Join C. Michael Patton, Tim Kimberley, Sam Storms and J.J. Seid as they discuss issues surrounding spiritual gifts.
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Join C. Michael Patton, Tim Kimberley, Sam Storms and J.J. Seid as they discuss issues surrounding spiritual gifts.
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2 replies to "Theology Unplugged: Why I Am/Not A Charismatic, Part 16"
For evidence of the charismata throughout church history, see Dr. Stanley Burgess’ “Christian Peoples of the Spirit: A Documentary History of Pentecostal Spirituality from the Early Church to the Present”
http://www.amazon.com/Christian-Peoples-Spirit-Documentary-Spirituality/dp/0814799981/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321074110&sr=8-1
I was a bit surprised at this TUP. Throughout the other TUP broadcasts I kept hearing Tim mention church history and his desire to look at that issue. When the time finally came I was underwhelmed. A few items:
1. Irenaeus was not a cessationist. See Ronald Kydd’s “Charismatic Gifts in the Early Church” (Hendrickson, 1984) pp. 42-46.
2. I wonder about the disjunction between recognizing the supernatural in church history but not seeing a gift seeking church like the “third wave.” At least you’re not the kind of cessationist that thinks the miraculous has been done away with completely. But isn’t it a bit anachronistic to create a standard drawn from the 20 century and then apply it to the rest of church history?
3. You need to reckon with Sam’s point toward the end of the program that there are factors in the ebb and flow of church history that potentially affect the frequency of the charismata being manifested and understood. Sam mentioned the rise of the monarchical bishopric and it focus on the primacy of ministry in the hierarchy. There was also the lack of the written word for a 1000 years for many average saints. There are other elements that could be mentioned as well.
4. There are possibly examples of the Spirit’s gifts being manifested to some degree but the phenomena is placed within a cessationist framework so there is no degree of seeking. I think this explains Spurgeon’s experiences. The experience of his receiving non-discursive knowledge while preaching was a reality but he did not have a proper theological framework to seek it. Presuppositional realities constrain the interpretation of the phenomena but God was working nonetheless.