MODERN UKRAINIAN PENTECOSTAL THEOLOGY: FROM HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT TO CONTENT OF RESEARCHES

The article reflects the main historical stages of the formation of Ukrainian Pentecostal theology over the past thirty years: from the “birth” of the first church schools to the defense dissertations of doctoral level. Author has presented connection between post-soviet Pentecostal dogmatic system with evangelical traditional of dispensationalism and literal hermeneutic method in study of the Bible. Obviously, that Pentecostal Churches were strongly influenced through the Baptist Bible Courses in Moscow, because many Pentecostal leaders completed them. The author demonstrated the role of Bible Seminaries founded in independent Ukraine by western missioners of leading church`s unions, like the Assembly of God and the Church of God. The article identifies two models of the Pentecostal education (“church” and “academic” approaches) that address to the different needs of church society. “Church” type of theological education tries to teach important topics connected with applied questions of church ministry. However, this approach has a weak side hidden in methodology of research. As a result, not all research papers completed by graduates of the church-oriented school are interesting for Ukrainian scientific society. For control of quality in Ukrainian theological schools, EAAA was founded. Another direction of the development of the Ukrainian pentecostal theological model thinking is the “academic model” of theological education, that today develops in cooperation with state institutions. Through the analysis of the topics of defended dissertations, the author identifies key trends in the development of the Ukrainian Pentecostal movement. Among key topics, there is introspective research of the own roots, reasons of spreading alternative church movement in USSR, and its place on the World religious map. Like prognostic conclusion of all the text, the author identified several topics that may be interesting for Western academic partners, like “theology of Maidan”, “Church peaceful strategies for East of Ukraine” and “Ecological theology in light of Chernobyl’s tragedy”.

The King of Kings

Born in 1926 outside of San Antonio, Texas, to a migrant farmworker family, Reies López Tijerina’s earliest years were defined by severe poverty and intense religiosity. Nevertheless, starting as a boy, Tijerina saw himself as destined by God for greatness. After attending a Pentecostal Bible college, he spent five years as an Assembly of God minister before becoming an itinerant preacher. As a preacher, he crisscrossed the United States, including several trips through northern New Mexico, which introduced him to the sordid history of land dispossession in the region. His marriage to a fellow Bible school student, Mary Escobar, produced an ever-growing family that joined him in his constant travels and life of precarity. In 1954, a collection of his sermons condemned the United States and its citizens for licentiousness and greed.

MULHERES DA ASSEMBLEIA DE DEUS: MODELOS IDEAIS?

O presente artigo tem como objetivo traçar reflexões acerca da autorrepresentação feminina e os discursos normatizadores difundidos pela igreja Assembleia de Deus. Para tanto, serão trabalhadas duas entrevistas realizadas com mulheres assembleianas, frequentadoras da Assembleia de Deus – Missões, igreja situada na cidade de Juiz de Fora – Minas Gerais. O propósito é pensar a partir de conceitos fundamentais tanto em Pierre Bourdieu, quanto em Judith Butler, na expectativa de desvelar as continuidades e descontinuidades entre o discurso regulador oficial e a construção das identidades femininas – suas agências, concepções. WOMEN IN THE ASSEMBLY OF GOD: IDEAL MODELS? This paper aims to investigate the self- representation of women and normative discourses disseminated by the church named Assembly of God. Therefore two interviews conducted with women attending the Assembly of God - Missions, a church located in the city of Juiz de Fora - Minas Gerais, will be analyzed. The purpose is to reflect on Pierre Bourdieu and Judith Butler’s key concepts in order to reveal the continuities and discontinuities underlying the official regulatory discourse and the construction of female identities - their agencies and conceptions.

Numbers 20:14-21 as a Reply to Deuteronomy 23:4-9

The law of Deuteronomy 23:2-9 (MT), stipulating who is to be excluded from the Assembly of God, envisaged a need to explain its absolute exclusion of two foreign nations (the Ammonites and the Moabites), alongside its more lenient approach towards members of two other foreign nations (the Edomites and the Egyptians), as expressed in their temporal exclusion from the Assembly. The eternal exclusion of the Ammonites and the Moabites is justified by their historical, unfriendly treatment of Israel on its march from Egypt to the Promised Land. The immediate question, however, is whether the other two nations mentioned in this law treated Israel any better, prior to that march and during its course. Indeed, answering this question in the negative appears to be the goal of another Pentateuchal text, Numbers 20:14-21. Underlying the criticism of Deuteronomy 23:4-9 in Numbers 20:14-21 is the Priestly-Deuteronomic fundamental controversy over the meaning of the covenant of circumcision.

A Atuação da Igreja Evangélica Assembleia de Deus em Minaçu no Quilombo do Riachão

Ao falar sobre a presença da Igreja Assembleia de Deus na comunidade quilombola Riachão buscou-se apresentar alguns aspectos históricos desta instituição. A análise da religiosidade dessa comunidade e o processo de conversão do catolicismo popular à nova fé pentecostal foi discutida numa perspectiva de identidade como um processo de tradução cultural. A pesquisa limitou-se em abordar os fatores religiosos externos e como eles são assimilados pelas pessoas convertidas, com especial atenção ás vozes, expressões e sensação de pertença desse povo, tanto na nova religião como na comunidade em que vivem. The Actitities of the Evangelical Church Assembly of God in Minaçu in the Kilombo of Riachão Speaking about the presence of the Assembly of God Church in the Riachão quilombola community, we sought to present some historical aspects of this institution. The analysis of the religiosity of this community and the process of conversion of popular catholicism to the new pentecostal faith was discussed in an identity perspective as a process of cultural translation. Research has been limited to addressing external religious factors and how they are assimilated by converted people, with special attention to the voices, expressions and sense of belonging of these people, both in the new religion and in the community in which they live.

Pastores Assembleianos na Universidade: A Polissemia Assembleiana da Terceira Geração Pastoral

Resumo: Em termos quantitativos, a população universitária e a membresia das Assembleias de Deus são parecidas. Em 1991, os universitários eram 3.928.260 e os assembleianos 2.439.770. Em 2010, o número de universitários subiu para 12.679.010 e o de assembleianos para 12.314.410. Cresceu o numero de universitários e também o de assembleianos, inclusive de assembleianos universitários e de pastores. Quem são esses pastores assembleianos com nível superior e o que eles pensam? Foram enviados mais de mil emails para pessoas que integravam listagens de convenções, ministérios e igrejas, e também para amigos indicados por essas pessoas. Preenchidos e devolvidos, somaram 84 questionários. A primeira parte eram questões pessoais: residência, idade, sexo, estado civil, escolaridade, profissão e ministério, conversão. Além dessas questões, a pesquisa se dividiu em blocos: questões doutrinárias, institucionais, políticas e sociais. O caleidoscópio absolutamente multifacetado e plural mostra a cara dessa denominação que tem um nome único, Assembleias de Deus, mas essa pluralidade não está apenas no nome, mas também em sua natureza. Atualmente, são mais de 12 milhões de assembleianos (dados do Censo 2010), conquanto seja impossível quantificar o número de pastores/as. Desde a década de 1950, a Assembleia de Deus é a maior denominação pentecostal do país, embora diferentes entre si, distintas e, quase sempre, divergentes. Nasceram em 1911 já plurais, mas a terceira geração de pastores assembleianos leva isso ao extremo. Esse novo estamento assembleiano – pastores com curso universitário e/ou pós-graduação – é uma nova liderança: quais condutas, tendências doutrinárias e políticas é o que se pretende entender nesta pesquisa. Palavras-chave: Universitários. Pastores Assembleianos. Identidade. Bricolagem Religiosa. Assembleias de Deus. Abstract: In quantitative terms, university student population and the membership of the Assemblies of God are alike in Brazil. There were 3,928,260 university students in 1991 and 2,439,770 members in the Assemblies of God. In 2010, the number of students had risen to 12,679,010 students and to12,314,410 for members of the Assemblies of God. Both the number of university students and Assembly of God members have increased, including university students who are members or pastors from the Assemblies of God. Who are these university graduate Assembly of God pastors and what do they think? Over a thousand emails were sent to people from listings of conventions, ministries and churches, and also to friends indicated by those people; and 84 questionnaires were filled and returned. The first part of the questionnaire dealt with personal information questions: residence, age, sex, marital status, education, occupation, ministry, and conversion. Besides that, the research was divided into blocks: doctrinal, institutional, political and social issues. The multifaceted and plural kaleidoscope shows the face of this denomination that has a unique name, Assemblies of God, but this plurality isn’t only in its name, but also in its nature. There are currently more than 12 million members in the Assemblies of God (2010 Census), and it is impossible to quantify the number of ministers both male and female. Since the 1950s the Assemblies of God has accounted for the largest Pentecostal denomination in the country; and its associated churches are diverse, different, and often divergent. They were born plural in 1911, but the third generation of the Assembly pastors has taken it to the extreme. This new Assembly of God estate (ou “stratum”) makes up a new leadership. This research intends to understand the conduct, doctrinal and political trends of the current Assembly of God leadership. Keywords: University Students. Assembly of God Pastors. Identity. Religious Bricolage. Assemblies of God.

Two American Churches: Partisanship without Politics

This chapter illustrates how “political” talk was considered unspiritual and inappropriate in the American congregations of Northtown Baptist and Lifeway Assembly of God. But even though both churches avoided politics, they enforced an informal understanding that good Christians voted Republican. The chapter describes how religion and partisanship became fused, as members mapped their subcultural identity and drew on narratives of religious nationalism. Political influence did not work through explicit persuasion or deliberation, but rather through implicit cues about what political affiliations were for “people like us.” These political cues were so powerful precisely because they were distanced from the dirty business of politics; instead, they were woven into the fabric of everyday religious life.

Two Canadian Churches: Civil Religion in Exile

This chapter compares two American churches—Northtown Baptist and Lifeway Assembly of God—with two similar congregations just across the border in Canada: Highpoint Baptist and Grace Assembly of God. Both Canadian churches constructed their subcultural identity in ways that sounded similar to the two American churches. Like their American counterparts, Canadian evangelicals identified themselves as defenders of their nation's embattled Christian heritage and emphasized shared moral stances on abortion and sexuality. However, Canadian evangelicals used Christian nationalism in more broadly civic and nonpartisan ways: to draw strong subcultural boundaries, but also to express solidarity with Canadians across cultural, religious, and partisan divides. Because Canadian evangelicals drew on different narratives of Christian nationalism, they also talked differently about poverty and the welfare state in church contexts.