Page 177 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 3

The Book

James K. A. Smith:
Thinking in Tongues.
Pentecostal Contributions
to Christian Philosophy

2010. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Erdmans

155 pages
Review by Agnes May

Pentecostal Contributions to Christian Philosophy? adopted from continental discourse, we might describe
Speaking in tongues and thinking systematically? “Thin- this as a fundamental openness to ‘alterity’ or otherness.
king in Tongues“ seems to be a contradiction and, at the More traditionally, we might simply describe it as an
same time, arouses our curiosity. openness to continuing (and sometimes surprising) ope-
rations of the spirit in church and world, particularly the
James K. Smith, associate professor of philosophy at Cal- continued ministry of the Holy Spirit, including continu-
vin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and executive di- ing revelation, prophesy and the centrality of charismatic
rector of the Society of Christian Philosophers, is used to gifting in the ecclesial community.
being met with surprise and bewilderment when people
get to know him as both a philosopher and a practicing (2) An „enchanted“ theology of creation and culture that
Pentecostal. For: What hath Athens to do with Azusa perceives the material Creation as „charged“ with the
Street? (Introduction, p. xi) presence of the Holy Spirit, but also with other spirits
(including demons and „principalities and powers“),
He himself felt encouraged by Alvin Plantinga’s „Advice with entailed expectations regarding both miracles and
to Christian Philosophers“, that Christians should exer- spiritual warfare.
cise „Christian courage“ and „display more faith, more
trust in the Lord“ in their devel-opment of an „integral“ (3) A non-dualistic affirmation of embodiment and mate-
Christian philosophy“ (p. 2). riality expressed in an emphasis on physical healing (and
perhaps also in gospels of “prosperity”).
In this book he wants to present an “unapologetic articu-
lation of the elements of a distinctly Pente-costal philoso- (4) Because of an emphasis on the role of experience, and
phy” (p. xiii), which you cannot get out of textbooks and in contrast to rationalistic evangelical theology, Pentecos-
doctrines, but which are to be found within the practice tal theology is rooted in an affective, narrative epistemo-
of the Pentecostal Churches and their spirituality. This logy.
Pentecostal philoso-phy can open new perspectives to
understand the world, for all of us, Christians and non- (5) An eschatological orientation to mission and to justice,
Christians. both expressed in terms of empowerment, with a certain
„preferential option for the marginalized“.
Smith identifies five key aspects of a Pentecostal world-
view (p. 12, 17-47): How can these Pentecostal key aspects widen our under-
standing of reality, besides taking them just as one speci-
(1) A position of radical openness to God, and in parti- fic denominational approach?
cular, God doing something differently or new. In terms

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