First of all, a Theology of the Third Article in the Latino/a context
points to the necessity of transformation. In speaking of approaches to
Scripture, Samuel Solivan remarks the following of Latino/a Pentecostals:
Unlike fundamentalists, who posit a doctrine of biblical inerrancy and infal-
libility, Hispanic Pentecostals regard the authority of Scripture not as a theo-
logical proposition but rather as a transformational experience of the Holy
Spirit. It is the transformative experience of conversion, that inner work of
the Holy Spirit in one’s life, that bears witness to the power and authority
of Scriptures. 17This work of transformation, however, does not just take place in relation
to the Scriptures, nor is it at work simply in an individual’s life, for Solivan
goes on to immediately add that this understanding must be coupled with
the Latino/a experience, which is one of marginalization. When speak-
ing of the presence and work of the Spirit to transform a marginalized
people, one cannot help but emphasize the themes of capacitation and
empowerment. Solivan continues: “The Holy Spirit is seen as given to
the community of the disregarded and the dispossessed for the purpose
of equipping them for the task of being signs of the reign of God in the
world.” 18 This work of the Spirit to transform and equip suggests that the
Spirit is not simply restoring the individual (which Solivan notes would be
the inclination of US culture); more signifi cantly, this work of restoration
has missional, communal, and interrelational dynamics: A marginalized
people can be equipped by the Spirit to be a living sign of the kingdom in
the midst of a broken world.
Therefore, a Theology of the Third Article must involve a transforma-
tional dynamic. The presence and work of the Spirit within contexts of bro-
kenness and marginalization will inevitably shape a theological imaginary.
When one thinks of any number of biblical tropes—be they “walking in the
Spirit,” being “baptized in the Spirit,” the “kingdom of God,” the “gos-
pel,” and so on—the textual presentation of Scripture is not enough. The
tropes need “relational substance”; they need to be witnessed and under-
stood in terms of embodiment and performance so that they can mean
something powerfully in the lives of believers. Contexts of marginaliza-
tion are especially conducive of these prospects since the need, the blatant
injustices, and the brokenness and pain constituting these domains cannot
be simply glossed over, ignored, or explained away if one is in their midst.
A Theology of the Third Article stresses like few other starting points the
206 D. CASTELO