pentecost and returns to re-imagine an expanded vision of Pentecostal praxis based on the theological formation of the biblical narrative. The result is a Pentecostal atonement theology that shows the integrated nature of pneumatology, creation and Christology in the biblical narrative of redemption. It gives theological expression to not only the pneumatological nature of Pentecostal praxis, but also the fundamental role of the Holy Spirit in the biblical narrative of redemption. The book challenges popular western atonement theologies to re-think their Christocentrism and crucicentrism as well as their atomistic tendency to separate soteriology into objective (Christological) and subjective (pneumatolgical) categories.

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Introduction

The atonement is about Christ and his crucifixion on the cross. That is true. But it is a constricted narrative. Why? Because atonement is also about the Holy Spirit and Pentecost. This book highlights the Holy Spirit’s role in the atonement and in doing so also proposes a pentecostal theology of the atonement. Hermeneutically that means developing a theology of the atonement from the perspective of the Spirit of Pentecost. Theologically that means atonement is receiving and participating in the Spirit of Pentecost. Pentecostal atonement is to participate in the Spirit-breathed life fulfilled in Jesus Christ, in the coming of the eschatological new creation, and the offering of that Spirit-breathed life to the “all people” of Pentecost (Acts 2:17). Pentecost is the nexus in the narrative of redemption from the particularity of the Spirit-breathed life fulfilled in Jesus Christ to the horizon of the new creation. Considering atonement from the perspective of the Spirit of Pentecost should be prima facie for pentecostal theology, but it is not. Why? To answer that question, I want to address first the context of this project and then turn to the problem of pentecostal praxis and rhetoric and finally address matters of method and content.

Context

The confessional context of this project is Classical Pentecostalism and Western objective theories of the atonement. First, why focus on this tradition of pentecostal theology given that contemporary Pentecostalism is a global and diverse movement? Classical Pentecostalism emerged during the formation of pentecostal denominations in North America and remains popular in North America and in many global pentecostal movements. Pew Research Center’s survey and report, Spirit and Power: A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals, shows that Classical Pentecostals remain in the majority among Protestant Renewalist Christians (“‘Renewalist’ is an umbrella term that refers to both pentecostals and charismatics as a group”).¹ Given the representative nature of Pentecostals in North America and around the world, Classical Pentecostalism is the background for what I call traditional pentecostal theology. Contemporary pentecostal theologians such as Daniel Castelo, Frank Macchia, David Perry, A. J. Swoboda, Wolfgang Vondey, and Amos Yong have expanded and in important ways moved beyond these traditional theological categories with respect to a pentecostal theology of grace.² This project is in concert with and contributes to this constructive trajectory of pentecostal theology. It does so by proposing a systematic theology of the atonement on the basis of the Spirit of Pentecost. The primary backdrop for its intra-ecclesial dialogue, however, is Classical Pentecostalism.

Second, why take Western, and especially Protestant evangelical, atonement theology as the backdrop for this project? Because they shaped the fundamental assumptions about Christ and the Holy Spirit in classical pentecostal theology. Thus, critical analysis of Christocentric and crucicentric objective atonement theology and its influence on Classical Pentecostalism is necessary to create the space to propose a constructive and systematic pentecostal theology of the atonement.³ In evangelical theology, atonement customarily deals with the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, especially his death on the cross, with little reference to the Holy Spirit.⁴ Indeed, as Clark H. Pinnock put it, “has not the cross (or more properly, a theory of the atonement) usurped center stage in theology?”⁵ This project takes another approach. It presents Pentecost as a culminating point in the biblical narrative of redemption and considers Christ from the perspective of Pentecost.⁶ But, what can be said more specifically about the relationship between traditional evangelical penal atonement theology and classical pentecostal theology?

Classical Pentecostalism is a product of late-nineteenth-century evangelical theology.⁷ As such, its theology bears the Christocentric and crucicentr ic characteristics of this tradition of theology. The popularity of penal-substitutionary atonement in classical pentecostal theology is a key indicator of this influence. For traditional Protestant, evangelical, and classical pentecostal theology, atonement is Christological, not pneumatological. Atonement is the work of Christ. It takes place on the cross, not at Pentecost. Jesus Christ provides salvation through his death on the cross. This tradition of atonement theology and its influence on pentecostal theology are the primary background for the critical aspects of this project. But is penal-substitutionary atonement widely held among Pentecostals outside of North America? Although Pew does not provide data specific to atonement beliefs, they do record that Pentecostals and Charismatics (Renewalists) hold a high “obligation to evangelize.”⁸ This commitment to evangelism is “consistent with the widespread belief among Pentecostals that faith in Jesus Christ represents the exclusive path to eternal salvation” and “is the only way to be saved from eternal damnation.”⁹ Although admittedly conjecture, this view of salvation is consistent with the classical pentecostal (and evangelical) view of salvation framed in terms of penal-substitutionary atonement—that is, faith in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross provides forgiveness of sins and redemption from God’s wrath and judgment. I recognize that it does not represent the view of atonement held by all Pentecostals. This view of atonement, however, likely represents many and probably a majority of what Pew describes as Protestant Pentecostals and Charismatics.

Given the emergence of Classical Pentecostalism from the evangelical revival movements of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the important question is: Is pentecostal theology more than or something different than its evangelical predecessors? In other words, does Pentecostalism have a distinct theological voice and tradition to contribute to the global Christian traditions or is it evangelical theology plus charismatic gifts? Terry Cross effectively states the question, can Pentecostals bring the “main course” or only the “relish tray” to the ecumenical table?¹⁰ The answer depends on the starting point. Beginning with classical pentecostal theology means being content with bringing the relish of speaking in tongues and charismatic experience. Although Pentecostalism has robust charismatic experience and over a century of exponential global growth, its traditional theology of baptism in the Holy Spirit demonstrates theological capture by traditional Protestant evangelical theology. The early Pentecostals articulated their experience of the Holy Spirit in theological categories they inherited from their evangelical predecessors. The doctrine of Spirit baptism, regarded by many Pentecostals as their “distinctive” doctrine, showcases this influence. Theologically, classical pentecostal theology is evangelical. It inherited its primary structure and content from its evangelical predecessors. This project critically examines the way this historical influence shaped pentecostal atonement theology and constructively proposes a pentecostal theology of the atonement based on the Spirit of Pentecost. But why is the evangelical influence on classical pentecostal theology a problem?

Problem

A profound irony characterizes traditional pentecostal theology. What is the nature of that irony? On the one hand, pentecostal religious experience (praxis) and the place of Pentecost in the narrative of redemption emphasize the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, classical pentecostal theology (rhetoric) reflects neither the pneumatological praxis of Pentecostals nor the place of the Spirit of Pentecost in the narrative of redemption. The problem is not the pneumatological nature of pentecostal praxis, but the Christocentric and crucicentric character of classical pentecostal theology. In short, the theological rhetorical categories of Classical Pentecostalism—indeed, even its sine qua non of Spirit baptism—represent the colonization of pentecostal praxis by Western, Protestant, and evangelical atonement theology.¹¹ Douglas Jacobsen and L. William Oliverio document the development of classical pentecostal theology and describe it in terms of pentecostal scholasticism and the Bible Doctrines approach to pentecostal theology.¹² This formative pentecostal theology reflected the influence of the conservative evangelical approach to theology. Cheryl Bridges Johns characterizes the consequence of this influence. Pentecostals were “like David in Saul’s armor, second- and third-generation Pentecostals have tried to fit into Evangelical approaches to hermeneutics, education and worship. The result has at times been disastrous and humorous.”¹³ The theological structure and content of what became Classical Pentecostalism was widespread in North American Protestant Evangelicalism of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.¹⁴ Understanding that structure and content and its influence on pentecostal theology is vital for understanding the atonement theology popular in Classical Pentecostalism. The following outlines the structure and content of that theology and highlights its influence on the classical pentecostal theology of atonement.

The structure and content of evangelical theology is Christocentric and crucicentric. These characteristics coalesce around penal-su bstitutionary atonement. Christocentrism, crucicentrism, and penal-substitutionary atonement predominate evangelical theology because its fundamental way of framing redemption is judicial. The structure has two echelons—Christological-judicial-objective and pneumatological-transformational-subjective. The work of Christ on the cross is the objective work of atonement. The cross pays the penal payment of sin and is the foundation of forensic justification. The Holy Spirit plays no role in the atonement. The Holy Spirit’s work falls under the subjective and transformational work of sanctification. Consequently, this theology not only distinguishes the saving work of Christ on the cross from the Holy Spirit’s inner sanctifying work but also subordinates the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work to Christ’s atoning work. Sanctification is not denied or intentionally minimized. But since the crux of salvation is Christ’s atonement that provides forensic justification, sanctification necessarily plays a secondary role. Since the Spirit’s primary work is sanctification, the Spirit’s work, by default, is subordinate to the work of Christ.¹⁵ In this theology of grace, atonement is exclusively Christological, crucicentric, and an extrinsic or objective work of redemption. This theology was the framework for the development of classical pentecostal theology. The influence of this tradition of theology prevented Pentecostals from developing a theology in general and an atonement theology in particular that matches its pneumatological praxis and the role of the Spirit of Pentecost in the narrative of redemption.

Adopting these traditional categories of Christology and pneumatology, Pentecostals articulated their theology of Spirit baptism in terms of a gateway experience to empowered ministry and to exercising spiritual gifts. In other words, the chief feature of pentecostal praxis, Spirit baptism, was articulated as a subset of the subjective work of grace. Assemblies of God theologians William W. Menzies and Robert P. Menzies, for example, argue that the “Pentecostal gift . . . provides for witness not justification before God or personal cleansing.”¹⁶ The Assemblies of God doctrinal statement states that Spirit baptism gives power for Christian life and ministry and imparts spiritual gifts for the work of ministry.¹⁷ Classical Pentecostalism includes pentecostal groups that regard Spirit baptism as a post-conversion experience. Speaking in tongues is often the initial sign of this experience, but not all Classical Pentecostals insist on tongues as evidence for the experience of Spirit baptism.¹⁸ The defining feature is that Spirit baptism is distinct from and subsequent to salvation (subsequent, at least, experientially) and is for the purpose of empowering ministry and higher levels of Christian spirituality and spiritual gifting. The problem, as Lisa P. Stephenson argues, is that Classical Pentecostalism reduces Spirit baptism, and hence pentecostal pneumatology, to the functional role of charismatic gifting.¹⁹ Rather than the Holy Spirit playing a soteriological role, the Spirit is a donum superadditum to a salvation and atonement already achieved and received based on the work of Christ.

Classical Pentecostalism theologically marginalizes the place of the Holy Spirit in pentecostal praxis. It does so because the theological framework of Classical Pentecostalism is not indigenous to pentecostal praxis. Indeed, Classical Pentecostalism assumes Christological and crucicentric categories that prevent the theological articulation of the Spirit’s place in pentecostal praxis and, for that matter, in the biblical narrative of redemption. Where classical pentecostal rhetoric reflects evangelical theology, pentecostal praxis reflects the narrative of the Spirit of Pentecost—the embodied life and material redemption described in the Hebrew Bible stories of the Spirit and carried on in the life of Jesus Christ. Rather than assimilating pentecostal praxis to an evangelical theological paradigm, pentecostal theology needs to develop an atonement theology that reflects the prominence of the Holy Spirit in pentecostal praxis as well as in the biblical narrative of redemption. Toward that goal, this book offers a pentecostal theology of the atonement that integrates pneumatology and Christology by recognizing that pentecostal praxis is indicative of the place of the Holy Spirit in the biblical narrative of redemption. In doing so, this book speaks to the wider traditions of Christian theology by proposing a holistic, transformational, and pneumatological atonement theology. This project also provides a corrective to Evangelicalism’s and Clas sical Pentecostalism’s tendency to reduce atonement to Christological, crucicentric, and forensic categories.

Method

The Holy Spirit is central to pentecostal praxis.²⁰ The place of the Holy Spirit in pentecostal praxis indicates a pentecostal hermeneutic for systematic theology in general and atonement theology in particular. Why? Because the place of the Holy Spirit in pentecostal praxis corresponds with the role of the Spirit of Pentecost in the narrative of redemption. The correlation between pentecostal praxis and the Spirit’s role in the narrative of redemption means that the pentecostal ...

Table des matières

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Dedication
• Title
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction
• Part One Theology of Atonement
• Part Two Practicing Atonement
• Subject Index
• Modern Name Index
• Copyright