Pentecostalism as a Christian Mystical Tradition by Daniel Castelo (review)
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Pentecostalism has become one of the fastest-growing religious expressions in the world. It is fair to say that Pentecostalism is coming of age. But as psychologists – and sociologists of religion – will remind us: "coming of age" is not always a simple process. Indeed, it is often accompanied by an identity-crisis in which people (or movements) re-synthesize kinship associations, personal experience, and more in order to re-establish a sense of "who I am." Daniel Castelo's Pentecostalism as a Christian Mystical Tradition offers us a window into the lively discussion surrounding Pentecostal identity. Yet, looking through this window we find ourselves examining not only Pentecostal parochial drama, but also a living case study of some perennial questions of Christian spirituality: the development of spiritual movements into schools or institutions of spirituality, the nature of mysticism, and the relationship of spiritual experience and theological method.
Castelo, himself raised as a Mexican-American Pentecostal/evangélico, considers this volume a "working proposal" (178), hoping to take the discussion a step forward. As I read this book I find Castelo advancing the conversation by re-examining three questions, questions that are not entirely new to the Pentecostal identity crisis, yet are brought together in a fresh synthesis: (1) Is there a better way of doing theology as Pentecostals? (2) Are we Pentecostals just evangelicals with some added features? And (3) What might happen if we introduce the term "mysticism" into the mix?
While the table of contents—and some of Castelo's own statements—might lead one to think that these questions are addressed in distinct chapters, I found them woven throughout the fabric of the book. His opening chapter, for example, is titled "The Challenge of Method," and it does address the question of theological method. Yet, from the start of this chapter Castelo chooses to highlight the approach to Pentecostal theology that "views Pentecostalism as a spirituality" (1). He draws here especially from the work of Steven J. Land, whose Pentecostal Spirituality integrates Land's own mentor Don Saliers's insights into an affectively-sensitive account of Pentecostal practice and experience.
The problem then becomes how to reconcile this affectively-rich Pentecostal spirituality with what Castelo perceives to be an overly rational evangelicalism, and perhaps an overly rational modern Western approach to doing theology in general. Castelo suggests that, as with his proposal for Pentecostal ethics developed in his Revisioning Pentecostal Ethics—The Epicletic Community, the theological [End Page 161] enterprise itself is best considered as a practice undertaken less from a procedure of rational analysis and more from a "'waiting' on the Spirit in an 'epicletic' ('calling upon') manner" (21). From this kind of perspective, the field of systematic theology itself expands as "Pentecostalism itself starts to appear more like a mystical tradition and less like a movement that can be conveniently circumscribed by any systematic theology" (32).
Thus, whereas Steven Land explored Pentecostal spirituality, Castelo, in chapter two, takes the further step of exploring Pentecostalism specifically as a mystical tradition. He ponders the appropriateness of introducing the term "mysticism" into the way Pentecostalism is perceived, drawing from the work of Harvey Cox and Rudolf Otto. He suggests that the mystical knowledge of God is a knowledge of interpersonal encounter rather than one of rational investigation. Castelo argues for the development of a theology that gives room for contemplation and mystery, offering Boethius and Anselm as historical examples of a more integrative approach. He closes the chapter by identifying three central themes of Pentecostal life—sanctification, maturation, transformation—with the threefold schema of purgation, illumination, and union common to mystical treatises.
Having edged both Pentecostal identity and theological method closer to mysticism in chapter two, Castelo moves to distance Pentecostal identity and method from American evangelicalism in the third chapter. He identifies evangelicalism with a distinctly un-Pentecostal scholasticizing tendency. He then recounts the Protestant and evangelical heritage lying behind Pentecostalism's own history, revealing the complexity of Pentecostal hermeneutics...
