Transformation Theology and Pentecostalism

In this article, in dialogue with Pentecostal theologians, I argue that our contemporary science allows us to return to a transformational account of the embodied self and the material world, with implications in particular for both Christology and pneumatology and their relation. On the basis of a reading of Acts 2.32-36, in which Christ in heaven 'pours forth' the Holy Spirit upon the first Church, I argue that the reality of the living Christ for us is itself the work of the Holy Spirit and itself communicates the work of the Spirit. This suggests the possibility of a Trinitarian koinonia which points to the unity of the Spirit-filled doxology and devotion of the worshipping Church on the one hand, and to the active life of discipleship through our acts of following Christ on the other.