ATTEMPTING TO DEFINE A PENTECOSTAL HERMENEUTICS

  • Marius Nel North-West University
Keywords: Hermeneutics, Pentecostals, Encounter with God, Pentecostal Bible Reading, Narratives

Abstract

 What is distinctive about Pentecostals’ reading of the Bible? In what way do Pentecostal people read the Bible so that they reach different conclusions than believers of other denominations? Is it possible to speak of a Pentecostal herme-neutics? In what way does it differ from the hermeneutics found in other theological traditions, such as the Catholic, Eastern and Reformed traditions? And how does their hermeneutics inform Pentecostals’ practice? These questions are discussed and some preliminary conclusions reached. Pentecostals’ religious consciousness expects an experience or encounter between God and human beings through his Spirit. This is supposed to happen in the worship service and also in the practice of Bible reading, whether individually or collectively. The presupposition is that the Word is revealed in the Bible only when people experience God, and the existential precondition leads to a Pentecostal emphasis of narratives describing such encounters in the Bible.

Author Biography

Marius Nel, North-West University
Research Unit of the Faculty of Theology
Published
2015-05-29
Section
Articles