Renewal Theology and the ‘Common Good’

Abstract

This study investigates how an account informed by sources from the Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal tradition is able to address the domain of public theology and in particular the concept of ‘common good’. It uses the key Renewal topic of the charismata (spiritual gifts) as expressed by Paul in 1 Cor. 12.8–10 and reflects theologically on how these gifts may be used and expressed by the church for the benefit of wider society and the ‘common good’. It argues that because the mission of the church is for the benefit of the world there is an inevitable ‘spillover’ in the use of the charismata that is rooted in the concept of redemption. By means of these gifts the church both blesses society and resists evil. This argument is given a broader framework by being placed in relation to the concepts of creation, church and the kingdom of God.