I'd received the emails and seen the flyers posted in the elevators of Robertson Hall where I teach plumping us about something called "Converge21" coming to Regent's campus. Turns out that Converge21 was a pretty big deal. It was a joint meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies and something called Empowered 21. Lots of academic sessions were scheduled in Robertson Hall during the University's Spring Break. I decided to drop in on the session "Theology and Justice" session Saturday afternoon. Not quite what I expected (the speakers talked about ethics, not justice) but some interesting stuff.
By interesting I mean panentheistic-sounding remarks on the topic of "Pneumatological Eco-Theology" and questions about Jesus' sexual orientation within comments on "Addressing Human Sexuality." I must admit I didn't hang around for "Can Queer People Find Affirmation in Pentecostalism?"
Marlon Millner's presentation on "Synergies Between African-American Apostolic Pentecostal and Black/Womanist Theological Views of the Triune God" stood out. Millner preached his paper. He started with a zinger about the blogged-to-death appearance of T.J. Jakes on the Elephant Room: "You know the Elephant Room? Where white megachurch pastors hang out and pretend to let us have a look behind the scenes?" Millner's thesis actually had less to do with Jakes's view of the Trinity than with the value/need/supremacy(?) of a ground-up theology instead of "White" top down/abstract theologizing. Very (white) Evangelical, in a way, although Evangelicals don't follow their experiential focus to its end.
Wherever one comes out on the virtues of the Chalcedonian formulation of the Trinity (which I accept wholeheartedly), it's important to know that there is a growing theological sophistication among those who find it unhelpful it in favor of "Jesus-ology." And it's also important to know that scholars like Millner identify the difference in approaches to "doing" theology as the reason for the difference in results. Privileging experience over abstraction and liberation over "decently and in good order" makes all the difference. Very historically Pentecostal but not necessarily what's happening in academic Pentecostal circles.
I have no reason to project my very limited experience on the conference as a whole. In fact, looking at the program I find much that in retrospect looks much better than that in which I happened to land. Even so, every now and then it's good to get a jolt to one's theological doldrums.
By interesting I mean panentheistic-sounding remarks on the topic of "Pneumatological Eco-Theology" and questions about Jesus' sexual orientation within comments on "Addressing Human Sexuality." I must admit I didn't hang around for "Can Queer People Find Affirmation in Pentecostalism?"
Marlon Millner's presentation on "Synergies Between African-American Apostolic Pentecostal and Black/Womanist Theological Views of the Triune God" stood out. Millner preached his paper. He started with a zinger about the blogged-to-death appearance of T.J. Jakes on the Elephant Room: "You know the Elephant Room? Where white megachurch pastors hang out and pretend to let us have a look behind the scenes?" Millner's thesis actually had less to do with Jakes's view of the Trinity than with the value/need/supremacy(?) of a ground-up theology instead of "White" top down/abstract theologizing. Very (white) Evangelical, in a way, although Evangelicals don't follow their experiential focus to its end.
Wherever one comes out on the virtues of the Chalcedonian formulation of the Trinity (which I accept wholeheartedly), it's important to know that there is a growing theological sophistication among those who find it unhelpful it in favor of "Jesus-ology." And it's also important to know that scholars like Millner identify the difference in approaches to "doing" theology as the reason for the difference in results. Privileging experience over abstraction and liberation over "decently and in good order" makes all the difference. Very historically Pentecostal but not necessarily what's happening in academic Pentecostal circles.
I have no reason to project my very limited experience on the conference as a whole. In fact, looking at the program I find much that in retrospect looks much better than that in which I happened to land. Even so, every now and then it's good to get a jolt to one's theological doldrums.
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