Book Review Of Warrington, Pentecostal Theology

Book Review Keith Warrington, Pentecostal Theology: A Theology of Encounter, London: T&T Clark, 2008. Paperback; 336 pages. ISBN-10: 0-567-04452-1. Reviewed by Don McLellan.1 Keith Warrington manages to make Pentecostal theology look rather like a large packet of M&Ms: lots of different colours but all the same basic shape and all tasting pretty similar. In two early chapters he attempts to define Pentecostalism itself and to come up with the essence of Pentecostal theology, but it is hard to be convinced that they are that simple. Indeed, the pages that follow demonstrate their complexity in spite of Warrington’s attempts to homogenise them. The strength of this book lies in the fact that Warrington does thorough and detailed research into Pentecostal theology, both academic and lay. His book is a compendium of Pentecostal views on most but not all subsets of systematic theology, with particular attention paid to those for which Pentecostalism is famous (e.g. healing, exorcism, the Holy Spirit and his gifts) and with nearly one third of its pages on how Pentecostals understand God. We may thereby observe the incredible and sometimes rather disconcerting diversity of thought within the movement, while picking out some of its consistent emphases and affirmations and noting the maturation of thought therein. This is the book’s major contribution, which is why it may be a worthwhile addition to the libraries of pastors and theological institutions. But its strength is also its weakness. Warrington does not engage in critical analysis of most of the points of view he canvasses. Indeed, some heterodoxies such as the Oneness Pentecostal view of God are reported quite uncritically. There are places within this work where he makes some useful proposals of his own, but they do not appear to be located in anything but the broadest systematic scheme, they are asserted rather than argued, and there is little attempt to join them into a coherent whole. Mostly we are left either with outlines of ideas that Warrington has observed, or proposals concerning what Pentecostals believe based on his attempt to produce a consensus from the literature. The weaknesses of some areas of Pentecostal theology are also highlighted, though probably unintentionally. For example, only now are Pentecostal theologians beginning to give serious consideration to ecclesiology. Warrington notes, again uncritically, that many of the myriad systems of governance within Pentecostal denominations have developed for pragmatic reasons (p. 136). Efforts to develop ecclesiologies by the likes of 1

Don McLellan is Campus Director of the Brisbane campus of Harvest Bible College, Australia. He holds the degrees MA (Studies in Theology) and PhD (Studies in Religion) from the University of Queensland, Australia.

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Frank Macchia, Veli-Matti Kärkäinen, Augustus Cerillo Jr et al remain embryonic by any measure. Warrington’s reports on these merely highlight how far they have still to go. Warrington’s praxis arises from the presupposition that the God-encounter is the root stock of Pentecostal theology, hence the book’s subtitle and the direction it takes. The assertion that “Pentecostals believe that the main purpose of the Bible is to help them develop their experience of and relationship with God…” (p. 188) typifies Warrington’s outlook. However this immediately raises the question of where authority really lies. Is it in the God-encounter, or is it in the Bible? Or if it is in both, which of them takes precedence? Or if one does not take precedence over the other, why is it that, historically, they have so often been in conflict? Warrington does not provide clear answers to these questions, and the reader may be left with the impression that the subjective experience of a God-encounter is all it takes to get the right answers out of the Bible. To this reviewer, Warrington’s attempt to ground theology on a platform as nebulous as subjective experience makes the whole work less than convincing. However, this is probably the point of greatest weakness in most Pentecostal theologies. Subjective experience, being by definition individualistic, and even when considered in the light of the Bible, is unlikely ever to provide a sound platform for systematic theology. In summary, Warrington has provided a compendium of Pentecostal thought to which he makes his own moderate contribution. The book is useful for gaining an appreciation of the core of Pentecostal theology as well as for seeing its vast array of peripheral stuff, and the bibliography is extensive and valuable. However in all but a few instances Warrington has not argued the Pentecostal view, let alone his own point of view, so that we mostly have a rather unsatisfying theology by assertion. Merely reporting the consensus of Pentecostal thinking rather than engaging in critical discussion does not satisfy the need for a thorough-going Pentecostal apologia. Pentecostal Theology is worth reading for its outlines of Pentecostal viewpoints and the development of recent Pentecostal thought, but if readers are looking for a true systematic theology, they will not find it here.

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