Towards a Decolonial Hermeneutic of Experience in African Pentecostal Christianity: A South African Perspective
Author(s): Mookgo S. Kgatle; Thabang R. Mofokeng
Published in: HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, Vol. 75, No. 4 (2019)
DOI: 10.4102/hts.v75i4.5473
Abstract
The authors ask what it is about the hermeneutic of experience that makes abusive prophetic practice possible in some neo-Pentecostal ministries. Rather than dismissing experience as a hermeneutical category, they trace the problem to fundamentalist-inspired exclusivism, judgementalism and pride, which fragment African Pentecostalism into rival camps. Recognising a shared spiritual heritage and a common scriptural tradition across African Indigenous Churches, neo-Pentecostalism and Mission Pentecostalism, they argue, is the condition for a decolonial hermeneutic capable of self-correction.
