Presenter Information

Stephen Parker

Description

Pentecostals have long been identified by their emphasis on an experience of the Holy Spirit, an experience generally accompanied by speaking in tongues as an expression of the Spirit’s indwelling presence. The work or ministry of the indwelling Spirit was defined as one of “power” (for witness or service) by Pentecostals and summarized as “life-giving” by the early Creeds. Early psychological reflection on Pentecostal experience was not especially complimentary (cf. Kildahl, 1972) and followed a trend in psychology to denigrate religious experience (cf. Freud, 1927). More recent work (e.g., Jones, 1991) focusing on psychologically positive possibilities of religious experience deserves further exploration. This paper uses object relations psychology, particularly the work of Winnicott (1966, 1971), to reflect on ways of understanding the work of the Holy Spirit in Pentecostal experience. It especially explores the notion of Pentecostal experience as “transitional phenomena” (Winnicott, 1971); that is, as times and places in which the Pentecostal believer experiences new energies for witness and service. This attempt to reflect psychologically on the work of the Holy Spirit is not intended to reduce such experiences to natural phenomena; these reflections are offered simply as a heuristic lens.

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Jan 1st, 12:00 AM

"Pentecostal Experience: Object Relations and the Work of the Holy Spirit"

Pentecostals have long been identified by their emphasis on an experience of the Holy Spirit, an experience generally accompanied by speaking in tongues as an expression of the Spirit’s indwelling presence. The work or ministry of the indwelling Spirit was defined as one of “power” (for witness or service) by Pentecostals and summarized as “life-giving” by the early Creeds. Early psychological reflection on Pentecostal experience was not especially complimentary (cf. Kildahl, 1972) and followed a trend in psychology to denigrate religious experience (cf. Freud, 1927). More recent work (e.g., Jones, 1991) focusing on psychologically positive possibilities of religious experience deserves further exploration. This paper uses object relations psychology, particularly the work of Winnicott (1966, 1971), to reflect on ways of understanding the work of the Holy Spirit in Pentecostal experience. It especially explores the notion of Pentecostal experience as “transitional phenomena” (Winnicott, 1971); that is, as times and places in which the Pentecostal believer experiences new energies for witness and service. This attempt to reflect psychologically on the work of the Holy Spirit is not intended to reduce such experiences to natural phenomena; these reflections are offered simply as a heuristic lens.