Ecumenism from the Bottom Up: A Pentecostal Perspective
2012; Duquesne University Press; Volume: 47; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2162-3937
Autores Tópico(s)Religion, Society, and Development
ResumoLike early Pentecostalism, the ecumenical movement traces its origins to the first decade of the twentieth century. One hundred years on, the two movements have pursued very different, although complementary, trajectories. While emerged with what might be described as ecumenical spirit, it has generally been indifferent to (and sometimes hostile to) the formal processes of ecumenism that were established under the auspices of the World Council of Churches and its various subcommittees. This stance has often been attributed to the influence of some conservative streams of evangelicalism on Pentecostal culture, but the more important explanation is ecclesiological. That is to say that, even if the ecumenical spirit of early had been maintained, its grassroots, bottom-up ecclesiology would have prevented substantial involvement in the formal, creedal, and institutional processes that have characterized the ecumenical movement to date. As both Pentecostals and Ecumenicals (1) celebrate their history and look to the future, there is an increasing awareness that this situation has to be rectified. For its part, the ecumenical movement appreciates the need to include Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal movements in its vision of a united Christianity, given not only the growth and size of this part of the church but also its importance in regions such as South America, Africa, and Asia. Likewise, Pentecostals are increasingly aware not only of their emergence as a community that sought unity in the Spirit but, further, that their growth and prominence place upon them a responsibility to take seriously the shared mission of the gospel. This essay intends to provide a way of thinking about ecumenism that expands the horizons and approach of the Ecumenicals and, at the same time, encourages Pentecostal participation in ecumenical mission. The Ecumenical Spirit of Early was birthed in a series of revivals that occurred globally at the dawn of the twentieth century. From the outset, it was not one thing expanding but a multicentered movement of the Spirit that brought about a series of interconnections between people and communities. (2) That is to say, did not spread from Charles Fox Parham in Topeka, Kansas, to William Seymour in Azusa Street, Los Angeles, and from this North American context enlarge its tentacles to the outer reaches of the planet. It is not and has never been a single thing, nor is it, as is sometimes assumed, an example of the Americanization and McDonaldization of evangelical religiosity. Rather, from the outset, emerged as the coalescing and interconnecting of distinct but related global Christian spiritual experiences and missionary impulses. As Allan Anderson has noted, Pentecostalism has had beginnings, and there are 'Pentecostalisms.' (3) Early Pentecostal revivals, which occurred almost simultaneously in North America, Britain, Australia, India, Korea, China, and other places, created a shared set of experiences that connected black and white, poor and (occasionally) rich, women and men, and people from diverse ecclesial, national, and cultural traditions. Taking the nomenclature Pentecostal, these movements were identified with the unifying and empowering work of the Spirit in Acts 2. In this passage, the outpouring of the Spirit is manifest in the bewildering gift of many tongues, as symbolic of a new unity among people of every nation and the fulfilling of the prophecy of Joel that overturns social barriers of every type. The experience of Spirit baptism to which this passage is linked is thus central to Pentecostalism, since, as Simon Chan observed, it functions to actualize our communal life. (4) In contemporary usage, spirituality is almost always an individual matter concerned with self-actualization, but for the early Pentecostals the infilling of the Spirit involved the empowerment of the person to transcend self and participate in the shared mission of proclaiming the gospel. …
Referência(s)