As a theologian I am interested in systematic-theological reflection on charismatic experiences and practices within Protestant churches. My PhD-research at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) focused on the charismatic renewal of New Wine, that sprung up within the Church of England in the 1980s.
During the Research Master Dogmatics, I started working on my PhD-research, resulting in my thesis Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation (2014, cum laude). I then proceeded to work in my PhD-dissertation Living the Kingdom. The Life of the Church and the Spirit as down payment of future salvation.
This included papers such as
- Wolfhart Pannenberg and the Presence of the Future
- The Spirit and the Presence of the Future (Michael Welker and Frank D. Macchia)
- Anointed to Proclaim Good News
- 'Being in Christ' (Hans Burger) and the Renewal of Reformed theology
Due to my health, I had to end my PhD-research in 2018, leaving it unfinished.
Research Thesis (MA Dogmatics and Ecumenics) "Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation" (cum laude)
As a first stage, my Research master thesis focused on the understanding of salvation as "wholeness". I explored resources within the systematic theologies of Jürgen Moltmann and Wolfhart Pannenberg, enhanced by contributions of Tim Chester, Thomas G. Weinandy, Ernst M. Conradie, and Frank D. Macchia.
The Outlines of a Theological Framework
Throughout this thesis the rough, sketchy outlines of a Protestant soteriological framework emerged, that indeed would be able to vindicate and asses the theological notion of salvation as wholeness as it is perceived within the charismatic renewal of New Wine.
Such a framework would have to be
- eschatological
- perichoretic-trinitarian, and
- having the concept of the inaugurated Kingdom of God at its heart.
It understands salvation
- in pneumatological terms (salvation is the coming of the Kingdom of God through the indwelling of the Spirit of sonship, through whom believers share in the divine life), and
- eschatological terms (this indwelling of the Spirit in believers is to be understood from the perspective of God’s eschatological indwelling in creation, entailing wholeness for all creation).
PhD-proposal Living the Kingdom | The life of the church and the Spirit as down payment of future salvation
Within the Global Charismatic Renewal, salvation is often perceived in terms of “wholeness of life”, or “life abundant”. This translates in neo-Pentecostal and charismatic theologies that understand salvation in terms of social justice, and “health and wealth” in the present life. However, this raises serious questions – one of the most poignant being the overwhelming experience of not the presence but the absence of such wholeness.
In my
PhD-research I will explore how a theology of the “inaugurated Kingdom of God” –
as it surfaces within for instance the charismatic renewal of New Wine - could
help to understand experiences within Global Christianity of both the presence
and the absence of the transformation of life into a greater level of
wholeness.
More
specifically, I will explore how this charismatic theology of the “inaugurated
Kingdom” can be enhanced by insights from recent theological debates on the
Trinity, the Spirit and the Church:
- How could a theology of the Spirit as the down payment (arrabōn) and first fruit (aparchē) of the Kingdom of God help to understand experiences of both the presence and the absence of future salvation in the life of the church?
- How does this tap into recent contributions to trinitarian theology (perichoresis), suggesting a participation-oriented account of salvation?
- And how would this translate to specific faith practices and experiences in the life of the church – such as experiences of God’s intimate presence, ministries of healing and deliverance, or the church’s engagement with social and ecological justice - in which the tension between the presence and the absence of salvation as wholeness is poignantly felt?
Research Question
How could – in the context of the Global Charismatic Renewal – a theology of the Spirit as the down payment of the inaugurated Kingdom of God help to understand experiences in the life of the church of both the presence and the absence of salvation as wholeness of life?
Background
1) The Global Charismatic Movement and salvation as wholeness of life
One of the major challenges for Western theology in the 21st century is to
adjust itself to a new reality of Global Christianity: the emergence of a
Global Charismatic Renewal, both in the Global South[1] and within Western Christianity itself. [2] This charismatic Christianity often expresses
a broad understanding of salvation in terms of “wholeness of life”, or “life
abundant” (John 10,10). Salvation is supposed to comprise liberation, reconciliation
and peace, healing and deliverance, and/or prosperity in the present life.[3]
However,
this charismatic understanding of salvation also raises serious questions from
the perspective of mainstream Protestant theology – one the most poignant being
the overwhelming experience of not the presence but the absence of such wholeness. Experiences of liberation,
reconciliation, prosperity and healing may even seem futile in the face of
prevailing oppression, injustice, poverty, and physical and mental suffering,
in a world that seems desperately broken. Even personal experiences of the intimate
presence of God may be countered by evenly intense experiences of the eclipse of God.
2) Inaugurated eschatology, the Kingdom and the
Church
One specific
strand within the Global Charismatic Renewal seems promising when it comes to
the ability to cope – both theologically and practically – with this tension
between experiences of both the presence and absence of salvation as wholeness,
as it is characterized by a theology of the “inaugurated Kingdom of God”.
Taking up the proposals of Oscar Cullmann, Herman Ridderbos and most explicitly
George E. Ladd, this charismatic Kingdom-theology emphasizes both the “now” and
the “not yet” of the Kingdom and its salvation. [4]
Within Global Christianity, this “inaugurated Kingdom theology” finds
expression in the charismatic renewal of New Wine (that sprung up within the Church
of England in the 1980s) and the Vineyard-movement, but recently it has also
been picked up within Global Pentecostalism. [5]
When it
comes to the role of the Church, this charismatic Kingdom theology argues that
the Church is called to proclaim and
demonstrate the Kingdom of God in the power of the Spirit, including
ministries of reconciliation, healing and deliverance.[6] But whereas
most neo-Pentecostal and charismatic theologies represent a “realized” or
“triumphalist” eschatology – claiming future salvation (healing, prosperity) in
the present – this Kingdom-theology holds an “inaugurated eschatology”: that
the Kingdom has been inaugurated but
not fulfilled, it has broken through in human history but it has not yet taken
over. The church thus lives “in between times”, as Vineyard-theologian Derek J.
Morphew argues,
“On the one hand we await the ultimate breakthrough of God
into human history when this age will finally give way to a new age and God
will rule supreme in a new heaven and a new earth. On the other hand, the end
has already come in Jesus and through the outpouring of the Spirit. The church
lives by the powers of the future are while the powers of this age continue
around us.”[7]
3) A Soteriological Perspective on the Spirit
and the life of the Church
The role of
the Spirit obviously is a central theme of the charismatic renewal. Whereas
traditional Pentecostalism understood this role primarily in terms of
“empowerment” (and much of the charismatic renewal within the traditional
churches followed in that trail, often emphasizing personal charismatic
experiences such as praying in tongues), a theology of the “inaugurated Kingdom”
induces a soteriological understanding of
the role of the Spirit:
- The salvation of the Kingdom of God – in terms of wholeness of life, comprising both “charismatic” experiences as tongues or healing and social and ecological justice – breaks in on human history through the outpouring of the Spirit.
- The inbreaking of the inaugurated Kingdom, then, must be understood in terms of baptism in the Spirit, Pentecostal theologian Frank D. Macchia argues in his innovative book in Global Pentecostal theology.[8]
a) The gift
of the Spirit and the “perichoretic” understanding of the Trinity
The central role of the gift of the
Spirit as the inauguration of the Kingdom taps into a wider interest in the
crucial role of the Trinity – and more specifically a social understanding of the Trinity – for the Christian
understanding of salvation: the fullness
of life consists in the participation of believers in the divine life through
the Spirit.[9]
Interesting at this point, is the
contribution to this trinitarian debate of Thomas G. Weinandy – a charismatic
Catholic. Our salvation, Weinandy argues, is defined by the divine trinitarian perichoresis and it is through baptism
in the Spirit that the believer’s sharing in the divine trinitarian life “moves
from the realm of theological doctrine to that of lived experience.”[10]
It would be worthwhile to further
explore how a theology of the “inaugurated Kingdom of God” can be revised and enhanced through such recent
trinitarian proposals (including contributions from Global Pentecostalism), inducing
a renewed pneuma-ecclesiology.
b) The gift
of the Spirit: “down payment” and “first fruit”
The gift of the Spirit is referred to
in the New Testament as “down payment” (arrabōn)
of future salvation, and as the “first fruit” (aparchē) of the new harvest of the eschaton.[11] Through
the gift of the Spirit, the Kingdom of God has come and is coming still. Not
only the Spirit, but also the church is referred to in the New Testament as
“first fruits” (James 1,18; Revelation 14,4).
In the church, the Kingdom of God has
come proleptically through the outpouring of the Spirit: new creation somehow
has begun.
Could this theological notion of the
Spirit as down payment (and subsequently, the church as first fruit), help to
understand experiences of both the presence
and the absence of future salvation
in the life of the church?
- What do these notions of “down payment” and “first fruit” hold for our understanding of the church and its vocation in the world?
- How – and to what extent – is the church to mediate (or “enact”) the future Kingdom in the present?
- How would this translate to the life of the local church – to specific faith practices and experiences in which the tension between the presence and the absence of salvation as wholeness is poignantly felt?
Academic Contribution and Practical Importance
My proposed
research aims at contributing to both academic theology and church ministry in
several ways.
- Firstly, when it comes to understanding the transformations of human life from the perspective of soteriology, promising insights might come from looking at inaugurated eschatology from a pneumatological focus. Recent developments in trinitarian theology and pneumatology seem to provide fresh perspectives for a soteriological understanding of Spirit baptism and a pneuma-ecclesiology.
- Academically I will also contribute to the development of a new form of intercultural theology that,
o
takes the theological voices from the
non-western world more serious than is commonly done in the discourse of
intercultural theology.[12]
o
takes non-academic charismatic texts serious not
just as expressions of popular religion, but as sources for theological
reflection.[13]
- Thirdly, the charismatic interpretation of the inaugurated Kingdom - widespread as it may be within the Protestant churches - calls for further systematic-theological reflection. Systematic theology has a threefold task, as it has a clarifying function, a regulative function, and aninnovative function.[14] In all three areas, work remains to be done with regard to charismatic Kingdom-theology.
- The latter also has practical importance for the church. Through my research I seek to provide theological tools to help those inspired by charismatic renewal think through their experiences, and help the wider church see what this might mean for Christian practices. As this strand of charismatic renewal perceives “salvation as wholeness” to comprise charismatic experiences of the intimate presence of God, experiences of healing and deliverance, experiences of social justice and reconciliation, and experiences of ecological reconciliation, case studies may be done into such practices.
Prof. Dr. Kees van der Kooi
Professor of Western Systematic Theology at the VU University Amsterdam and Director of the Centre for Evangelical and Reformation Theology. Formerly holding the endowed chair for the theology of charismatic renewal at the VU University Amsterdam (2003-2007).
Prof. dr. Benno van den Toren
Professor of Intercultural Theology at the Protestant Theological University (PThU). Formerly holding the endowed chair for the theology of charismatic renewal at the VU University Amsterdam (2010-2014).
Prof. dr. Tom Greggs
Chair of Historical and Doctrinal Theology at King’s College, University of Aberdeen. Visiting Professor in Theology at St Mellitus College, London.
Dr. Maarten Wisse
Assistent Professor of Dogmatics and Ecumenics at the VU University Amsterdam.
Prof. dr. Tom Greggs
Chair of Historical and Doctrinal Theology at King’s College, University of Aberdeen. Visiting Professor in Theology at St Mellitus College, London.
Dr. Maarten Wisse
Assistent Professor of Dogmatics and Ecumenics at the VU University Amsterdam.
Footnotes
[1] Bram van de Beek, Van Kant tot Kuitert. De belangrijkste theologen uit de 19e en 20e eeuw (Kampen: Kok, 2006), 253; Kwame Bediako, ‘African Theology as a
Challenge for Western Theology’, in: Martien Brinkman en Dirk van Keulen (eds),
Christian identity in cross-cultural
perspective, Studies in Reformed theology, Volume 8 (Zoetermeer:
Boekencentrum, 2003), 52-67; Andrew F. Walls, ‘Africa in Christian History:
Retrospect and Prospect’, in: Journal of
African Christian Thought, 1/1 (June 1998). Philip
Jenkins, The Next Christendom. The Coming
of Global Christianity (New York, Oxford University Press, 2007 – revised and
expanded ed.), and its sequel, The New
Faces of Christianity. Believing the Bible in the Global South (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2006).
[2]
In the Dutch Protestant context, the Charismatische Werkgemeenschap Nederland
(CWN), het Evangelisch Werkverband (EWV) and New Wine Nederland should be
mentioned. CWN was initiated already in 1973, by two Dutch Reformed pastors,
Karel Kraan and Wim Verhoef and was – partly due to the efforts of Jan Veenhof,
a systematic theologian at the VU University – able to constitute an endowed
chair for charismatic renewal at the VU University. This chair was held
subsequently by Martien Parmentier (1992-2000), Kees van der Kooi (2003-2007),
and Benno van den Toren (2010-2014). Also within the orthodox-Reformed strand
in the PKN the charismatic renewal has been propagated by by prominent
theologians, such as G. Boer (1913-1973), C. Graafland (1928-2004), Mart-Jan
Paul, and Jan Hoek.
[3]
See Ronald Westerbeek,
‘Framing the Issue of Salvation: Criticism from Global Christianity’, in: Life to the Full (research master
thesis, VU University, 2014), 35-46; Gerrit Brand, Speaking of a Fabulous Ghost. In Search of Theological Criteria with
Special Reference to the Debate on Salvation in African Christian Theology,
Contributions to Philosophical Theology, Volume 7 (Frankfurt am Main: Peter
Lang Verlag, 2002); Kwame Bediako, Christianity
in Africa: The Renewal of a Non-Western Religion (Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, 1995); Lamin Sanneh, Translating
the Message: The Missionary Impact on Culture, revised and expanded edition
(New York: Orbis Books, 2009); Diane B. Stinton, Jesus of Africa. Voices of Contemporary African Christology
(Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2004), 222-224; Mercy Amba Oduyoye, Hearing and Knowing: Theological Reflections
on Christianity in Africa (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1986); Zabon Nthamburi
and Douglas Waruta, ‘Biblical Hermeneutics in African Instituted Churches’, in:
Hannah Kinoti and John Waliggo (eds.), The
Bible in African Christianity (Nairobi: Acton Publishers, 1997).
[4]
Oscar Cullmann, Christ and Time
(London: SCM, 1952) and The Christology
of the New Testament (London: SCM, 1971); Herman Ridderbos, The Coming of the Kingdom (Kampen: Kok,
1950) and George E. Ladd (Crucial
Questions About the Kingdom of God, 1952; updated in The Presence of the Future. The Eschatology of Biblical realism
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996, revised edition). South African
Vineyard-theologian Derek J. Morphew explicitly draws from these proposals in,
for instance, Breakthrough. Discovering
the Kingdom (Cape Town: Vineyard International Publishing, 1991).
[5]
Ronald Westerbeek, ‘The Third Wave of Charismatic Renewal: Vineyard and New
Wine’ and ‘Theological Roots: Inaugurated Eschatology and the Kingdom of God’,
in: Life to the Full (Research master
thesis, VU 2014), 13-25; the Report of the Committee to Study Third Wave
Pentecostalism II (2009), Canadian Reformed Church (CRC); Pete George, The Origins of the New Wine Movement. An
examination into the origins of the New Wine Movement in the UK and how its
original objectives compare to those of the movement today (unpublished
paper), (Westminster Theological Centre, 2013). For a concise account of
developments within Pentecostalism, see Frank D. Macchia, Baptized in the Spirit. A Global Pentecostal Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006). Also Steven
J. Land, Pentecostal Spirituality: A
Passion for the Kingdom (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993).
Specifically on the Dutch context: Wilbert
van Iperen, Balanceren in de kerk: Onderzoek
naar presentie, profilering en receptie van het Evangelisch Werkverband binnen
de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, 1995-2010 (Zoetermeer: Uitgeverij
Boekencentrum Academic, 2014); Ruben van de Belt, ‘”Leven blazen in dode
botten”. De presentie en profilering van
New Wine binnen de kleine gereformeerde kerken en (delen van) de Protestantse
Kerk in Nederland’, unpublished paper, VU University, 2014).
[6]
The implied soteriology of this charismatic Kingdom theology is characterized
by the following features:
·
Salvation is understood in terms of wholeness
·
Salvation is expected to be both future and
present, and
·
Salvation is supposed to be mediated
(“demonstrated” or “enacted”) by the church.
The theological notion of “wholeness” is multi-faceted
within this strand of charismatic renewal, but should be understood to comprise
at least four dimensions in the life of the church:
·
charismatic experiences of the intimate presence
of God
·
experiences of healing and deliverance
·
experiences of social justice and reconciliation
·
experiences of ecological reconciliation.
See
Ronald Westerbeek, Life to the Full (Research master thesis, VU 2014), 30.
[7]
Derek J. Morphew, Breakthrough.
Discovering the Kingdom (Cape Town: Vineyard International Publishing,
1991), 12.
[8]
Frank D. Macchia, Baptized in the Spirit.
A Global Pentecostal Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006).
[9]
Gijsbert van den Brink, ‘Social Trinitarianism: A Discussion of Some Recent
Theological Criticisms’, International
Journal of Systematic Theology 16:3 (2014), 331-350.
[10] Thomas G. Weinandy, The Father’s Spirit of Sonship: Reconceiving
the Trinity (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2010), 106.
[11]
Benno van den Toren, ‘De gemeente
als het begin van de oogst’, Geestkracht: Bulletin voor Charismatische
Theologie 66 (2010), pp. 13-21; also Hendrik Berkhof, ‘De Geest als
voorschot’ [1974], in: H. Berkhof, Bruggen en bruggehoofden. Een keuze uit
de artikelen van Prof. Dr. H. Berkhof uit de jaren 1960-1981, Nijkerk:
Callenbach, 1981, pp. 141-154.
[12]
See Benno van den Toren, ‘Interculturele
theologie als driegesprek’, Rede
bij de aanvaarding van het ambt van Hoogleraar in de Interculturele Theologie
aan de Protestantse Theologische Universiteit te Groningen (11 november 2014).
[13]
In an essay on pneumatology
and Pentecostalism, James D.G. Dunn urges traditional churches and their
systematic theologians to do so, arguing “that the traditional churches
need to be more open to the still growing third or charismatic dimension of
Christianity [and] dogmaticians need to integrate the experienced Spirit more
fully into their systems” (‘Towards the Spirit of Christ: The Emergence of the
Distinctive Features of Christian Pneumatology’, in: Michael Welker (ed.), The Work of the Spirit. Pneumatology and
Pentecostalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 3-26). Also Diane B.
Stinton, ‘Jesus Immanuel, Image of the invisible God: aspects of popular
Christology in Sub-Saharan Africa’, Journal
of Reformed Theology 1 (2007), 6-40; Michael Welker, God the Spirit (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994), ix-xiii.
[14]
Gijsbert van den Brink and
Kees van der Kooi, Christelijke dogmatiek
(Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 2012), 24, 37-40; also Kees van der Kooi, Goed gereedschap maakt het verschil. Over de
plaats en functie van de christelijke dogmatiek (Amsterdam: Vrije
Universiteit, 2008), inaugural speech, in which Van der Kooi distinguishes
between “clarification”, the “normative and correctional task”, “exploration
and innovation”, and “orientation and interpretation in daily life.”
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