Dale M. Coulter

The Development of Ecclesiology in the Church of God (Cleveland, TN): A Forgotten Contribution?

Recent Pentecostal theologians attempting to forge a Pentecostal ecclesiology seem to agree that early Pentecostalism lacked any significant discussion of the doctrine of the church. While that contention may be true of the free-church wing of early Pentecostalism, the current article argues that it is not true of the Church of God. Instead, ecclesiology was the most discussed topic among early Church of God theologians and this discussion led to a rather elaborate understanding of the nature of the church. The current article attempts to set forth early Church of God ecclesiology both to show how important it was to the Church of God and to suggest that current statements about the lack of any developed ecclesiology among early Pentecostals should be revised.

What Meaneth This? Pentecostals and Theological Inquiry

This article investigates what it means to maintain a Pentecostal theology by asking whether Pentecostals have any theological distinctives to offer, and, if so, how they may be identified. The first part begins with two recent approaches that seek to articulate what is theologically distinctive for Pentecostals through an appeal to spiritual experience. Following a critique of those approaches, the author proposes a constructive framework within which theological distinctives may emerge. The article concludes by applying the framework to the doctrine of scripture as a test case in order to determine what may be theologically distinct in the Pentecostal confession about that doctrine.

The Spirit and the Bride Revisited: Pentecostalism, Renewal, and the Sense of History

Early Pentecostalism embraced a historical narrative of restorationism that provided an apologetic for Pentecostal revivals by trumpeting the discontinuity with much of Christian tradition. As a counter to this restorationist historical narrative, I argue that early Pentecostalism transmitted a catholic spirituality, which explains not only how it fostered ecclesial renewal in other Christian traditions, but also offers a narrative of continuity with the history of Christianity. This catholic spirituality can be found in the way early Pentecostals fused together eschatological notions of the church as the bride with bridal mysticism to forge a theology of encounter that also offered an implicit renewal understanding of history. This fusion drew upon an eschatology of divine presence in which to encounter God was to live proleptically in the end. Restorationism, consequently, need not be tied to the narrative of discontinuity given in the latter rain, full gospel, and apostolic faith identity markers.

Pentecostal Visions of The End: Eschatology, Ecclesiology and the Fascination of the Left Behind Series

This article examines the Pentecostal reception of dispensational eschatology from the perspective of its connection to other Pentecostal theological concerns. Through an investigation of representatives from the Church of God and the Assemblies of God, it is argued (1) that early Pentecostals tended to use eschatology to articulate their own ecclesiology, and (2) that it is their ecclesiological concerns that separate Pentecostals from dispensational thought while simultaneously attracting them to it. Drawing on the Eastern Orthodox idea of sobornicity, a final section of the article is devoted to teasing out the theological concerns implicit to Pentecostal ecclesiology in order to promote further dialogue with Roman Catholicism.

By faith alone: Pentecostals, Wesley, and the reformation

ABSTRACT This article argues for a continuity between Pentecostals, Wesley, and Protestant Reformers on sola fide. The Protestant Reformers retained the idea from the Middle Ages that faith is an affective movement within the soul and that the formation of Christ within the soul is tantamount to the right ordering of the affections. The presence of Christ is the Spirit’s work of forming the affections so that they embody Christ’s own character and thus Christ himself. Drawing on Wesley’s ‘heart religion’ with its emphasis on the affections, a Pentecostal understanding of regeneration and the role of faith retains the focus on rightly ordered affections. This focus reveals both the continuity with Protestant Reformers and the centrality of affections in the spiritual life.

Toward a Pentecostal Theology of Black Consciousness

This article offers a historical argument that a cultural program existed among the Sanctified churches in the first half of the twentieth century. This cultural program cultivated a distinct form of black consciousness around three elements: 1) a rehabilitation of slave religion; 2) an embrace of Ethiopianism as a global vision of pan-Africanism; and 3) an effort at Black uplift through education. One can detect features of this consciousness among important figures like Charles H. Mason, Charles Price Jones, Blind Willie Johnson, and Mother Rosa Horn. With it’s distinctive fusion of Pentecostal ecstasy and Wesleyan holiness with the concerns of Sanctified churches, this cultural consciousness must be placed alongside other visions offered by persons such as W.E.B. Dubois as seeking to advance a theology addressing the concerns of the Black Church.