What Spirit(s), Which Public(s)? The Pneumatologies of Global Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity

Modern Pentecostalism, named after the Day of Pentecost event in Acts 2, has come to be associated with a theology of the Spirit. Yet whether contemporary pentecostal theology has a coherent understanding of the Spirit, or whether the plurality of pentecostal and charismatic Christianities presume a diversity of pneumatologies instead, are open questions. This article suggests how the many tongues of the Spirit poured out on all flesh on the Day of Pentecost can be said to anticipate the multiplicity of theologies of the Spirit in the present global renewal landscape. Yet it is also precisely herein that historic and contemporary Pentecostalisms and their interfaces with the public square provide opportunities and present challenges for the ongoing discussion of the doctrine of the Spirit in particular and for the public theological task in general.