Pentecostal Aesthetics : Theological Reflections in a Pentecostal Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics.

236 Pages·2015·3.34 MB·English

by  Felix

Pentecostal Aesthetics
Global Pentecostal and
Charismatic Studies
Edited by
Andrew Davies
William Kay
Editorial Board
Kimberley Alexander (Pentecostal Theological Seminary)
Allan Anderson (University of Birmingham)
Mark Cartledge (Regent University)
Jacqueline Grey (Alphacrucis College, Sydney)
Byron D Klaus (Assemblies of God Theological Seminary,
Springfield, mo)
Wonsuk Ma (Oxford Centre for Mission Studies)
Jean-Daniel Pluss (European Pentecostal/Charismatic
Research Association)
Cecil M Robeck, Jr (Fuller Theological Seminary)
Calvin Smith (King’s Evangelical Divinity School)
VOLUME 16
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/gpcs
Pentecostal Aesthetics
Theological Reflections in a Pentecostal Philosophy of
Art and Aesthetics
By
Steven Félix-Jäger
With a Foreword by
Amos Yong
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: Steven Félix-Jäger, detail of The Myth of Worship, 2014, oil on canvases, triptych,
60.96 × 111 cm. Permission for reproduction granted by the artist.
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issn 1876-2247
isbn 978-90-04-28563-7 (paperback)
isbn 978-90-04-29162-1 (e-book)
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Contents
Foreword vii
Acknowledgements x
List of Figures xi
Introduction 1
Part 1
Logoi: The History and Definition of Art and Aesthetics
1 The Broader Context 13
2 An Ontological Foundation 47
Part 2
Doxa: The Nature of Art
3 Inspired by the Spirit 79
4 Universal Beauty 107
5 Aesthetics of Hope 127
Part 3
Praxis: The Purpose of Art 
6 Art and Creation as Play 149
7 Serious Art 170
8 Church Art 183
Conclusion 207
Bibliography 209
Index 222

Foreword
If Pentecostalism formally entered the theological academy in the work of
Donald Dayton, Steven Land, Frank Macchia, and Simon Chan, then the work
of Steven Félix-Jäger (and his colleagues) signals the emergence of a second
generation of pentecostal theologians that promise to both stretch the pente-
costal theological imagination on the one hand but yet also register significant
shifts in the broader theological conversation and landscape on the other
hand. The reasons for my optimism regarding the potency of this new group of
pentecostal theologizing derive from the following features of the book you
hold in your hands.
First, younger pentecostal theologians like Félix-Jäger are breaking fresh
ground in new theological territory. Pentecostal Aesthetics heralds the van-
guard of where pentecostal theology is headed: in the direction of important
topics to contemporary life that had previously lacked serious pentecostal con-
sideration. To be sure, Félix-Jäger is not naively suggesting that there is art or
aesthetics that is pentecostal, as if there were also something akin to a pente-
costal physics or a pentecostal mathematics—there surely is not! Yet, and this
is precisely the provocation of this book, why aren’t there more artists who
paint, draw, create, etc., precisely out of their pentecostal identity, and how
might artists who are pentecostals be inspired to consider and live into such
possibilities? In effect, then, Pentecostal Aesthetics is not only an apologia for
pentecostal artistic creativity but even sets forth the plausibility conditions for
such an undertaking. Proposals such as these are essential not only for con-
temporary art but for articulating a coherent pentecostal identity in an other-
wise unstable and identity-conflicted postmodern age. Put alternatively, if part
of the reason there are few pentecostal artists is that even those who might be
are unsure about the pentecostal aspect of their own self-understanding, then
Steven Félix-Jäger helps us understand what it means to be both pentecostal
and aesthetically active and visionary in the present time.
Second, then, efforts such as the one attempted in this book cannot be sec-
tarian undertakings that speak only the shibboleths of the in-group. Communal
identities in the present zeitgeist cannot find traction if shielded from wider
currents. Pentecostal Aesthetics not only confronts but also superbly and
sophisticatedly navigates both developments in the field of aesthetics and its
wider philosophical domains. If in previous generations, pentecostal thinkers
have been slowly testing the waters of the broader theological academy, these
putatively neo-pentecostal theologians are also philosophically astute, realiz-
ing that the robustness of pentecostal theology cannot be fully unfolded apart
viii Foreword
from diving into the deeper waters of philosophy and related arenas. Félix-
Jäger boldly but yet expertly navigates epistemological and ontological under-
currents, charting a relativistic theory of aesthetics that nevertheless is capable
of engaging with the kind of multicultural and diverse realities that constitute
not only global Pentecostalism but also the emerging character of the world
Christian movement. With this, pentecostal aesthetics is more truly located in
the public sphere, thus certainly open to criticisms along multiple fronts, but
simultaneously also translating pentecostal tongues into other languages and
thereby bearing pentecostal witness among others otherwise out of ear-shot of
the many wonders of God.
Yet, and this thirdly, characteristic of this emerging generation of scholars is
their “practical” orientation. By this I mean not that they are not theoretically
informed and conceptually grounded and engaged, but that these more abstract
modalities of thinking are not disconnected from the embodied and performa-
tive praxis that constitutes the human experience. Thus Félix-Jäger is himself a
practicing artist and this work informs his theoretical and theological work,
even as these cognitive undertakings return to enrich his artistic scholarship.
Beyond practicing what he preaches as an aesthetician, Félix-Jäger’s Pentecostal
Aesthetics theorizes the artistic enterprise by asking practical questions about
the church and its mission. In other words, he recognizes that thinking pente-
costally, and Christianly, about art involves thinking also ecclesiologically and
missionally about aesthetics and its implications for Christian life. What thus
emerges is what might be called an aesthetic soteriology that opens up the
redemptive and eschatological potential of the arts. In short, Pentecostal
Aesthetics displays the power of the Spirit to work through the arts in order to
awaken disoriented hearts in a fallen world to the saving grace of God.
In the end, then, what we have in this volume is a foundational work in con-
structive pentecostal theology. Whatever apologetic polemics there might be
will have to be discerned from between the lines (they are there indeed!) since
Félix-Jäger’s goal is not first and foremost to formulate an oppositional pente-
costal position on aesthetics but to set forth a broad and generous aesthetic
posture that enables Pentecostals to inhabit the artistic world as an expression
of life in the Spirit in faithfulness to the God of Jesus Christ. Herein, then, is
a book that connects the dots between multiple and heretofore disparate
discourses—theology, philosophy, pentecostal studies, and aesthetics, to name
just a few—in order to provide a bolder and more expansive vision of what it
means to be pentecostal, Christian, and artistic in the twenty-first century. In
the process, Félix-Jäger invites us to revision afresh how followers of Jesus
Christ can be also homo faber (humanity as creative creature) in the today’s
postmodern situation.
Foreword ix
This is invigorating pentecostal theologizing that has the capacity to renew
the increasingly pentecostalizing and charismatizing world Christianity of the
present time. That is why I said Pentecostal Aesthetics is exemplary of how the
second generation of pentecostal theologians will build on the work of their
predecessors and forge new possibilities not just for pentecostal theology but
for the Christian theological enterprise in the twenty-first century. Take up,
read, and may the Spirit of beauty inspire your own theological imagination.
Amos Yong
Professor of Theology and Mission
Fuller Theological Seminary
Acknowledgements
This book is a modified version of my doctoral dissertation that was success-
fully defended in 2013 in Wrexham, Wales at Glyndŵr University. This book
comprises parts of previously published articles. Chapter 3 was adapted from
“Inspiration and Discernment in Pentecostal Aesthetics,” Journal of Pentecostal
Theology, Vol. 23 (2014), 85–104. Parts of Chapter 4 were previously published as
“Universal Beauty: The Nature of Beauty and the Christian Response,” Irish
Theological Quarterly, Vol. 79 (2014), 350–365, and an abbreviated version of
Chapter 6 was published as “Art and Creation as Play,” Journal of the European
Pentecostal Theological Association, Vol. 33, No. 1 (2013), 77–90.
It is a great pleasure to thank everyone who helped me successfully write
this book. I would first like to thank Professor William K. Kay and Dr. Peter
Althouse. Along with being my doctoral supervisors, they have been godly
mentors to me and have truly shown me what it is to be a scholar who is first
and foremost a disciple of Christ. I would also like to thank the editors at Brill,
especially Andrew Davies, Els Meijer, and Mirjam Elbers.
I am obliged to many friends and scholars who have read portions of the
book and given me constructive feedback and advice. I am especially grateful
for Gesa Thiessen, Deniz Baker, Sara Harding, Patrick Sherry, Susan Liggett, and
Jessica Felix who helped proofread, edit, and challenge me on my findings.
While I am grateful for all the help I received during the duration of my studies,
I am ultimately responsible for the contents of this book, including any mis-
takes. I would like to thank the contributions from artists and scholars that
have strengthened this work, particularly Amos Yong, Jerome Witkin, Makoto
Fujimura, Mary McCleary, Marco Hernandez, Bill Catling, Jeremy Begbie, and
William Dyrness.
I’m also indebted to the support and prayers of my family and friends,
especially my father, Wilfredo Felix. I would like to thank my wife Connie Felix.
She married me despite knowing I would spend our first years together
absorbed in my studies. She supported me, encouraged me, and slowed me
down when I needed a break. Most importantly, I would like to thank God who
is always the subject of my studies. I dedicate this book to the three most
important women of my life: Gudrun Anita Felix, Connie Torres Felix, and Mila
Adele Felix.