In the field of liturgical theology, there is a common understanding that the prescriptive theological claims of theologians do not often match the descriptive, lived reality of worshippers. Put differently, there is a gap between the “primary” theological activity of worship and the formal “secondary” theology of the academic liturgical theologian. Within this interstice lie the liturgical-theological articulations of “ordinary,” non-specialist worshippers. This project argues that liturgical theology has not focused upon the human subject to a sufficient standard and proposes the method of liturgical biography as a descriptive and analytically rich avenue to construct liturgical theologies. Liturgical biography utilizes longitudinal oral interviews and personal journal entries, supported by ethnographic fieldwork, to describe the lived reality of the “ordinary” primary theologian (the worshipper) engaging in worship and liturgical-theological reflection. In addition to a methodological proposal, this project offers and analyzes the liturgical biographies of two worshippers who attend the New York City campus of Hillsong Church, a global Pentecostal megachurch-turned-denomination. Chapter One discusses the theoretical underpinning to liturgical biography, incorporating the concept of the rhizome developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Liturgical biography is needed because worship is too rhizomatically complex for the universalizing and prescriptive claims of liturgical theology. Chapter Two provides a working history and liturgical theology of Hillsong Church rendered from Hillsong’s primary sources (i.e., books, sermons, song lyrics, blogs). Chapters Three and Four examine the personal histories and liturgical-theological claims of these two “primary theologians” who attend Hillsong New York City, whose claims are then placed in conversation with liturgical-theological interlocutors and other allied fields of discourse. These chapters are “co-constructed” insofar as the primary theologians’ voices take the lead, but the researcher employs the thematization and organization of the materials. Their liturgical theologies demonstrate the “gap” between primary and secondary theology, elucidate the rhizomatic complexity of worship, and offer unique contributions to liturgical theology, especially by giving voice to the underrepresented perspectives of Pentecostals and Evangelicals. Chapter Five concludes the project by arguing in favor of liturgical biography as a viable method for liturgical theology and further theorizes its ecumenical import. / 2021-07-25T00:00:00Z

Esta tese tem o objetivo de fazer um estudo dos recursos retórico-argumentativos, baseados na classificação de Perelman e Olbrechts-Tyteca, e aplicá-los a discursos da Teologia da Prosperidade em oito igrejas evangélicas pentecostais e neopentecostais, gravados preferencialmente in loco e em áudio. Tal objetivo vai ao encontro do desejo de que o uso da leitura retórica possa popularizar-se, para que o auditório, qual seja ele, inteire-se com mais eficácia acerca do discurso, que, por sua vez, quer ser eficaz sobre ele. O estudo foi feito sobre os discursos transcritos, conforme técnicas do projeto NURC - projeto que estuda a Norma Urbana Culta, falada por universitários. Com as análises, foi possível identificar um uso moderado de tal Teologia nas igrejas pentecostais, muito provavelmente influenciadas pelo uso intenso nas neopentecostais. / This thesis aims to study the rhetorical-argumentative resources, based on Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca\'s classification, and apply them to the Theology of Prosperity discourses in eight Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal evangelical churches, recorded preferably in loco and in audio. Such an objective is linked to the wish of having the rhetorical readings used more popularly by the audience, so that it could be more efficiently prepared to the discourses, which intend to be efficient to it. This study was developed based on the transcribed discourses, according to NURC project techniques - project which studies the Standard Portuguese spoken by collegeeducated speakers. With the analysis we could identify a moderate use of such a Theology in the Pentecostal churches, probably influenced by the intense use in Neo-Pentecostal ones.

Esta tese tem o objetivo de fazer um estudo dos recursos retórico-argumentativos, baseados na classificação de Perelman e Olbrechts-Tyteca, e aplicá-los a discursos da Teologia da Prosperidade em oito igrejas evangélicas pentecostais e neopentecostais, gravados preferencialmente in loco e em áudio. Tal objetivo vai ao encontro do desejo de que o uso da leitura retórica possa popularizar-se, para que o auditório, qual seja ele, inteire-se com mais eficácia acerca do discurso, que, por sua vez, quer ser eficaz sobre ele. O estudo foi feito sobre os discursos transcritos, conforme técnicas do projeto NURC - projeto que estuda a Norma Urbana Culta, falada por universitários. Com as análises, foi possível identificar um uso moderado de tal Teologia nas igrejas pentecostais, muito provavelmente influenciadas pelo uso intenso nas neopentecostais. / This thesis aims to study the rhetorical-argumentative resources, based on Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca\'s classification, and apply them to the Theology of Prosperity discourses in eight Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal evangelical churches, recorded preferably in loco and in audio. Such an objective is linked to the wish of having the rhetorical readings used more popularly by the audience, so that it could be more efficiently prepared to the discourses, which intend to be efficient to it. This study was developed based on the transcribed discourses, according to NURC project techniques - project which studies the Standard Portuguese spoken by collegeeducated speakers. With the analysis we could identify a moderate use of such a Theology in the Pentecostal churches, probably influenced by the intense use in Neo-Pentecostal ones.

Early American Pentecostalism had an ambiguous social witness, which contained both radical and conservative elements. The millennarian-restorationist core of the Pentecostal belief system was prophetic and counter-cultural in that it inspired adherents to denounce the injustices of the status quo and announce the justice of the soon-coming Kingdom of God. Consequently, in the earliest years of the American movement, many Pentecostals, professed and practiced (1) racial equality, (2) gender equality, (3) pacifism, and (4) anti-capitalism. However, this prophetic social witness co-existed, from the very beginning, with a strong conservative ethos, which defended the norms, beliefs, and values of nineteenth-century 'Evangelical America' against the apparent religious and cultural 'anarchy' of modern society. As Pentecostal groups (especially white Pentecostal groups such as the Assemblies of God) organised, institutionalised, and rose in socioeconomic status, the prophetic voices of early Pentecostalism were increasingly ignored, and the conservative ethos grew to dominate Pentecostal social concerns.

Although scholars and Christian leaders have indicated that there is marked separation between morality and spirituality in the Christian praxis of many Africans and that the African worldview, which African Christians still hold is responsible for this separation, there has not been a detailed study of the issue. The aim of the research is to offer an explanation, of a paradox in Ghanaian society where there is enthusiastic Christian spirituality that is separated from social morality, so that a deeper integration of the Christian and Akan traditional moral schemes can be proposed.My research focuses on Pentecostals in Ghana whose appropriation of the African worldview into Christian praxis has generally been considered as a positive response to African religiosity. By the use of a practical theological method of correlation whereby the Christian truth is represented by the moral theology of John Wesley and brought in dialogue with the Akan traditional moral scheme, this research offers reasons for and proposes a solution to the lack of social morality in Ghanaian Pentecostalism. It uses the virtue theory as a heuristic tool for the analysis of morality in a way that provides explanation for the situation and guides an integration of the two moral schemes at a deeper level. The examination of the two moral schemes has been guided by the elements of character, a central theme of the virtue theory. It has been shown that the ‘Deliverance Theology’ of Ghanaian Pentecostals involves significant misrepresentation of the Akan traditional scheme, and that this situation causes many Christians to focus on religion as a means for the supply of existential needs rather than the transformation of inner dispositions for moral character formation. This research shows that reinterpreting the Akan view of humanity and integrating it with the Wesleyan account of the Christian truth, transforms the ‘Deliverance Theology’ by portraying the Christian life as a pneumatological characterology. The moral responsibility that this entails will ensure that African Pentecostals understand social morality as an essential outcome of their Christian spirituality.

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This dissertation is an analysis of differing Pentecostal experiences in Apostolic Faith Mission from its inception, with specific reference to the AFM of South Africa and AFM in Zimbabwe.The study examines: The brief history of the AFM. This begins with the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angels. Pentecostalism then spread to South Africa through John G. Lake with the founding of AFM of South Africa. AFM filtered into Zimbabwe where it faced stiff resistance from government authorities and established mainline churches. Theologies and spiritual gifts which make Pentecostalism different from other faiths. Main doctrines and tenets of faith discernible from the brief historical outline. A general outline of phases in Pentecostalism. An attempt will be made to determine whether these phases are applicable to AFM. This dissertation is a contribution towards reconciling diverging views concerning Pentecostalism in the AFM because various congregations of the same denomination behave and believe differently. / Systematic Theology & Theological Ethics / M.Th. (Systematic Theology)

This dissertation is an analysis of differing Pentecostal experiences in Apostolic Faith Mission from its inception, with specific reference to the AFM of South Africa and AFM in Zimbabwe.The study examines: The brief history of the AFM. This begins with the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angels. Pentecostalism then spread to South Africa through John G. Lake with the founding of AFM of South Africa. AFM filtered into Zimbabwe where it faced stiff resistance from government authorities and established mainline churches. Theologies and spiritual gifts which make Pentecostalism different from other faiths. Main doctrines and tenets of faith discernible from the brief historical outline. A general outline of phases in Pentecostalism. An attempt will be made to determine whether these phases are applicable to AFM. This dissertation is a contribution towards reconciling diverging views concerning Pentecostalism in the AFM because various congregations of the same denomination behave and believe differently. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Systematic Theology)

The heart of Pentecostal practice has always been an experience of the Holy Spirit. These experiences are often claimed to have the direct guidance of the Spirit and form the decisions and actions that result in the ongoing of the development of practices and doctrine. It is my contention that the third and fourth so-called waves of the Spirit are not truly waves of the Spirit, neither are they new. They are the rebirth, albeit in a new manner, of three disappointing and tragic movements of past Pentecostal history, namely the (New) Latter Rain, the Shepherding Movement, and the Prosperity Movement. I maintain that these two waves do not follow a solid Pentecostal doctrinal stand of an experience in the Holy Spirit of separability and subsequence, neither do they draw their doctrinal stand from the book of Acts, but rather the Synoptic gospels. Unfortunately, even though Pentecostal scholarship is on the rise, the majority of the prolific writers of these last two waves are extremely eisegetical in regards to their dealing with the Word of God. They claim vision and direction from Heaven, as opposed to an exegesis of the canon of Scripture. I maintain that these two, so called waves of the Spirit are not Heaven sent but man conceived and thus dangerous heresy to the church. `I believe that courage is the most important virtue, the foundation that underlies and gives realty to all other virtues and personal values. Without courage we become conformists. Conformity is not the fibre good and courageous leaders are made of… Do not be frightened by the aloneness that may come with your holding unpopular positions. It is in aloneness that wisdom will visit you and smile upon you'. These are not, as a theologian might be entitled to expect, the words of Elijah or Jeremiah. They are quoted from a speech given in 1999 by Mamphela Ramphele, vice chancellor of the University of Cape Town. Her context was the silence that has so often fallen on African societies once liberation has taken place. It is just such silent acquiescence, she insists, that allow former `heroes of the struggle' to become despots and dictators. Her words are challenging to Pentecostal theologians for at least two reasons. The first and more mundane is that Pentecostalism is most vibrant today in precisely those countries, which can be termed `postcolonial'. The second, and to my mind the most relevant to the movement, is that Pentecostalism was at its beginning a powerful spiritual force because it inherited an ethos of radical difference and because its proponents were unflinching in refusing to be co-opted into any other agenda than the one for which they knew they had been empowered by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. In this sense it was a prophetic religion, a religion similar to that of Elijah and Jeremiah. It is my plea then in this presentation that the so-called `postcolonial' countries will not swallow this new error, which has been called the new Pentecostal rhema from Heaven, which stems, as do so many new theological trends from the Western world. The new emerging Pentecostal Charismatic churches, particularly of the Third World need to have the courage not to be conformists, for such is not the fiber good and courageous leaders have. The hermeneutical pneumatology of the Pentecostal tradition has always been questioned. The early Pentecostals did not even bother to develop a theological hermeneutical position of a subsequent experience of the Spirit; they accepted their experience as from God . When they did begin to develop a Pentecostal theology it was often ridiculed as being primarily experiential, thus in the minds of most, devoid of Biblical theology. Fifty years after the outpouring of the Spirit at Azusa Street many Pentecostal scholars began to re-examine the pneumatology of Luke's writing. In the latter part of the 20th Century many Pentecostal scholars came into their own, examining and challenging many of the previously accepted conclusions of theologians, in regards to the Classical Pentecostal doctrinal position . Their position was that there was a separable and subsequent experience of the Spirit following salvation, which was accompanied by the initial evidence of speaking with other tongues. The initial evidence was for a few, and still is for some, questionable evidence. Such a position stood in opposition to those who declared that there was no second experience of the Holy Spirit for any person other than salvation. If those who believed in the `conversion-initiation, which included the baptism in the Holy Spirit' were indeed correct, then everything that Luke talks about in relation to pneumatology in his two-volume work is totally in relation to salvation. This was the theological pneumatological position prior to Classical Pentecostalism. It did and has resulted in many theological challenges. Scholars who take this position do so on the premise that Pentecost is more of a historical situation for the church. However scholars convinced of the Classical Pentecostal position are refusing to accept this position and have and are continuing to develop an exegetical position for a secondary work of the Holy Spirit in a person's life. This is my personal position made vitally real for me since I did not grow up in a Pentecostal church setting, but rather came into the Pentecostal experience in my early 20's. It is my contention that the theological impact of Christ's ascension prior to the public ascension witnessed in Acts 1 has not been fully examined. Few scholars have dealt with the typological fulfillment firstly, of the work of the High Priest as seen completed in the life of Jesus Christ, or secondly, of His fulfillment of the first four feasts which the Jews were commanded to keep. Both of these aspects very clearly enhance and form a clear indication that the classical Pentecostal theology was and is correct in speaking of a separable and subsequent work of the Spirit following a clear salvation experience. I will seek to elucidate this by an examining the historical background of the first two waves of the Spirit, followed by a preview of the work of the Holy Spirit as seen in the canon of Scripture with emphasis on the New Testament. I will follow this by the development of the idea of regeneration in the New Testament. Finally I will examine Lukan writing in regards to the experience known as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. These chapters will then serve as a base for comparison with the material, which will follow. In the late 20th and early 21st century the Classical Pentecostal doctrine has been challenged by the last two charismatic waves of the Spirit, both of which have spawned a plethora of writings. It is my contention first; that the traditional Pentecostal understanding of the authority of Scripture has been abandoned in that now experience takes precedence over Scripture. Secondly it is clear that these last two waves do not fall within the same parameters as the first two waves in their understanding of a doctrine of separability and subsequence, since they revert to a pre-Classical Pentecostal theological position of only one experience of the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, in a day when Pentecostal scholarship is seeking to become acceptable in their exegesis, the authors of these waves are almost totally eisegetical. The question needs to be asked `Have they subtly taken on a title to glean a following?' It is thus my contention that a survey of these waves shows that they have no common ground with the initial two waves of the Spirit. The indication is that they have deliberately chosen a different Biblical basis and thus disqualify themselves from the Pentecostal Charismatic stream. I will seek to elucidate this by examining the historical background of the last two waves of the Spirit, followed by an examination of the Pentecostal hermeneutic and their lack of hermeneutics, as seen so clearly in their writings. This will be done by pointing out the comparisons to the latter two waves of the Spirit both in theory and in the voluminous writing, which are largely based on eisegesis. The stated desire to `have church without making anyone sick' has broached and taken the movements far into left field. Finally, it is my contention that the third and fourth waves of the Spirit are not new at all. They are simply a rebirth of three disappointing and tragic movements in Pentecostal history. Thus I hope to clearly substantiate that the third and fourth wave of the Spirit are not really waves of the Spirit at all. They are not such in terms of their Biblical theological basis, neither are they such exegetically. They are simply the result of those desirous of the moving of the Holy Spirit who have reached back into the past and reintroduced past aspects of renewal, which unfortunately were man centered and resulted later in much havoc among Christians. I will seek to elucidate these facts by an examination of the history and practice of the (New) Latter Rain, which still haunts Saskatchewan, Canada where tragedies still exist, and the Shepherding movement out of Florida, which after a few years was denounced even by the leaders and finally totally disbanded. Then, finally the Prosperity Movement, which rose and fell as an unacceptable, illegitimate deduction of so called truth of the canon. One hopes and prays that the tragedies in lives will not live to haunt the church if Jesus tarries. We do not want the "heroes of spiritual struggles" to become the despots and dictators of the Pentecostal churches in the Third World. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Church History)

Text in English / This thesis is a study of several major motifs found in classical Pentecostal missiology in the North American scene. It is both a missiologically interpreted study based on the historical antecedents of Pentecostal mission theology and a Pentecostal interpretation of five major motifs germane to Evangelical and Pentecostal missiology in this present time. The intent and purpose of this study is to begin in chapter two with the Antecedents and Matrix of Pentecostalism per se and interpret them through missiological eyes. Topics such as the Holiness-Wesleyan roots of Pentecostalism which includes looking at such personages as John Wesley, Charles Finney, et al are studied. As well, the Reformed, non-Wesleyan roots of Pentecostalism are highlighted which includes Premillennialism, Dwight Moody, Reuben Torrey, A J Gordon, and A B Simpson, and Divine Healing. Finally, one arrives at the matrix of modern day Pentecostalism. The major emphasis is placed upon Charles Parham, William Seymour, the Azusa Street Mission, and on African American Pentecostals. The remaining chapters are an articulation, evaluation, and interpretation of five major Pentecostal mission theologies (practices) that emerged from the antecedents and appear to be in common with the majority of classical Pentecostal denominations. Chapter three deals with The Lostness of the Human Race. Topics included are lnterreligious dialogue, 'Life boat salvation', and the exclusiveness of Christ. Chapter four handles the concepts of Church Planting and Evangelism from perspectives of the Ecumencials, Evangelicals, and Pentecostals. In chapter five, the understanding of Indigenous Church Principles is studied from its origin to present- day application. Notable persons are Melvin Hodges and Morris Williams. Most relevant to present-day missiology is chapter six which deals with Social Responsibility and how Pentecostal missiology has responded to this need. Finally, Pneumatology as characterized by Pentecostal mission theology is studied. Emphasis is placed on Xenolalia, the Great Commission, Traditional Pentecostal Pneumatology, Pentecostal hermeneutics, and the Holy Spirit in missions. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)