TFFPS Welcomes Debut of the Journal of Biblical and Pneumatological Research with a $1,000 Promotional Grant

From the forthcoming inaugural issue: "The Journal of Biblical and Pneumatological Research(JBPR) is an international peer-reviewed journal dedicated to contextually and rhetorically minded exegesis of biblical and related texts. Topics include theological and pneumatological interpretation; the role of spiritual experience within authorial, canonical, and historical contexts; exploration of creative and prophetic activities of Ruach Yahweh, Ruach Elohim; and various identifications of the Holy Spirit within narrative contexts. We would also hope to illuminate the influence of interpretive presuppositions and bring to the fore the divine nature and action of the Spirit as a person. The journal thereby hopes to stimulate new narrative-critical exploration and discovery in potentially under-explored areas of research."--Paul Elbert, Editor. The journal has received a $1,000 grant from the Foundation for promotion and support.  Click here to see the SBL ad.

For subscription information go to: http://wipfandstock.com/journals/jbpr

The Spiritual Death of Jesus Doctrine of the Word-faith Movement Investigated

Leiden (The Netherlands) publisher Brill has published TFFPS advisory board member William P. Atkinson's The 'Spiritual Death' of Jesus: A Pentecostal Investigation. The book is a slightly revised version of Atkinson's doctoral dissertation performed at the University of Edinburgh.

That Jesus died spiritually (JDS) originated with E. W. Kenyon and is a teaching of Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland. According to the three elements of this teaching, Jesus, in his death, was separated from God, partook of a satanic nature, and became Satan's prey.

Atkinson's theological appraisal takes research much further than previous works, both in method and in scope. It concludes that adoption of JDS by Pentecostalism would be damaging in several respects, and thus draw the latter away from its moorings in traditional Christianity. (adapted from the back cover)

Grant Awarded for Carrie Judd Montgomery Research

TFFPS has awarded University of Birmingham (UK) student Jennifer Miskov a grant of $1,500 for doctoral-level research into the life and theology of Carrie Judd Montgomery.

In the late 1800s, Montgomery was influential in the divine healing movement in America. After her Spirit baptism experience, she became close friends or acquaintances with William Seymour, A. B. Simpson, Aimee Semple McPherson, Maria Woodworth Etter, and many other prominent figures. For more information about Montgomery, please visit Miskov's blog (click on picture).

Grant Awarded for the Seymour Afro-Pentecostal Archive Project (SAPA)

William Joseph Seymour (1870-1922) was the leading figure of the 1906 Azusa Street Revival (see TFFPS's secretary Scott Johnson's report, click on picture). This project seeks to identify, verify, and collect primary and secondary archival material and create a database of these resources for historical research. It will establish a searchable electronic catalog of the materials, including books, sermons, periodicals, articles, tracts, hymnals, music, photographs, bulletins, manuals, and vital statistics records.

TFFPS has awarded a grant of $1,500 for the creation of the project's Web site. This effort is being spearheaded by Dr. Estrelda Alexander of Regent University, who serves as the Executive Director of The Seymour Project. SAPA is a collaborative effort of Regent University (Virginia Beach, Virginia), Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (Springfield, Missouri), Dixon Research Center (Lee University, Cleveland, Tennessee), and the Holy Spirit Research Center (Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma)

2009 Recipients of the Award of Excellence 

Book Category:

This year’s book award goes to Gordon D. Fee for his book Galatians from the Pentecostal Commentary Series (John Christopher Thomas, general editor), published by Deo Publishing (Dorset, UK). Fee, Emeritus Professor of New Testament, Regent College, Vancouver, Canada, is an expert on New Testament textual criticism and exegesis. His other books include How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth and God’s Empowering Presence.

Fee needs no introduction either within or outside the Pentecostal tradition. With his customary exemplary scholarship, at once erudite and accessible, in Galatians he meets the demands of “Pentecostal Commentary” following the format of this series. An introduction situating Paul’s key letter in time and space is followed by a detailed discussion of each section of the letter, verse-by-verse commentary, and a theological discussion with challenging questions for individual or group study. Not only does this work function as a reference work--to see what authoritative comment “Fee” has to make on a particular text in Galatians--but it is a thoroughly readable book which can simply be read straight through. It provides an illuminating account of Paul’s message to the Galatian community, opening up the text to the modern reader.

Other nominees

were Paul Elbert’s Pastoral Letter to Theo: An Introduction to Interpretation and Women’s Ministries (Wipf and Stock Publishers); J. P. Moreland's Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power; and Robby Waddell’s The Spirit of the Book of Revelation (Deo Publishing).

Pastoral Letter to Theo addresses some of the fundamental concerns of recent research into biblical interpretation by Adele Berlin and Kenneth Archer. It also takes into account the communicative literary and rhetorical techniques that were prominent in the Greco-Roman world when the New Testament documents were composed. Elbert suggests that attention to levels of context, plot, repetition, and characterization or personification comprise a proper method for understanding a New Testament writer's original meaning and intent.

Generally, the potentially groundbreaking thesis in much of Elbert's work is for a literary link between the "Spirit" language in Paul's letters and the later narrative of Luke-Acts. Specifically, A Pastoral Letter to Theo reflects heartfelt, pastoral concerns based on detailed contextual study of early Christianity and Christian experience. The book contextually examines in detail several passages pertaining to the ministry of women in missionary-minded early Christianity and concludes that this ministry was thought to be vital for the evangelistic enterprise.

Kingdom Triangle  is a penetrating analysis and critique of Western society’s dominant worldviews, naturalism and postmodernism, which have also influenced the church. Moreland issues a bold call to reclaim powerful kingdom living, which would include the full complement of spiritual gifts, and influence through recovery of the Christian mind, renovation of Christian spirituality, and restoration of the Holy Spirit’s power.

The Spirit of the Book of Revelation investigates the role of the Spirit in Revelation, which the author considers is best defined as the Spirit of Prophecy. A survey of scholarship on the pneumatology of the Apocalypse is followed by a study of intertextual connections. Waddell’s own religious context within Pentecostalism then informs a possible hermeneutic that is faithful to the ethos of the movement. Biblical and literary studies are situated within the context of a Pentecostal community as attention is paid to the prophecy concerning the temple and the witnesses in Rev 11. This key passage is shown to form the theological as well as the literary center of the Spirit’s role in Revelation. (deopublishing.com/waddell.htm)

2009 Article Category Award Winners:

Three Awards of Excellence for short works were conferred this year to the following scholars: 

Robert P. Menzies for “Acts 2.17–21: A Paradigm for Pentecostal Mission,” which appeared in the Journal of Pentecostal Theology; 

Julie C. Ma for “Changing Images: Women in Asian Pentecostalism,” which appeared in Philip’s Daughters: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership (Princeton Theological Monograph Series, Pickwick Publications, a division of Wipf and Stock Publishers); and 

Janet Meyer Everts for “Pentecostalism 101,” also in Philip’s Daughters.

Kudos to Dr. David Orton and Deo Publishing

The Pentecostal movement owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. David E. Orton, director and owner of Deo Publishing, for Deo’s commitment to publish quality Pentecostal scholarship. The Foundation’s 2007 Award of Excellence was awarded to Deo’s Pentecostal Healing: Models in Theology and Practice (deopublishing.com/alexander.htm) by Kimberly Ervin Alexander. As seen above, two of Deo’s titles have been nominated for the 2009 Award of Excellence. To see other Deo titles, go to deopublishing.com. The Foundation encourages all of those interested in Pentecostal scholarship to support Deo in its efforts to serve the Pentecostal movement by providing this invaluable venue of scholarship. (Above right, Dr. Orton at Duke University, 2008 Society for Pentecostal Studies conference)

2008 Awards of Excellence in Pentecostal Scholarship

The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship (TFFPS) has conferred its “Award of Excellence” for the best article of 2008. TFFPS co-founder and president, Robert W. Graves, announced the award during the 2008 Conference of the Society for Pentecostal Studies convening at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Professor Kenneth J. Archer, of the Church of God Theological Seminary, received the award for his article “A Pentecostal Way of Doing Theology: Method and Manner” (International Journal of Systematic Theology, July 2007). The article emphasizes the necessity of doing Pentecostal theology by means of an integrative methodology and in a narrative manner that flows out of Pentecostal identity. Archer argues that “Pentecostal theology must move beyond the impasse created by subsuming its identity under the rubric of ‘Evangelical’ in order for it to articulate a vibrant, fully orbed, mature Pentecostal theology.”

Graves also announced that the Foundation conferred a $1,000 research grant to Professor Archer to pursue his project “Worshipful Witness: A Pentecostal Theology of the Five-Fold Gospel,” a book-length elaboration of the award-winning article. “Worshipful Witness,” according to Archer, will provide a formative Pentecostal theology for the training of ministers, the (re)shaping of Pentecostal communal identity, and the critical engaging of contemporary Pentecostal theology. The eventual monograph will enter into serious dialogue with current and diverse academic works as well as engage academic Pentecostal publications.

2007 Awards of Excellence Conferred

The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship (TFFPS) has conferred its 2007 Awards of Excellence for Pentecostal scholarship. TFFPS president, Robert W. Graves, announced the awards during the Conference of the Society for Pentecostal Studies at Lee University. Two book awards and one article award were given. This year’s book award voting resulted in a tie between Pentecostal Healing: Models in Theology and Practice by Kimberly Ervin Alexander, an Assistant Professor of Historical Theology at the Church of God Theological Seminary, and Spirit and Kingdom in the Writings of Luke and Paul: An Attempt to Reconcile These Concepts, by Youngmo Cho, an Assemblies of God missionary and assistant professor of New Testament studies at Asia LIFE University (Seoul, Korea).  <more>

2006 Awards of Excellence Conferred

TFFPS conferred Awards of Excellence to four Pentecostal scholars . . . Full Gospel, Fractured Minds?: A

Call to Use God’s Gift of the Intellect wins in book category. <more>

TFFPS’s First Grant Conferred

Lukan scholar presenting paper at SPS conference is the recipient of the Foundation’s first grant. <more>

 

 

WALKING AZUSA STREET

Scott Johnson, Secretary of TFFPS, filed this report about the historic centennial celebration of the Pentecostal revival that started on Azusa Street  <more>

Haya-Prats Translation Underway

TFFPS has inked contracts with Gonzalo Haya-Prats, ThD, and Scott A. Ellington, PhD, for the translation of Haya Prats’ classic work on the Holy Spirit in Acts. <more>

 

Top Pentecostal Books

The president of TFFPS shares his picks for the top ten books substantiating the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the continuation of the gifts of the Spirit. <more>