COURSE DESCRIPTIONS - PENTECOSTAL STUDIES

PS 510 Origin and Development of Pentecostal/ Charismatic Movement

The course discusses the origin and development of the Pentecostal /Charismatic movement in West Africa as a new phenomenon of new religious movements. Reference will be made of similar developments in Europe and the Western world in general. Topics to be treated will include: the social background of the movement, historical antecedents, Pentecostal pioneers, the movement’s encounter with the primal religion, evangelistic strategy, relationship with mainline historical churches, networks and alliances, Western influences, the distinctiveness of Ghanaian Pentecostalism, relationship with world Pentecostalism, attitude to scholarship and literary development, liturgical development, influence of modernism and post-modernism.

PS 520 Pentecostal Theology

An in-depth study of Pentecostal–charismatic Theological self–understanding. These will cover areas like Pentecostal historiography, Pentecostal doctrine of Scripture, the Pentecostal hermeneutic, Holy Spirit baptism, Pentecostal Spirituality, Pentecostal anthropology, and soteriology and concept of deliverance, the parousia, antecedents of Pentecostal theology, Wesleyan influence, church and society.

PS 530 Missions in the Pentecostal/ Charismatic Context

This course assumes knowledge of the origin and development of Pentecostal charismatic movement. The Pentecostal/ charismatic concept of missions and national development, Missions and Contextualisation, the limits and the use of civil disobedience will be treated. The church, the kingdom of God, and secular society, the churches mission in the modern world; missions: past, present and future.

PS 540 The Charismatic Movement

This course will look at the origins and development of the charismatic movement with special reference to West Africa. Topics to be discussed will include the continuity and discontinuity between classic Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement; influences of Western Pentecostal-charismatic leaders on the charismatic movement in West Africa. Then influence of classic Pentecostalism on the charismatic movement in West Africa; the nature and influence of the Pentecostal and charismatic movement in the Diaspora. Liturgy, ethos, and polity of the movement; Western influences.

PS 550 Charismatic Theology Today

This course examines the origins and development of the charismatic theology in West Africa today. Topics will include the theology of wealth and poverty, the theology of anointing, the role of angelic beings in dispensing God’s salvation, the theology of deliverance in the context of evangelical doctrine of the efficacy of the finished work of Christ, the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer and the church today; inspiration and revelation; healing and exorcism, faith, prayer, the kingdom of God, the church’s mission and social responsibility; western influences on charismatic theology, continuity and discontinuity; the charismatic hermeneutic. The concept of leadership and power, the movement role in salvation history.

PS 560 The Holy Spirit in Luke-Acts

The course will critically examine those texts in Luke-Acts germane to the Pentecostal
doctrine of Spirit Baptism. Topics will include, biblical and theological foundations of the Pentecostal doctrine Spirit Baptism, the relationship of Spirit Baptism and conversion-initiation event experienced by believers today, analysis of contemporary Spirit manifestations, relationship between Holy Spirit possession and ancestral spirit possession.