Pentecostal Hermeneutics: Approach and Methodology

[18] F.L. Arrington, “Hermeneutics: Historical Perspectives on Pentecostals and Charismatic,” in Stanley M. Burgess, ed., Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic movements (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 379.

[19] Kenneth J. Archer, A Pentecostal Hermeneutics for the Twenty-first Century: Spirit, Scripture and Community, 99.

[20] F.L. Arrington, “Hermeneutics: Historical Perspectives on Pentecostals and Charismatic,” in Stanley M. Burgess, ed., Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic movements (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 382.

[21] F.L. Arrington, “Hermeneutics: Historical Perspectives on Pentecostals and Charismatic,” in Stanley M. Burgess, ed., Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic movements (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 376.

[22] F.L. Arrington, “Hermeneutics: Historical Perspectives on Pentecostals and Charismatic,” in Stanley M. Burgess, ed., Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic movements (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 382.

[23] David Jones, “Yielding to the Spirit: The Dynamics of Pentecostal Praxis,” in Murray W. Dempster, ed., The Globalization of Pentecostalism: A Religion Made to Travel (Oxford: Regnum Books, 1993), 74.

[24] Janet Powers, “Your Daughters Shall Prophesy: Pentecostal Hermeneutics and the Empowerment of Women,” in Murray W. Dempster, ed., The Globalization of Pentecostalism: A Religion Made to Travel (Oxford: Regnum Books, 1993), 317.

[25] Ibid.

[26] Also Andrew Davis, “What Does it Mean to Read the Bible as A Pentecostal?” in Journal of Pentecostal Theology. Vol. 18 No.2 2009. Brill. PAGE 220 (216-229).

[27] Janet Powers, “Your Daughters Shall Prophesy: Pentecostal Hermeneutics and the Empowerment of Women,” in Murray W. Dempster, ed., The Globalization of Pentecostalism: A Religion Made to Travel (Oxford: Regnum Books, 1993), 317. See also Andrew Davis, “What Does it Mean to Read the Bible as A Pentecostal?” in Journal of Pentecostal Theology 18:2 (2009), 216-229 (especially page 220).

[28] Even though Tate’s arguments somehow treats the Bible like any other piece of literature, a view that I strongly refute since I believe in the authority of the scripture, I find his integrated approach as a good model for doing hermeneutics. I am in essential agreement with the integrated approach he advocates for. Meaning is most clearly derived from a conversation with all three partners—the author, the text, and the reader—taking their rightful place in the dialogue.

[29] Randolph Tate, Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1991), 146.