a contextual missiology of the spirit - eTheses Repository ...

they are not interested in social justice, or that they make no contribution to
politics. However, as Petersen argues, Pentecostals construct ‘alternative
instruments of social justice:’
Social action and political action have become almost interchangeable terms in
some circles of Christian social ethics. The definition of social concern that
includes only political, state and civil categories cannot capture other equally
important areas of social concern. Political involvement is only one alternative
among several options of social action to institute social change. 187
In his latest work, ‘Pentecostalism and Political Theology,’ Yong also discusses
that although not in any conventional sense, but as an indirect ‘suggestive for an
alternative politics’ through preaching, spiritual warfare prayer, and rites of
exorcism ‘Pentecostalism has forged an alternative civitas in the midst of an
existing political order.’ 188
Many scholars have discussed the intrinsic strength of Pentecostal theology for
social transformation. As Hollenweger states, Pentecostal theology is ‘a theology
on the move, whose character has been more experiential than cognitive, more
activist than reflective.’ 189 Macchia comments that ‘there is potential in
Pentecostalism’ to empower God’s people to be ‘a prophetic movement for both
personal and social liberation.’ 190 According to Miller and Yamamori,
‘Pentecostalism has the potential to be an agent of social transformation.’ They
identify three major ways that reflect Pentecostalism’s potential for
187
Petersen, Not by Might, 141, 231.
188
AmosYong, ‘Pentecostalism and Political Theology.’ The Cadbury Lectures 2009. Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010 [forthcoming].
189
Hollenweger, Pentecostalism, 207.
190
Macchia, ‘Struggle for Global Witness,’ 16.
326