Rather Spirit-filled than learned! Pentecostalism's tradition of anti-intellectualism and Pentecostal theological scholarship

Verbum et Ecclesia

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Rather Spirit-filled than learned! Pentecostalism's tradition of anti-intellectualism and Pentecostal theological scholarship
 
Creator Nel, Marius
 
Subject Church history Anti-intellectualism, Pentecostalism, scholarship, theological training
Description The beginnings and first half-century of South African Pentecostalism are characterised by a tradition of anti-intellectualism consisting of a rejection of theological training, a critical and negative attitude towards theologians, and criticism of the academic world in general. This led to Pentecostals being seen as outsiders without a theological tradition or any contribution to be made to the theological world, or even any interest in developing and formulating a theological structure that can compare or contrast with other theological structures. The historical phenomenon of anti-intellectualism is described in terms of its complicated motivation and nature before the rise of Pentecostal theological scholarship is investigated in terms of its historical development and nature. The article closes with some remarks about the future of Pentecostal theological scholarship.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article reflects a historical survey of attitudes within the South African Pentecostal churches towards academic endeavours and theological reflection, showing how it changed from anti-intellectualism toward a more positive attitude with certain reservations and allowing for the development of Pentecostal scholarship. For historical reasons South African tertiary education has been closed for Pentecostal scholarship, although the situation will be changing in the near future because of the Pentecostal influence.Keywords: Anti-intellectualism; Pentecostalism; scholarship; theological training
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2016-05-25
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/octet-stream text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ve.v37i1.1533
 
Source Verbum et Ecclesia; Vol 37, No 1 (2016); 9 pages 2074-7705 1609-9982
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/1533/2797 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/1533/2798 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/1533/2799 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/1533/2736
 
Coverage South Africa Twentieth century —
Rights Copyright (c) 2016 Marius Nel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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