an “affective, narrative knowledge” that is an alternative to propositional
knowledge. It is a knowledge of the heart that “understands” the world
outside of logical deduction, which points to the re-valuing of the body
and counteracts the Cartesian view of the body as merely an unfortunate
storage house. 25
Pentecostal identity is formed by one’s encounter with God, refortifi ed
and engrained through testimony and worship. The narratives of one’s
encounter with God act as “hermeneutic fi lters,” shaping one’s under-
standing of the world. 26 Thus, Smith claims that “the truth is the story;
the narrative is the knowledge.” 27 Because the affections are the primary
instruments of understanding, affective knowledge runs deeper than
theoretical conceptualization. Moreover, one’s participation in and nar-
ration of forms of life register in one’s being in subtle, but formative ways
because they shape character, habits, and personality. However, like RO,
this epistemology requires an ontology that not only affi rms embodiment,
but opens the space for transcendence to be recognized in the immanent.
Akin to RO’s participatory ontology, in which the transcendent always
inheres in the immanent, Pentecostals believe in the ubiquitous availabil-
ity or immediacy of God with whom they participate intimately through
the Spirit. 28 Pentecostals view God’s activity in the world as immediate
and continual, not interruptions of creation. 29 Creation is always charged
with the Spirit. For Smith, a Pentecostal ontology is always en-graced,
always en-spirited, by the Spirit whose visible manifestation is an intense
participation rather than an intervention. 30 While most Pentecostals speak
in interventionist terms, Smith contends that such language is opposed to
the lived experiences of Pentecostals that regard the Spirit as a natural part
of everyday life. 31
Smith’s constructions of a Pentecostal epistemology and ontology in
conversation with RO clarify the counter-modern nature of Pentecostalism.
The themes of affectivity and participation cannot but affi rm the goodness
of embodiment. 32 This re-valuing of the body points to a wider mode of
knowledge that includes, but also goes beyond, theoretical conceptual-
ization and an openness to the work of the Spirit through bodily means
in affective, narrative ways. Accordingly, the implications for Pentecostal
worship are the twin challenges of introducing more affective and embod-
ied modes of worship that are consistent with Pentecostal spirituality and
illuminating the affective potentiality of the current forms of worship. In
the next two sections, I will argue that creation’s participation in God
leads to its sacramental nature that can open Pentecostalism to sacramen-
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