Description
This paper aims to explore aspects of Pentecostal-Charismatic experience by means of the discipline of practical theology. Practical theology is well placed to make a contribution to the conference theme because of its engagement with religious experiences and activities as part of its focus on contemporary enquiry. Whatever resources are used from Scripture, church history and Christian tradition, the discipline of practical theology has an orientation to the ‘now’ of ecclesial life that means it is attentive to the role of experience in Christian life and thought.1 The Pentecostal perspective will be brought to bear on this theme by considering the theology of ‘Baptism in the Spirit’ as mediated through an experiential account. Before I proceed it is necessary to define the key terms of ‘experience’ and ‘Baptism in the Spirit’. ‘Experience’ is a slippery term and however it is defined its use appears to be varied and sometimes inconsistent. The origin of the English word derives from the Latin ‘experientia’, often interpreted as ‘that which arises from travelling through life (experientia)’. 2 It is therefore assumed to refer to the accumulation of wisdom or knowledge that occurs as one proceeds through the life cycle. Yet, in contrast to this definition a more specific one has developed in which it is associated with the inner life of individuals, that may be shared as part of a group, but which is nevertheless inward and subject. This definition is the one used by the philosopher Caroline Franks Davis when she writes: ‘An experience… is a roughly datable mental event which is undergone by a subject and of which the subject is to some extent aware’.3 This means that accumulated life experience is excluded (hence ‘roughly datable’). However, this does not mean that experiences are always isolated or that they always have sharply defined boundaries. On the contrary, Franks Davis maintains that experiences ‘do not take place in a vacuum, but are the product of interaction with other experiences, beliefs, the environment, and the subject’s “set”’.4 For the purposes of this paper, I shall use this definition as my working definition. ‘Baptism in the Spirit’ (hereafter B/S) is the Pentecostal doctrine that emerged from the Wesleyan and Holiness traditions emphasising a post-conversion crisis experience of being overwhelmed by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit as a means of empowerment for Christian life and witness. In its earliest days it belonged to a threestage schema of conversion, sanctification and B/S, but subsequently there emerged a two-stage approach with the loss of sanctification as a distinct post-conversion
experience.5 The two or three stage schema continues to exist side by side in the USA to this day, but in the UK, the three-stage scheme was never dominant and the twostage scheme prevailed. In most Pentecostal denominations this crisis experience was symbolised or evidenced by ‘speaking with other tongues’ (glossolalia), although differences of emphasis can be found from the earliest days as to whether it should be regarded as the only sign, the main sign or one among a number of possible signs. Early Charismatic Renewalists from the 1960s adopted the Pentecostal doctrine of subsequence and the evidential sign of tongues (and were dubbed ‘Neo- Pentecostals’), but this eventually gave way in the 1970s as Charismatic Renewal was further integrated into mainstream denominations. In the 1980s with the influence of John Wimber and the Vineyard movement the connection seems to have been lost entirely.6 In what follows I intend to explore a personal account of B/S and to suggest ways in which this account might be analysed and rescripted in the light of theological reflection.
"Attending to Experience in Pentecostal-Charismatic Theology: Disciplined Attentiveness, Evaluation and Practical-Theological Construction"
This paper aims to explore aspects of Pentecostal-Charismatic experience by means of the discipline of practical theology. Practical theology is well placed to make a contribution to the conference theme because of its engagement with religious experiences and activities as part of its focus on contemporary enquiry. Whatever resources are used from Scripture, church history and Christian tradition, the discipline of practical theology has an orientation to the ‘now’ of ecclesial life that means it is attentive to the role of experience in Christian life and thought.1 The Pentecostal perspective will be brought to bear on this theme by considering the theology of ‘Baptism in the Spirit’ as mediated through an experiential account. Before I proceed it is necessary to define the key terms of ‘experience’ and ‘Baptism in the Spirit’. ‘Experience’ is a slippery term and however it is defined its use appears to be varied and sometimes inconsistent. The origin of the English word derives from the Latin ‘experientia’, often interpreted as ‘that which arises from travelling through life (experientia)’. 2 It is therefore assumed to refer to the accumulation of wisdom or knowledge that occurs as one proceeds through the life cycle. Yet, in contrast to this definition a more specific one has developed in which it is associated with the inner life of individuals, that may be shared as part of a group, but which is nevertheless inward and subject. This definition is the one used by the philosopher Caroline Franks Davis when she writes: ‘An experience… is a roughly datable mental event which is undergone by a subject and of which the subject is to some extent aware’.3 This means that accumulated life experience is excluded (hence ‘roughly datable’). However, this does not mean that experiences are always isolated or that they always have sharply defined boundaries. On the contrary, Franks Davis maintains that experiences ‘do not take place in a vacuum, but are the product of interaction with other experiences, beliefs, the environment, and the subject’s “set”’.4 For the purposes of this paper, I shall use this definition as my working definition. ‘Baptism in the Spirit’ (hereafter B/S) is the Pentecostal doctrine that emerged from the Wesleyan and Holiness traditions emphasising a post-conversion crisis experience of being overwhelmed by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit as a means of empowerment for Christian life and witness. In its earliest days it belonged to a threestage schema of conversion, sanctification and B/S, but subsequently there emerged a two-stage approach with the loss of sanctification as a distinct post-conversion
experience.5 The two or three stage schema continues to exist side by side in the USA to this day, but in the UK, the three-stage scheme was never dominant and the twostage scheme prevailed. In most Pentecostal denominations this crisis experience was symbolised or evidenced by ‘speaking with other tongues’ (glossolalia), although differences of emphasis can be found from the earliest days as to whether it should be regarded as the only sign, the main sign or one among a number of possible signs. Early Charismatic Renewalists from the 1960s adopted the Pentecostal doctrine of subsequence and the evidential sign of tongues (and were dubbed ‘Neo- Pentecostals’), but this eventually gave way in the 1970s as Charismatic Renewal was further integrated into mainstream denominations. In the 1980s with the influence of John Wimber and the Vineyard movement the connection seems to have been lost entirely.6 In what follows I intend to explore a personal account of B/S and to suggest ways in which this account might be analysed and rescripted in the light of theological reflection.
