| Summary: | The core of this research is the articulation of an ecclesiological proposal from Puerto Rican women perspective. The Ariadne's thread of this dissertation is the Pentecostal women challenging and revisiting, again and again, the so called "Pentecostal gender paradox," until gender justice is achieved. Pentecostalism as a Christian movement has not attempted to develop a theology of the church. However from that does not follow the absence of such doctrine. Pentecostals conceive the church as a community gifted by the Spirit to proclaim God's good news in Jesus Christ, to the whole world. In spite of the fact that, quantitatively speaking, women represent the vast majority of the Pentecostal membership, women have been systemically excluded from the decision making process of defining the very nature of the church. Therefore, the kairos has come to stop invisibilizing and silencing women's voice, and instead of that, to start thinking and walking, hand in hand, men and women, en conjunto (in togetherness), in order to built a democratic church. By reclaiming the ecumenical Nicene Creed and particularly its traditional "Marks of the church": One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, alternative visions of being church will become apparent. In doing that, the dialogue has been broadened to include female interlocutors who talk the talk in the academia and walk the walk in the congregations. This study proposes that the gifts of the Spirit are signs of the church as well. The concept of the notes of the church is not a common one among the Pentecostal tradition; nevertheless this notion is a very useful theological key from which we can depart in order to articulate an ecclesiology that pretends to be ecumenical. In addition, the gifts of the Spirit alongside with the marks of the church will enrich the different denominations within Christianity. Methodologically, this research approaches the topic of "Notes towards a Puerto Rican Pentecostal Ecclesiology" from the theological and ethnographical angles. It highlights the contributions of Caribbean Pentecostal women and at the same time invites to the discussion table Hispanic and non Hispanic feminists who have already made relevant contributions to the doctrine of ecclesiology. As a result of this dialogue with several partners, notes towards a Puerto Rican Pentecostal ecclesiology have been ventured. The study concludes asserting that there is continuity with the affirmation that the gifts of the Spirit are marks of the church as the traditional notae. Such declaration is based on the truth that both approaches are oriented to praxis of love to our neighbor and consequently, the result will be a more inclusive, ecumenical, ecological, contextual, healing, and liberating community, which is in the last analysis, a definition of what a community of the Spirit stands for.
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