STUDYING PENTECOSTAL EXPERIENCES OF THE SPIRIT: TOWARDS A PHENOMENOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK

Abstract

Pentecostal identity has long been shaped by experiences understood as encounters with the Holy Spirit, yet these experiences are often examined within separate fields such as spirituality, hermeneutics, practical theology, ritual studies and empirical research. This article brings these dispersed insights into conversation with philosophical and methodological phenomenology to propose an integrated Pentecostal phenomenological framework. The article takes a conceptual and interdisciplinary theological approach, drawing selected works in Pentecostal theology, phenomenology, practical theology, hermeneutics and qualitative research into conversation.

      The framework examines Pentecostal experience through six interconnected dimensions: lived and embodied experience; relational and ecclesial mediation; interpretation and narration; time, space and transformation; ambiguity, suffering and discernment; and global and contextual Pentecostalisms. It considers how experiences attributed to the Spirit are bodily lived, communally mediated, interpreted, remembered and shaped by ecclesial and cultural contexts. Particular attention is given to suffering, spiritual authority and experiences that do not conform to dominant testimony patterns. Phenomenology can clarify how such experiences appear, acquire meaning and influence subsequent life, but it cannot independently establish divine causation. The framework keeps participant experience, communal interpretation and theological assessment distinct without separating them from one another. It is offered as an adaptable orientation for empirical enquiry rather than a fixed procedure. Its significance for Pentecostal scholarship lies in bringing dispersed fields into a coherent methodological conversation that remains attentive to context, ethical responsibility and pastoral reality across diverse settings.