Prospects for Pentecostal Philosophy

Abstract

Abstract In this essay, I offer a constructive vision for the future of pentecostal philosophy. Specifically, I first offer a series of sociocultural challenges that pentecostal philosophy faces. Then I offer a short timeline of philosophical engagement from pentecostal thinkers over the past several decades. In order to open a more productive space for pentecostal philosophy moving forward, I argue that pentecostal philosophy needs to rethink its ties to Plantinga-type confessional Christian philosophy. In this way, pentecostal philosophy should not be reducible to a kind of pentecostal theology. Drawing on Sarah Coakley’s appropriation of feminism for philosophy of religion, I suggest that pentecostal philosophy can facilitate a way of responding appropriately to two audiences (theological and philosophical) without simply circumscribing one into the other. I conclude by contending that pentecostal philosophy should be affectively engaging, argumentatively rigorous, and existentially relevant.