EXCEPCIÓN DE REPRESENTACIÓN DEFECTUOSA O INSUFICIENTE EN EL
AUTOS Y VISTOS;
Finally, we turn to a number of ecotheological themes that fall outside Charismatic social justice and Spirit/creation theologies: distinctive Pentecostal ecological approaches. Here we will explore a scattering of various explorations into the topic from a distinctively Pentecostal viewpoint. We begin with Harold Hunter’s introduction for Pentecostalism to the broader issues related to the ecological crisis nearly twelve years after Suurmond’s article in 2000.449 Hunter’s work focuses primarily on the healing aspects of ecotheology.
Utilizing Harvey Cox’s technological theory, Hunter contends that human vocation has become less to do about vocation/work and more with technological power behind the
446 Althouse, “Implications of the Kenosis of the Spirit for a Creational Eschatology,” 158. 447 Ibid., 166.
448 Ibid., 170.
work.450 That is, the modern workplace emphasizes efficiency, technological escalation,
and production value—not the work itself. This has, in turn, led to a loss of experience of God’s creation. In this light, Hunter asks how Pentecostals have previously engaged creation? He notes a number of prayer services, church events, and important
advancements in Korea where creation is centered in praxis and piety.451 But as a whole,
for Pentecostals, ecological care is a nonissue. He comments that while many
Pentecostals repudiate the right to smoke, those who condemn smoking “find themselves passively taking in many of the same chemicals and seem less concerned about enough air for future generations to breath.”452 Utilizing a Pentecostal healing motif, Hunter asks
why it cannot be extended creationally—for a sick creation makes us all ill.453 Serving
more as a rhetorical piece, it is difficult to discern a theological development other than connecting the Pentecostal “healing motif” to a healing of the earth. At the time, Hunter’s piece broke new ground for many Pentecostals, and therein lies its strength. In total, Hunter’s work serves best as an opening page than a substantive chapter for Pentecostal ecotheology.
Jared Boone reminds us that healing, even ecological healing, requires covenant.454 Contending for the care of creation covenantally on the basis of Israel’s
450 For example, in a footnote Hunter writes that “human work seems increasingly dissociated from
creation.” Hunter, “Pentecostal Healing for God’s Sick Creation?,” 149. For Cox’s work that is the conversation piece for Hunter in the text, see Cox, The Secular City.
451 Hunter, “Pentecostal Healing for God’s Sick Creation?,” 150.
452 Ibid., 153. Simon Chan, in looking at Pentecostal spirituality, has argued that focusing on the evil nature
of smoking and drinking “externalizes sin” and can often tempt us to forget larger societal ills that stem from the depravity of the human personhood. Simon Chan, Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the
Christian Life (Downer’s Grove: IVP, 1998), 83.
453 Hunter, “Pentecostal Healing for God’s Sick Creation?,” 154.
454 Jared Boone, “Created for Shalom: Human Agency and Responsibilty in the World,” in The Spirit
responsibility to protect shalom, or peace of the land, Boone argues that “the care of creation should be motivated by both love for God and love for the neighbor.”455 This is
reflected in two ways: first, love for God and God’s creation. But secondly, a realization of love for all living neighbors and the wellbeing of all humanity based on the motif of shalom. Through his utilizing the Hebrew concept of shalom as the central task of humanity, Boone suggests that human beings are to be “caretakers” of the earth to usher in this shalom/peace of God.456 Boone’s examination raises many historical/theological
themes in Israel’s story of ushering in this shalom: land-laws, Sabbath-keeping, Jubilee. In a sense, therefore, Jesus, and Pentecost by extension, is the recapitulation of these “shalom” themes of the Hebrews. Such historical/theological studies as Jared Boone’s typify a growing understanding within the Pentecostal tradition of the long-withstanding tradition of ecojustice preceding Pentecost.
Finally, we encounter an approach to ecotheology through the lens of the
Pentecostal theme of “full-gospel” as discussed by Matthew Tallman and Shane Clifton. Originally presented at the SPS yearly gathering in 2008, Tallman continues this
exploration of a Pentecostal ecotheology in his article on Pentecostal ecology.457
Tallman’s article utilizes the “four-fold” gospel articulated by Donald Dayton as a framework for a Pentecostal ecological ethic.458 Although showing some reservation
about the positives and negatives of using such “four-fold” framework, Tallman articulates some interesting proposals. Of significance, he, as will we, engages the
455 Ibid., 17. 456 Ibid., esp. 20-23.
457 Matthew Tallman, “Pentecostal Ecology: A Theological Paradigm for Pentecostal Environmentalism,”
in The Spirit Renews the Face of the Earth, ed. Amos Yong (Eugene: Pickwick, 2009), 135-154.
ecopneumatological works of Mark Wallace, giving special attention to renewal of pneumatology in the ecumenical church.459 Through a reinvigorated view of the Spirit
outside of Pentecostalism, such as WCC and RC, argues Tallman, Pentecostals can enter the conversation on such a wave of pneumatological excitement. Because of the cosmic Spirit, it is in the Spirit that God experiences the pain of creation.460 But this essence of
God’s pain, Tallman points out, does not always sit well with Pentecostals. He argues that “Pentecostal triumphalism” ignores the suffering aspect of Christ and the Spirit in favor of such atonement theories as Christus Victor.461 Thus, such theologies that
emphasize the pain of God often go by the wayside in Pentecostal theology. As well, Tallman’s examination of the historical healing motif within Pentecostalism is stimulating.462 Citing early pre-Pentecostal progenitors such as Johann Blumhardt,463
John Wesley, Charles Cullis, and F.F. Bosworth, Tallman envisions a contemporary trajectory rooted historically in early Pentecostal views of natural healing. Tallman points out that of the 3,077 articles on ecotheology and faith listed by the American Theological Library Association, there are no more than ten at the point of this publication devoted to a PC view of ecotheology.464 Similarly, he is critical of anthropocentric approaches
stressing hierarchical cosmology while utilizing such theologians as Sallie McFague and Thomas Berry to express his criticism. But in the end, Tallman argues that the foundation
459 Tallman here cites his exploration into the works of Wallace. Mark Wallace, Fragments of the Spirit:
Nature, Violence, and the Renewal of Creation (New York: Continuum, 1996).
460 Tallman here utilizes the thought of Jürgen Moltmann’s creational theology and theology of pain. 461 Dabney, “Naming the Spirit,” 139.
462 Tallman, “Pentecostal Ecology,” 142-145. 463
This is in the same line as Frank Macchia’s work on the Pietist movement. Macchia, Spirituality and
Social Liberation.
464 Thanks to Tallman for this observation. Sadly, he does not list them in his text. Tallman, “Pentecostal
of Pentecostal theology, the “four-fold” gospel, is a great starting place for Pentecostal ecotheology. In Pentecostal history there lays a promise of potential in a view of the holistic gospel. For if Pentecostals could more willingly embrace this on an ecological scale, maybe they would find, in the words of Tallman, that “perhaps Pentecostals have already been ecologists, they just didn’t know it.”465
Similar to Tallman is Australian Assemblies of God scholar Shane Clifton’s creative approach.466 Clifton criticizes an impotent and undeveloped “full-gospel” vision
as the ecological curse of Pentecostal movements. Clifton’s critique, while focusing on Pentecostalism, argues that Christianity at large is guilty for the creational demise by way of its “otherworldly” concern, echoing such voices as sociologist Margaret Poloma and theologian Harvey Cox.467 He argues, along with others, that this drive comes from a
predominately fundamentalist impulse and narrow eschatological vision.468 To illustrate,
he appraises his own experience within the Australian Assemblies of God as his focal point where he has encountered opposition to his environmental questions. On a doctrinal level, Clifton suggests that observing young earth creationism and literalistic views of creation (readily opposed to creation care) do not necessarily need to be core elements of Pentecostal doctrine. He points to the fact that in the Australian Assemblies of God,
465 Ibid., 152.
466 This “full gospel” was original to the Holiness tradition and borrowed by the earliest Pentecostals on
five theological levels: (1) Justification by faith, (2) Sanctification by faith as second work, (3) Healing of the body through the atonement, (4) Premillenial return of Christ, (5) Baptism followed by glossolalia. Land, Pentecostal Spirituality, 18. Clifton does not make the case that the “four-fold” gospel should be abandoned. Rather they should be expanded, to include ecological dimensions. For instance, Jesus as Savior should go beyond the salvation of the soul to include the salvation of the soil.
467 Clifton, “Preaching the ‘Full Gospel’ in the Context of the Global Environment Crises,” 118.
468 Vinson Synan, “Fundamentalism,” in Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, eds. S.M.
young earth creationism was not adopted until 1992.469 These awry hermeneutics
matched by Western philosophic imperialism have, for Clifton, alienated most Pentecostals from ecological care. Drawing from John Douglas Hall, he argues that hierarchical views of human predominance in the creational sphere, often misconstrued in the doctrine of imago Dei, have left Pentecostals stranded. He sees eventual promise in a return to a pneumatological theology of creation.470 This push will be forced to overcome,
what he calls “fundamentalist conceptions of creation, salvation, and eschatology, and materialist understandings of prosperity…[which] can no longer be called a ‘full gospel.’”471 Clifton’s argument of an impotent “four-fold” gospel deserves attention. If
this Pentecostal message is “full” as it is often preached, would it not make sense to include elements of this gospel that capsulate the remainder of God’s creation. Where Clifton’s argument is strong is in his critical examination of historical structures within Pentecostal movements for the purposes of environmental concerns.
3.3 Summary
Three trajectories have been examined to draw from for a Pentecostal theology of ecology: social justice theologies, Spirit/creation theologies, and distinctive Pentecostal ecotheologies. What might we learn from this analysis and how might they be critiqued?
First, let us reflect on the Charismatic social justice theologies. With all of the attention Pentecostal movements have received regarding its growth, mobility, and
469 Clifton, “Preaching the ‘Full Gospel’ in the Context of the Global Environment Crises,” 120-121. 470 Ibid., 126.
cultural integration, some needed attention has been given by the works listed to the relationship between their theology and social justice practice in a global setting.472 This
is true on a sociological level as well. For example, Poewe’s Charismatic Christianity as a Global Culture informs us how seemingly otherworldly PC Christians exist
sociologically in “the world” today.473 As well, sociologist Margaret Poloma’s
sociological look at the Assemblies of God gives attention to a historical Pentecostal denomination proffering us an unfettered inside look at denominational function and the role it plays in Pentecostal wax and wane.474 But the relationship between social justice
theology to Pentecostalism remains at some points, evocative. This may be for a number of reasons. It is somewhat convincing that the Holiness movement’s early rejection of the social gospel movement launched by Washington Gladden (Congregationalist) and Walter Rauschenbusch (Baptist) in the mid-nineteenth century set in motion a suspicion towards such social justice endeavors by Holiness/Pentecostal believers.475 It would be
likely this affected at least some in early Pentecostalism. Peculiarly enough, even the very lower class individuals who would have benefited the most from social theologies in the earliest Pentecostal churches shunned these works as “negative” and worldly along
472 For instance, academically, many Pentecostal study centers, Bible Colleges, Graduate, and PhD
programs have played an increased role in this regard. For a helpful and often engaged study of Pentecostal pedagogy and scholastic vision see Cheryl Bridges Johns, Pentecostal Formation: A Pedagogy among the
Oppressed, JPTSup, vol. 2 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993).
473 Karla Poewe, Charismatic Christianity as a Global Culture (Columbia: University of South Carolina
Press, 1994).
474 Margaret Poloma, The Assemblies of God at the Crossroads. Broadly, such sociological resources have
grown in number. For other examples, see David Martin, Pentecostalism: The World Their Parish, Religion and Modernity (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002); Grant Wacker, Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and
American Culture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003).
475 Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis in the 21st Century: The Classic That Woke
with the remainder of society.476 But surprisingly, the work that we have encountered
here seems to illustrate a reversing of this trend, exhibiting greater openness to social theologies. We observed, in Christenson’s charismatic social theology, Villafañe and Sepulveda liberationist theologies, Volf’s vocational theology, and Dempster’s eschatological social theology, a quiet social justice theology in PC spirituality that seemingly has endless potential to be an ecologically-centered theology with possibilities for strident social action.
It is important for us to note that our examination thus far has shown the
Charismatic movement having been quite accommodating to Pentecostalism in bringing strains of social justice theology from the heart of these more historic Christian traditions (e.g. Lutheranism). We saw that Christenson’s theological social justice had a greater impact in initiating Pentecostal ecotheology perhaps more than any other, at least in the earliest formation of Pentecostal ecotheology. I would argue that Pentecostalism gave to the Charismatic movement their theology of the Spirit while the Charismatic movements gave to Pentecostalism social theologies, ecclesiologies, and theological traditions. It has been a dialectical relationship. But this dialectical influence of PC theology has been seen elsewhere. We observed this in the connection between Pentecostal spirituality and liberation theology in places like Chile, exemplify a soteriological practice that more readily focuses on contemporary social issues rather than overly emphasizing apocalyptic eschatology. Dempster showed us that Pentecostal eschatological fervor does offer a model for social justice practice in light of eschatology. Dempster’s work has proven a
476 Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century, 47.
Rauschenbusch’s social theology attempted to see organize culture around gospel social precepts as a strong derivative of Albrecht Ritschl’s theology (1822-1889).
champion in PC circles for liberative causes of social justice, ethical philosophy, and theological ethics.477
A strength of the literature we examined exhibited a powerful connection between Spirit baptism and the larger motif of social justice. In some of the other readings we encountered (e.g. Volf), this continues to offer an insightful possibility to pneumatologically centered forms of praxis. Furthermore, this creative connection between the healing power of Spirit baptism in the believer and in the broader world establishes a novel way of thinking about ordo salutis. In this new context, Spirit baptism is inherently social, political, and even ecological. To be baptized in the Spirit is to be anointed to usher in God’s Kingdom everywhere. Dempster demonstrates that the liberative power of Spirit baptism, and his work continues to be a substantive dialogue partner as well as a promising expression in the formation of Pentecostal ecotheology conscience.478 Miroslav Volf’s reflective analysis of the relationship between Pentecostal
and liberation theologies rightly sees a strain of spirituality they both share: healing. But Volf argues that Pentecostals have a great theology of healing but tend to be rather selective about its breadth. Healing is viewed, in Pentecostal practice, in anthropocentric
477 For a list of the extensive works of Murray Dempster on this and many other topics related to emerging
Pentecostal ecotheology, see Murray Dempster, “Evangelism, Social Concern, and the Kingdom of God,” in Called & Empowered: Global Mission in Pentecostal Perspective, eds. Murray Dempster, Byron Klaus, and Douglas Petersen (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1991), 22-43; Dempster, “Christian Social Concern in Pentecostal Perspective.”; Murray Dempster, “Church Mission and Social Concern: The Changing Global Face of Classical Pentecostalism,” TR 11 (1994), 1-32; Murray Dempster, “A Pentecostal Approach to Evangelization and Social Concern,” TR 16 (1999), 41-66; Murray Dempster, “Social Concern in the Context of Jesus’ Kingdom, Mission, and Ministry,” TR 16 (1999), 43-53; Murray Dempster, “Pacifism in Pentecostalism: The Case of the Assemblies of God,” in Fragmentation of the Church and Its Unity in
Peacemaking, eds. Jeffrey Gros and John Rempel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), 137-165; Murray
Dempster, Byron Klaus, and Douglas Petersen, eds., Called & Empowered: Global Mission in Pentecostal
Perspective (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1991).
478 For instance, see Clifton’s utilization of Dempster’s work throughout Shane Clifton, “Preaching the
terms rather than cosmic terms. Both liberation theology and Pentecostal theology give significant credence to the salvific/healing in soteriology. This broadly reflects the broader NT teaching on salvation where personal, physical, and financial healing are requisite elements of Christ’s salvation here and now.
Let us turn now to the Spirit/creation theologies. We encountered some
fascinating pieces. For instance, we examined the renewed pneumatological relationship to the disabled (Yong), renewed relationship to creation (Studebaker), renewed
relationship to politics (Hollenweger), and the poor, oppressed, and suffering (Dabney). Hollenweger, as a student of classic Pentecostalism, offered that a charismatic theology based on Pauline literature is a model for both the ecumenical church as well as an comprehension of the larger world—the body of God. I agree with Hollenweger that pneumatology has largely been relegated to Christology (Spirit-Christology) and soteriology (Spirit-salvation). His call to a return to a truly pneumatological view of all things will be vital to a Pentecostal ecology. It is this retrieval of the “Creator Spiritus…a perplexing ‘lost’ entity for the West,” where we can expand a more holistic
pneumatology.479 It appears, in a very primitive sense, that Hollenweger’s proposal of a
pneumatological-centered model made way for the Spirit even in the organic life of creation.480 And only when PCs return to a posture of sensitivity found in this
understanding of the Spirit “as the giver of life,” only then can we discernibly “recognize the Spirit in unusual places and in unexpected people, in all creatures great and small,
479 Hollenweger, “All Creatures Great and Small,” 44.
480 David Martin and Peter Mullen, Strange Gifts?: A Guide to Charismatic Renewal (Oxford: Blackwell,
we might win new friends.”481 Therefore, a return to an understanding of the Spirit in all
creatures great and small gives Spirit-centered expression room for creative and
innovative pneumatology in PC traditions. This is seen as well in the endeavors of Amos Yong. Yong suggests in his pneumatological writings that the Spirit is deeply connected “ontologically and epistemologically” to the created order is both founded and a
thoughtful corrective.482 As mentioned in Yong’s reflections on the language of the
Pentecost narrative, we find amongst the biblical narrative a continuous connection between language of the Spirit and created entities such as water, birds, and wind. This connection should play a key place of discussion for creation care.
We have discovered that the Spirit does not simply relate to the creation
creatively but eschatologically as well.483 The Spirit comes and will make all things new.
That is, the Spirit must be integrated both as Creator Spirit and an agent in creatio continua, the continuous ongoing creational process for the birth of the new heavens and new earth.484 Eschatologically speaking, the Spirit prepares creation for this newness.
Yong, in this eschatological setting, contends that this Spirit/creation motif leads all to “concrete” ways in which we are called to accommodate this redemption process.485
Almost in response to Hollenweger, I would suggest the weakness therefore of the Spirit/creation approach is that it could often lack a Christological element that appropriately brings together the work of the Christ and the Spirit-outpouring of
481Hollenweger, “All Creatures Great and Small,” 53, (italics mine). 482 Yong, The Spirit Poured out on All Flesh, 300.