Coming Soon from Eerdmans - Pentecostal Manifestos

Since this week celebrates the anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival it seemed appropriate to tell you about a new series coming from Eerdmans: The Pentecostal Manifestos.  Here's how the website describes the series:

"The Pentecostal Manifestos series aims to provide a forum for the rising, more outward-looking generation of Pentecostal scholarship. The series will bring together both high-profile and newly emerging scholars to address issues at the intersection of Pentecostalism, the global church, the theological academy, and broader cultural concerns. These various 'manifesto' volumes will be bold statements, marked by rigorous scholarship, reflecting a distinctly Pentecostal perspective on wider contemporary themes and debates."

The series editors are James K. A. Smith and Amos Yong.  The first one in the series is due out this June and is written by Smith and is titled Thinking in Tongues: Outline of a Pentecostal Philosophy.  Here's the catalog description:

"The past several decades have seen a renaissance in Christian philosophy, led by the work of Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstorff, William Alston, Eleonore Stump, and others. In the spirit of Plantinga's famous manifesto, "Advice to Christian Philosophers," James K. A. Smith here offers not only advice to Pentecostal philosophers but also some Pentecostal advice to Christian philosophers.

In this inaugural Pentecostal Manifestos volume Smith begins from the conviction that implicit in Pentecostal and charismatic spirituality is a tacit worldview or "social imaginary." Thinking in Tongues unpacks and articulates the key elements of this Pentecostal worldview and then explores their implications for philosophical reflection on ontology, epistemology, aesthetics, language, science, and philosophy of religion. In each case, Smith demonstrates how the implicit wisdom of Pentecostal spirituality makes unique contributions to current conversations in Christian philosophy."

The table of contents looks very promising:

Introduction: What Hath Athens to Do with Azusa Street?

1.  Thinking in Tongues: Advice to Pentecostal Philosophers
2.  God's Surprise: Elements of a Pentecostal Worldview
3.  Storied Experience: A Pentecostal Epistemology
4.  Shattering Paradigms, Opening the World: Science, Spirit, and a Pentecostal Ontology
5.  From Beliefs to Altar Calls: A Pentecostal Critique of Philosophy of Religion
6.  At the Limits of Speech: A Pentecostal Contribution to Philosophy of Language

Epilogue: Pentecostal Contributions to Christian Philosophy

The other two in the series will be out in July.  They are Beyond Pentecostalism: The Crisis of Global Christianity and the Renewal of the Theological Agenda by Wolfgang Vondey and Justified in the Spirit: Creation, Redemption, and the Triune God by Frank D. Macchia. 

Smith's volume will have 184 pages and sell for $19.00.