Description:
Divino Compańero explores the necessary foundations for constructing a Hispanic Pentecostal Christology. Although traditionally Pentecostal Christologies have been anchored in a two-nature Chalcedonian model, Alfaro proposes that Spirit-Christology is a more suitable paradigm for a Hispanic Pentecostal Christology, provided it is grounded in the experience, faith, and worship of its community and oriented toward liberative praxis. After reviewing the christological reflection of early Pentecostals and the contemporary turn to Spirit-Christology, Alfaro lays out the main components needed to construct a christological model born out of the Hispanic Pentecostal reality, rooted in the broader Pentecostal christological imagination, and informed by the Pentecostal way of doing theology. Following this method, Alfaro concludes the central metaphor of Hispanic Pentecostal Christology is El Divino Compańero, for in their pilgrimage through this world it is Jesus, the Divine Companion, who through the Spirit guides and nurtures his followers on their way back home.
Endorsements:
""Pentecostals have led the way in awareness of the Spirit in Christian experience and ministry, but in the past have relied heavily on the early church two-natures approach to the divinity and humanity of Christ. Sammy G. Alfaro shows how Spirit Christology, which stresses the role of the Spirit in the life and ministry of Jesus, is well suited to the Pentecostal tradition, not only for contemporary Hispanic Christology, but also for today's social and spiritual needs.""
--Colin Brown
Professor of Systematic Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary
""Here is another indication of the coming of age of constructive Pentecostal theology in general and Hispanic theology in particular. Dr. Alfaro, fully conversant with two cultures that have shaped the global Pentecostal movement, namely American and Hispanic, offers here a groundbreaking study on the Pentecostal Spirit-Christology in an active dialogue with mainstream views. His careful and insightful analysis and assessment of the state of Spirit-Christology in contemporary theology alone would make this book an important contribution. Dr. Alfaro's constructive proposal as to what a contemporary Hispanic Pentecostal Spirit-Christology would look like will take the continuing theological reflection on the mutual relationship between Spirit and Christ into a higher level and calls for responses and engagement.""
--Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen
Professor of Systematic Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary
Docent of Ecumenics, University of Helsinki, Finland
About the Contributor(s):
Sammy Alfaro is Assistant Professor of Christian Studies at Grand Canyon University (Phoenix, AZ). Together with his wife, Miriam, they are planting Iglesia Nuevo Día--a Hispanic bilingual church in Phoenix, AZ. They have two kids, David and Marissa, and live in Tolleson, AZ.
