Dr Wolfgang Vondey: The Church as Scandal of Salvation

Описание: This recording is an academic presentation from the Europe-Asia Pentecostal Summit 2025, held in Singapore at City Harvest Church.

++++++++

Scholar:
Dr Wolfgang Vondey (Professor of Christian Theology & Pentecostal Studies, University of Birmingham)

Paper Title:
The Church as the Scandal of Salvation: Pentecost and the Continuity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Paper Précis:
This presentation raises the question of the continuity of the Church with the life of Jesus, that is, what the Scriptures call the scandal of Christ. The use of the term “scandal” is derived from the Greek skandalon as used in the New Testament. In its ancient usage, the root of the term identifies the “means whereby one closes something” and refers to the mechanism sealing a trap to which the bait is mounted. The trigger is the stick or the stone preventing the trap from closing, but once removed, along with the bait, the victim is caught and unable to escape. A typical use of this image in the New Testament is to translate skandalon as “stumbling block,” a metaphor which is applied repeatedly to Jesus and to the gospel. The story of Jesus exhibits a striking pattern of division, culminating in the public scandal of his criminal trial and crucifixion. In turn, this scandal that forms the core of the Christian gospel is itself portrayed as a “stumbling block” to Jesus’ followers, Jews and Gentiles alike. However, very few studies have examined the meaning of this scandal, identified how it works or explored its consequences for the life of the Christian community today. This presentation examines how exactly the scandal of Christ continues to function in the life of the apostolic community and, by extension, in the Church today. It proceeds in four steps: (1) an explanation of the scandal found in the gospel of Christ, (2) the identification of the mechanism of the scandal, (3) an exposition of how this mechanism continues in the church at Pentecost, and (4) a discussion of the way the Church today can endorse this scandal and how this task reflects the challenges the churches face in today’s world.

++++++++

The Global Pentecostal Voices (GPV) movement was created to bring scholarly focus on issues that are critical to sustaining the Pentecostal vibrancy of Majority World Christianity, bridging the divide between academia and ministry, and creating a symphony of wisdom, knowledge, and action.

For more information about GPV and its events, please visit https://www.GPVoices.org/.

©️ City Harvest Church 2025. All Rights Reserved.