Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Liberation And Engagement: Toward A U.S. Latino/A Diaspora Missiology, Angel Santiago-Vendrell

The Asbury Journal

Diaspora missiology is emerging in some evangelical circles as the new paradigm that would complement traditional missiology. In this article, I will describe and analyze the writings of three first generation Cuban-American theologians and their understanding of how to construct theology in diaspora. First, I will present the multiple origins of the Latino/a population. Second, the metaphor of the Promised Land will be described and assessed though the lens of the prosperity gospel. Third, the writings of Ada María Isasi-Díaz, Justo González, and Fernando Segovia on theology in the diaspora will be described and analyzed. Finally, a Latino/a missiology of …

Inductive Bible Study: Contextual Appropriation In Northeast India, M. Sashi Jamir

The Asbury Journal

M. Sashi Jamir examines the application of Inductive Bible Study to the tribal communities of Northeast India. This postcolonial situation has some positives such as a context with a higher degree of education, but it has also lead to a prominence of Western philosophy over traditional ways of understanding, which need to be reclaimed. The reality that larger national forces in India often overshadow tribal communities also poses potential problems that prevent the local theological voice from being heard.

Historical Support For Early Methodist Views Of Water And Spirit Baptism, Joseph D. Mcpherson

The Asbury Journal

This paper is a product of the Wesleyan Studies Summer Seminar for 2011. This program at Asbury Theological Seminary, under the leadership of Dr. Kenneth Collins, provides Wesleyan scholars with a month long intensive opportunity for research, writing, and interacting with other Wesleyan scholars for the furthering of academic knowledge in fields of Wesleyan Studies.

This paper explores the historical theological positions regarding water and Spirit Baptism in early Methodism and how these views diverged in the American Holiness Movement. Early Methodist teaching was more in line with Church history in associating water baptism with the outpouring of the Holy …

The Practical Theology Of The General Rules, Andrew C. Thompson

The Asbury Journal

The “General Rules of the United Societies” were a central component of the early Methodist movement under John Wesley’s leadership. Examinations of the General Rules in contemporary literature tend to focus on their role in personal and organizational discipline for early Methodists and for the movement as a whole. Yet a close examination of the rules shows that they served a greater purpose: as the practical theological articulation of how Methodists could expect to experience sanctification in the context of their lives. This crucial aspect of the General Rules’ use can be seen by exploring Wesley’s understanding of the means …

Public Theology For Global Development: A Case Study Dealing With "Health" In Africa, Gregg A. Okesson

The Asbury Journal

This article makes a simple assertion. The problems faced by global societies require a multi-disciplinary approach, in which theology actively engages other disciplines, such as politics, health, economics, science, and cultural studies, for the purposes of helping the Church of Jesus Christ accurately represent "the fullness of him who fills everything in every way" (Eph 1:23). This reflects the writings of John Wesley and involves a process of reinterpreting the Asburian heritage of "the whole Bible for the whole World" for relating the Gospel to such issues as poverty, disease, famine, ecological disaster, and other facets of development crisis. In …

"A Classless Society?": The Pneumatology Of E. Stanley Jones In Conversation With Mortimer Arias' Theology Of The Kingdom Of God, Angel Santiago-Vendrell

The Asbury Journal

This lecture addresses the pneumatology of E. Stanley Jones in

conversation with Mortimer Arias' theology of the kingdom of God. Jones was an advocate of what is known today in Latin America as mission integral. Integral mission seeks to restore every dimension of human life by requiring from Christians to be completely involved in the historical moment by the concrete demonstration of the power of the gospel in everyday life. Later, this illlderstanding of mission was used in Bolivia to propagate the gospel illldera brutal right-wing military regime by Bishop Mortimer Allas. Therefore, the kingdom of God as used …

Inhabiting The Garden: Bible, Theology And Mission, Lawson G. Stone

The Asbury Journal

This essay explores the role of biblical exegesis in the task of Christian theology and in the contemporary global mission of the church from the perspective of an Old Testament scholar. It poses the question what a biblical exegesis would look like that was consistently Christian in its assumptions while, at the same time, honest and competent in dealing with the phenomena of the biblical text. Using the exegesis of the early centuries of the church as a case study, the essay develops insights into the role of serious biblical study in empowering the early church's vibrant expansion through the …

The Spirit, Christian Practices, And The Religions: Theology Of Religions In Pentecostal And Pneumatological Perspective, Amos Yong

The Asbury Journal

The discussion of Christian theology of religions has focused primarily so far on the question of whether or not the Christian understanding of salvation is available through other religions to their adherents. The predominant responses of exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism have shaped the debate and serve as a typology for organizing the various theologies of religions. While Pentecostals have generally fallen into the exclusivist category - e.g., that salvation is available only to those who have converted to Christian faith - there are also other resources related to their views regarding the universal work of the Holy Spirit that have …

Charles Wesley And The Language Of Evangelical Experience: The Poetical Hermeneutic Revisited, John R. Tyson

The Asbury Journal

Charles Wesley is well remembered as the "poet laureate" of Methodism, whose rousing hymns continue to adorn Christian worship. This article suggests that he was also a significant theologian; a theologian of the experimental variety, who used religious experience as a means for translating theological doctrine into the realm of Christian life. Religious experience played an important role in Wesley's poetical approach to the Bible, and allowed him to unite human hearts and minds in biblical affirmations. In this sense, Charles's hymns were aptly described (by John Wesley) as "practical divinity." A close examination of Charles Wesley's vocabulary of religious …