However, that conversation resulted in Pentecostal scholarship being put on the map. The evangelical 'map', that is. Pentecostal scholarship existed before that day (for instance, the Society for Pentecostals Studies was formed ten years earlier). But, Fee was asking for a full place at the evangelical table. And Fee, and the cadre of Pentecostal scholars that has risen up behind him, have never looked back. 
When Fee approached Bruce, who was de facto dean of scholarly evangelicalism at that time, he asked if he might write a replacement volume for the commentary on I Corinthians in The New International Commentary on the New Testament series (Eerdmans).
Bruce, who was editor of the venerable series from 1962-1990, was agreeable to the request and Fee went on to produce a commentary seven years later that received wide acclaim. Virtually every serious bibliography for the literature of I Corinthians lists Fee's contribution. Some, like scholars Donald Carson, Bill Mounce, and the late Raymond Brown, list Fee's commentary as a preferred volume.
Fee's work was so impressive, in fact, that in 1990 he took Bruce's place as editor of the series, when the great scholar from the University of Manchester in England stepped aside.
Patrick Alexander, who is editor-in-chief of the Penn State University Press (and also a former student of Fee's), wrote this about his mentor:
"Fee's work as a scholar who happens to be Pentecostal --- and vice versa --- has not only opened the door for an entire generation of Pentecostal and charismatic scholars who want to take scholarship and their spirituality seriously. It has also opened the eyes of those not within a Pentecostal tradition to see that a faith that embraces the experiential dimension can also take seriously the role of scholarship." (in Bible Interpreters of the 20th Century, Baker Books)
It is still not commonplace for Pentecostals --- who were once thought to be simpleminded, if not demon-possessed --- to be asked to write commentaries in major series, but Craig Keener has been, as have others with Pentecostal sympathies, like: Peter Davids, Wayne Grudem, Ben Witherington, and Richard Hays. Still other commentaries have been written by Pentecostals in lesser series or as individual tomes (Larry Hurtado, Rikki Watts, French Arrington, and Rebecca Skaggs are in this category).
Fee's choice of I Corinthians was not random. He taught the book in college classrooms for over 15 years before writing the commentary. And, he had a personal, vested interest in Paul's letter to the very charismatic Corinthians.
"The commentary on I Corinthinians (1987) perhaps afforded him the most visible opportunity to speak as a scholar on issues germane to pneumatology (especially in his analysis of I Corinthians 12-14), but even here his primary concern was to produce a commentary on I Corinthians. His approach was first and foremost that of a New Testament scholar," Alexander wrote in Bible Interpreters.
That matter of being a scholar first and a Pentecostal second is no small matter to some.
"Scholars within Fee's tradition respect his work as a New Testament academic, and they welcome his voice as having secured Pentecostalism an entree to the guild. They seem frustrated, however, that Fee does not bear the banner of the Pentecostal intellectual tradition into the academy's camp," Alexander, Bible Interpreters.
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Fee has provoked even more pointed criticism from his own denomination, the Assemblies of God, by not adhering to its honored shibboleth, "The baptism of believers in the Holy Spirit is witnessed by the initial physical sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit of God gives them utterance." AG Statement of Fundamental Truths
Fee responds in chapter six of his book, How to Read the Bible for All its Worth, "There is no express teaching on such matters as ... which charismatic phenomenon is to be in evidence when one receives the Spirit ....". Fairness to Fee dictates that the entire chapter, Acts: The Question of Historical Precedent should be read. The book, co-authored with Douglas Stuart, is published by Zondervan.
Fee responds in chapter six of his book, How to Read the Bible for All its Worth, "There is no express teaching on such matters as ... which charismatic phenomenon is to be in evidence when one receives the Spirit ....". Fairness to Fee dictates that the entire chapter, Acts: The Question of Historical Precedent should be read. The book, co-authored with Douglas Stuart, is published by Zondervan.Fee, who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and is specifically an expert textual critic, had written other scholarly works --- including a commentary on the Pastoral Epistles --- before the volume on I Corinthians, and he has certainly written scholarly works since.
The 72-year-old, who has retired from teaching New Testament at Regent College in Vancouver, has written two magisterial works he will long be remembered for: God's Empowering Presence, a study of the Holy Spirit in the writings of Paul, and, Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study.
Both works bear the Gordon Fee imprint: spiritual and exegetical sensitivity, done with exacting care. That exacting care had Fee working "at the writing task on the average of twelve hours a day, six days a week, for a period of fourteen months ...." when writing the commentary on First Corinthians. (Fee in I Corinthians, NICNT)
Does such scholarly devotion desiccate the spirit? Not in the case of Fee. To hear Fee preach or pray is to hear a Pentecostal preach or pray. He is unmistakably impassioned about the God of the bible. I heard him speak to a Full Gospel Businessman's convention not long after he wrote God's Empowering Presence. The research had left him in broken awe of the Holy Spirit. Tears coursed quietly down my cheeks as I listened to a man who had not only sat contemplatively in libraries, but in the presence of the Living God.
But, we are not left with just an intellectual pioneer among an experiential people, or, just a man who has been baptized into the Holy Spirit, with all the joy and glory that entails.
No, we also have a man that knows the scriptures beckon us to, what the theologians call, orthopraxy --- right living. The dedication to his family in his book, New Testament Exegesis, intimates that:
"To Maudine, Mark, Cherith, Craig, and Brian, who taught me that exegesis is not an end in itself, but must always be applied."
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