Pentecostals’ reading of the Old Testament

Abstract

The question of a valid and viable Pentecostal hermeneutic is discussed leading to the preliminary conclusion that such a hermeneutic would consist of the following elements: the experience of the immanence of God, within the charismatic community, through the work of the Spirit. The hermeneutic leads to a reading of Old (and New) Testament texts, especially narrative texts, as replicable for modern-day believers, because Pentecostals view the Bible as consisting primarily of testimonies of God’ s involvement and intervention in ancient believers’ lives with the aim to duplicate those acts in modern believers’ lives. The narratives of Pentecostals’ preaching and testimony are based upon Biblical tales but they are also accompanied by the same signs and wonders the Bible testifies to. This causes Pentecostals’ success in missions as non-literary societies are not interested in creeds but in oral narratives demonstrated in practice. Signs and wonders, healings and revelations, prophetic words and resurrections demonstrate the immanence of God as described in the Bible in a dramatic way to modern people.

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