© The Author(s) 2016 159
K.J. Archer, L.W. Oliverio, Jr. (eds.), Constructive
Pneumatological Hermeneutics in Pentecostal Christianity,
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-58561-5_10
CHAPTER 10
Pentecostal Hermeneutics: A Wesleyan
Perspective
Joel B. Green
J. B. Green ( )
Fuller Theological Seminary , Pasadena , CA , USA
How might a biblical scholar formed within the Wesleyan tradition interact
with Pentecostal hermeneutics? Given Pentecostalism’s Wesleyan roots,
we should not be surprised if, when it comes to their respective theological
hermeneutics of reading Christian Scripture, these two traditions share a
close family resemblance. 1 This is true with respect to both the tempta-
tions they face and the practices they want to affi rm. As a Wesleyan, then,
I write from the perspective of a friendly outsider, and from this location I
will argue that Pentecostal hermeneutics is best understood within a larger
movement concerned with theological interpretation of Scripture, that
Christians in the Pentecostal tradition who want to engage theologically
with Scripture would be wise to resist the ever-present temptation to burn
incense at the altar of “modern” approaches to biblical texts, and that, at
their best, Pentecostal hermeneuts identify both how they are infl uenced
and how they ought to be infl uenced in their reading of Scripture by their
particular theological tradition and ecclesial experiences. My critical com-
ments will center on three areas of concern that derive from my location
as a Wesleyan and that are, in fact, intertwined: (1) what role to give the
church’s tradition in our interpretive work, (2) the signifi cance of forma-
