The Jewish Centaur: Adventures in Pentecostal Spirituality

In this spiritual memoir Joshua Rice explores his Pentecostal history in search of a tangible theology to fall in love with. From the revivalist urges of the Deep South to mainline Protestant halls of learning this quest for God leads to and through personal stories of encounter of dissonance of doubt and of faith. Since the Azusa Street Revival launched the global Pentecostal movement a century ago the chase has been on to figure out what God is up to. The Jewish Centaur follows the trail seeking to discover. Expressing ones faith through storytelling has been as defining for Pentecostals and their century-old movement as speaking in tongues. Josh Rice is a bright young voice that now adds to this movement with his own memoirs filled with riveting sometimes hilarious and always profoundly probing memories of and reflections on his own Pentecostal odyssey. With the pen of a ready (and talented) writer Rice tells a story that pays honor to an oft-misunderstood heritage while speaking freshly and poignantly for a new generation. Get ready for a good read and an enchanting ride! --Rickie D. Moore Associate Dean of the School of Religion Professor of Old Testament Lee University Reminiscent of the sacred diarist Adrian Plass Josh Rices The Jewish Centaur is at one and the same time reverent and irreverent comforting and troubling humorous and sober impulsive and reflective. In this vibrant set of narratives Rice offers a discerning look at how one young New Testament scholar and pastor makes sense and argues in favor of a distinctively Pentecostal approach to faith and ministry. Rices work will no doubt serve as a model for others to reflect theologically about their own faith whether Pentecostal or not. --John Christopher Thomas Clarence J. Abbott Professor of Biblical Studies Pentecostal Theological Seminary; Director Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies School of Philosophy and Religion Bangor University Josh Rice has written the book on Pentecostalism Ive been waiting for all my life. On one hand The Jewish Centaur is a memoir baptized by the Holy Ghost with fire--in Pentecostal vernacular its a testimony. But its also the most truthful account of the movement in its native North American context written with all the love and angst becoming of one of its sons. Neither cynical nor sentimental this is the most robust attempt in print to capture Pentecostal spirituality in both its collective beauty and chaos. Alternately laugh-out-loud funny reverent and incisive the book lives at the same intersections Josh does: at the corner of head and heart church and academy elegant literature and unknown tongues. Like the best tent revival services I found myself moving casually between weeping cringing and worshiping. Unlike the worst of the tent revivals The Jewish Centaur goes through the spectacle into the spectacular. Taking us into a world full of signs and wonders its only appropriate that Rice has given us a book that is in and of itself a minor miracle. --Jonathan Martin author of How to Survive a Shipwreck and Prototype; Teaching Pastor Sanctuary Church Tulsa OK Joshua Rice is a Pentecostal minister ordained by the Church of God. In addition to serving congregations he is an adjunct professor of New Testament at Lee University and Pentecostal Theological Seminary Cleveland Tennessee. He is the author of Paul and Patronage: The Dynamics of Power in 1 Corinthians (Pickwick 2013).