Contact: Robert Graves, The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship, 678-778-5556

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., March 8, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship (TFFPS) has conferred its 2012 awards for excellence in Pentecostal scholarship. TFFPS president, Robert Graves, announced the awards during the 2012 Conference of the Society for Pentecostal Studies convening at Regent University, March 1-3. One book award and three article awards were conferred.

This year's book award went to Craig S. Keener for his book MIRACLES: THE CREDIBILITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT ACCOUNTS (2 vols.), published by Baker Academic Press (Grand Rapids, Mich.). He is also the author of the forthcoming four-volume commentary set on the Acts of the Apostles -- Acts: An Exegetical Commentary (Baker). Keener has authored 15 books and over 170 articles for journals and religious/general interest publications. Keener is a Professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He is an alumnus of Central Bible College (BA), the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (MDiv) and Duke University (PhD).

Three Awards of Excellence for short works were conferred this year to the following scholars: Scott A. Ellington for his essay "'Can I Get a Witness': The Myth of Pentecostal Orality and the Process of Traditioning in the Psalms" and Robin Routledge for his essay "'My spirit' in Genesis 6.1-4," both of which appeared in the Journal of Pentecostal Theology, and R. Keith Whitt's "Righteousness and Characteristics of Yahweh," which appeared in the Journal of Biblical and Pneumatological Research.

Other titles considered for the book award were William P. Atkinson's Baptism in the Holy Spirit (Wipf & Stock), Mark Cartledge's Testimony in the Spirit (Ashgate), Jon Ruthven's On the Cessation of the Charismata (Word & Spirit), Gary Tyra's The Holy Spirit in Mission (IVP Academic), Nimi Wariboko's The Pentecostal Principle (Eerdmans), Amos Yong's Who Is the Holy Spirit? (Paraclete), and Amos Yong's The Spirit of Creation (Eerdmans).

TFFPS invites all scholars and publishers to bring books and published or read papers by Pentecostal/Charismatic scholars to its attention for consideration of the Foundation's annual Awards of Excellence.

TFFPS was formed in 2005 with the goal of advancing doctoral and post-doctoral biblical scholarship by sponsoring research and publishing projects within the global Pentecostal-Charismatic family. TFFPS is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. More information about the Foundation and its projects is available at its Web site: www.tffps.org.