Sublime!, This review is from: Pentecostal Ecclesiology: An Essay on the Development of Doctrine (Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement Series) (Paperback)
This is Simon Chan's second monograph in the JPTS series, expanding on his earlier work in developing a sound theology on the movement's distinctive contributions to the Church's understanding and experience of the the Holy Spirit. Though admittedly not a full-blown treatment on Pentecostal ecclesiology, Chan moves the ongoing conversation forward by focusing on the vital linkage between the Spirit and the Church.
He believes that the theologizing so far on the Pentecostal distinctives (eg. glossolalia as initial evidence of Spirit baptism, that is subsequent to and distinct from new birth in Christ) within the confines of the evangelical umbrella is too limiting. It has tended to blunt the edge of the Pentecostal contribution and does not do justice to her experience of the Spirit. A better way forward is to look instead to the older tradition of Orthodox theology. Drawing from the seminal writings of Schmemann, Zizioulas, Lossky, Nissiotis and others, he proposes an ecclesio-centered theology (dubbed the Orthodox view) rather than a creation-centered view of evangelical theology, as the framework for understanding the unique Pentecostal experience.
This means that communion is understood as the heart of what the Church as a divine-human reality is about. It is communion that the Spirit seeks to actualize in and through the Church. This communion is the overflow (or 'eternal fruitfulness') of the trinitarian life that expresses itself through the particular story of God's outreach to the world through his covenant people. It begins with God's election and reaches its fulfillment in the two sendings, of the Son and of the Spirit. It is the Christ event that is 'the fulcrum upon which the trinitarian narrative turns' and makes possible the communion of the Spirit. But, whereas evangelical theology tends to subsume the Pentecostal outpouring under the Christ event and fails to take sufficient account of the Spirit event, Chan proposes that it is the latter that has provisionally ushered in the end by embodying the end-goal of the Trinitarian narrative. On Pentecost, the Spirit has come to indwell the church and constitute the church as the body of Christ and the temple of the Spirit. The church is understood not merely as an instrument of God's work in redeeming the world but is herself the goal. IOW, it is God's intent to make the world the church, the 'universal communion of saints', to enable human and non-human creatures to exist in communion with God in their respective capacities. This is what he means when he says 'mission is more than what the church *does* but what the church *is* .'
The upshot of this way of understanding the biblical narrative is fleshed out in the last two chapters, where Chan discusses the sort of people the Spirit event is fashioning through her core practices: holy, communal, missional and divine as well as human. This process is more akin to the Orthodox concept of deification than the Protestant doctrine of sanctification. The emphasis is not merely on moral transformation but on sharing in the divine nature, that can only be brought about by the Spirit via the synergy of uncreated grace and human cooperation.
Chan reiterates his position here on glossolalia as something to be understood in terms of intimacy with God and receptivity to God's embrace. It is a form of babyish speech response to the overwhelming presence of God. He roots it in the Christian mystical tradition that seeks personal union with God than in the primal experiences of other religions that serve a different worldview. It belongs to the full gospel espoused by classical Pentecostals centering on Jesus as Saviour, Sanctifier, Spirit-baptiser, Healer and King. It is personal relationship with this Jesus that Pentecostals have been emboldened to share!
Finally, he teases out the growing pentecostal instincts for episcopacy, liturgy and sacrament- all of which can be nourished by the rich 'structural' resources in Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy on the other hand can be rejuvenated by the Pentecostal 'technicians' who are already conversant with the surprising works of the Spirit. If all these sound rather theoretical, Chan points to some contemporary movements where these ideas are already being put to the test with promising results not least in what is known as the 'convergence movement'.
This is a book of true ecumenical import that does not sacrifice the particularity of the gospel for the sake of some abstract notions of inclusiveness (eg Amos Yong's pneumatology) or universality (Pannikar's Cosmic Christ). Without losing its bearing in the Trinitarian story, Chan shows us a way in which the protracted divisions of the larger Church should at long last be healed. That can only happen when the Spirit is allowed to 'take what's Christ's and reveal it to us' and then to 'show us what is yet to come', to the praise of his glory!
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