Theology Through Community, Paperback/Richard a. Pruitt

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Description Since the 1980s, renewal scholars have given considerable attention to the role of the believing community in the interpretive process. A broad consensus has emerged that a triad involving Scripture, the Spirit, and the believing community forms a cooperative relationship resulting in theological development, followed by commensurate action--identified in this research as theological creativity. In the context of this research, to be creative with theology is to take an existing theological assumption and broaden or adapt it to current circumstances, given the Spirit's evidential work and a consensual understanding of Scripture. But how does the community negotiate between Spirit and Scripture without subsuming either into its own predilections? For Luke, the first-century community of believers in Acts functions as an indispensable character in the formation of theological creativity. This work will demonstrate how Luke positions the community as a character in story form, between Spirit and Scripture, functioning as a bridge through which its testimony of the Spirit's evidential work and its application of Scripture interact. In order to illustrate this balancing act, we will use a modified configuration of the triadic notion: Spirit-Community-Scripture. "Pruitt's monograph is a must read for those interested in theological hermeneutics in general and Pentecostal and Renewal hermeneutics in particular because he moves the conversation forward on how community functions in the interpretive process in significant ways." --Kenneth J. Archer, Professor of Theology & Pentecostal Studies, Southeastern University "Not only does the work of Pruitt make an original contribution to the field, but it successfully evaluates and critiques the current research on this topic." --Corne J. Bekker, Dean & Professor, Regent University School of Divinity "Building cordially upon prior work in thisfield, Pruitt's book represents another important addition to the chorus