Enaction theory and Pentecostal liturgy: advancing James K.A. Smith's embodied epistemology for Pentecostal scholarship

Abrego, Joshua ORCID: 0000-0002-4302-4948 (2024). Enaction theory and Pentecostal liturgy: advancing James K.A. Smith's embodied epistemology for Pentecostal scholarship. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

In recent times, Pentecostal theologians have recognized the tendency of Pentecostals to highlight both theoretical and affective dimensions of human nature. Central to Pentecostals’ theological framework is the belief that a personal encounter with God serves as an indispensable foundation of knowledge. Thus, there is a need for Pentecostals to develop a theoretical rationale that elucidates the meaning of experience with the Spirit and its impact on their lives. This thesis addresses this need by furthering dialogue concerning human experience within Pentecostal spirituality. Nevertheless, to be able to talk authoritatively about the Pentecostal experience, it is essential to ascertain the various degrees of meaning and conceptualization attributed to the term "experience" within the Pentecostal context. This thesis primarily engages the work of James K.A. Smith to develop a robust understanding of Pentecostal experience. While Smith has made significant theoretical contributions to the embodiment of Pentecostal experience and Christian spiritual formation, his work is primarily directed towards a broader Christian audience. Smith's interdisciplinary engagement with theology, philosophy, phenomenology, and cognitive science establishes valuable theoretical foundations that underscore the irreducible embodied nature of our being-in-the-world and the narrative structure of the mind. Smith proposes liturgy as a tool for "re-storying" Christian imagination by rehabilitating embodied perceptions of the world. Considering that Smith has not directed his scholarship to Pentecostal audiences alone, recent Pentecostal scholars Yoon Shin and Simo Frestadius have scrutinised whether Smith's work can be considered authentically Pentecostal. In this thesis, Smith's work is reimagined for Pentecostal scholarship in light of Shin and Frestadius’s critiques. Furthermore, Smith's theoretical foundation is expanded and revised by incorporating recent scholarship from Shaun Gallagher and Robyn Fivush on embodiment, enaction, social interaction, and narrative identity. The result is a more robust theoretical foundation that is directly applicable to Pentecostal concerns. The usefulness of this revised approach is demonstrated in two primary ways. First, areas within Smith's scholarship are reimagined to reveal how it could benefit from this thesis's revised approach. Second, this thesis applies its approach to the Pentecostal concept of testimony. It is argued that the Pentecostal concept of testimony is an autobiographical concept that correlates to what social psychologists refer to as the autobiographical self. Analysis is provided to illustrate how the Pentecostal community cultivates this religious autobiographical sense of self through various identity-forming narratives and liturgical practices.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):