The Pentecostal Educator, an Interview with Rick Wadholm
Rick Wadholm Jr. speaks with PneumaReview.com about a new online academic journal, The Pentecostal Educator.
PneumaReview.com: Introduce us to The Pentecostal Educator and tell us what you want the journal to accomplish.
Rick Wadholm Jr.: The Pentecostal Educator is an e-journal biannually publishing scholarly and practical articles related to theological education within the Pentecostal tradition to encourage the continuing maturation of Pentecostal theological education. It is intentionally practical, applied and international. The journal is intended to provide materials related to worldwide Pentecostal theological education like: institutional case studies, critical engagement with current newsworthy events, educational trends and trajectories, pedagogical analysis, and book reviews.
PneumaReview.com: How did the journal come into being? Who had the vision for this new publication and how did it progress from a vision to reality?
RW: The journal is the result of Paul Alexander being elected as chairperson of The World Alliance for Pentecostal Theological Education in the fall of 2013 at the consultation in Kuala Lumpur. It was his desire to see an e-journal provided with open access to resource Pentecostal theological educators globally where often minimal resources are available of this kind. Through his vision for this, he asked me to serve as the Executive Editor (with himself as Senior Editor) and begin pulling together a team (Justin Evans as Book Review Editor; Roland Dudley as Editorial Advisor; and Derek Simonsen initially, with Robert Wadholm currently, as Technical Services). We solicited a number of articles for our first issue to offer an inaugural issue (Fall 2014) on “The Future of Pentecostal Theological Education”.
PneumaReview.com: Are there any denominations or institutions directly involved with the journal? Who is contributing to the journal and who you would like to see writing for it in the future?
RW: The journal is under the umbrella of The World Alliance for Pentecostal Theological Education (WAPTE) which is a global cooperative fellowship of Pentecostal/Charismatic theological associations, denominational offices and missions agencies affiliated with a member body of the Pentecostal World Fellowship (PWF) that provide educational services to theological and/or ministry training schools. It exists to assist and encourage these organizations in their endeavor to promote the development of Pentecostal theological education and leadership training. WAPTE is affiliated with the Pentecostal World Fellowship and its member bodies.
As far as contributors, when I solicited writers we received submissions from William Kay, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, and Byron Klaus. There are several other well-known Pentecostal scholars I have spoken with who will be contributing to future issues. However, we would welcome submissions from anyone writing a quality article pertaining to issues of Pentecostal theological education. We would be especially welcoming of those writing from the majority world context. Academic credentials are not included in the articles nor considered for submissions. Quality research and writing on issues of Pentecostal theological education are the only issues under consideration.
PneumaReview.com: In what ways will The Pentecostal Educator make a unique contribution to Pentecostal scholarship?
RW: There are a number of very fine Pentecostal/charismatic theological journals (by subscription and open-access) currently available, but this e-journal is the only one focused specifically on Pentecostal theological education and educators. It is hoped it will continue to offer critiques and ideas to strengthen such education and educators globally as an open-access resource. As such, it is our intention to see contributors and readers from the majority world that might actually benefit most from such a journal.
PneumaReview.com: How do you subscribe?
RW: If anyone would like to subscribe, currently the way to do that is to either become a member of the World Alliance for Pentecostal Theological Education (we do have individual members as well as institutional) or subscribe to the RSS feed for the journal using a news feed program. We will be adding an email subscription in the near future.
PneumaReview.com: What should a writer do to submit articles to the journal?
RW: We have a submission guidelines sheet found on our website here: http://wapte.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Information-Sheet-for-Writers.pdf Submissions should not typically exceed 5,000 words in length, including footnotes, abstract, and bibliography (though longer submissions may be considered). Please include brief biographical sketch, a 100-300 word abstract, 3-4 keywords, and a bibliography. All submissions are currently submitted by emailing them to me at rwadholm@trinitybiblecollege.edu though we will be implementing a submission form and link to manage submissions beginning sometime within this next year.
Also, if there is interest in doing book reviews for the journal our book review editor Justin Evans receives those requests. We have the ability with some of our publishers to provide books for review in the majority world. Our book review guidelines for submission may also be found at the website: http://wapte.org/news/the-pentecostal-educator/
