What is Pentecostal Identity?
Maybe there’s no Important Apostolic writing because we don’t have a well-defined identity. Many writing subcultures present distinct commonalities; for instance, Southern writing often features quirky characters, homespun sayings, racial tensions, and sweltering settings. Maybe our subculture isn’t potent enough to lend itself to a particular style of writing because we are chiefly Americans (largely indistinguishable from mass culture) with potent doctrinal truths. Is doctrine, its resulting standards, and large social events all that makes us “us”? (Am I overlooking some important distinctives?) Many would see these three distinctives as an overabundance of fodder for some smart fiction (Jane Austen anyone?) or strong cultural analysis. Somehow the Catholics have spawned superior authors (Flannery O’Conner, Graham Greene, Walker Percy) and cultural analysts (starting with their two most recent popes), so it’s not like an Apostolic outlook is a preposterous proposition. Maybe we are
