tld@ssc-vax.UUCP (Thomas L Davis) (03/26/84)
This is not a new book, but I just recently came accross is. I was a little surprised to see a book on this subject, written by an Episcopal preist, that did not contain any references to the books by Dennis Bennett. Then I looked at the copyright date - 1964. It does contain a new Introduction written in 1981 that brings the Renewal Movement up to date. The Introduction covers the time from 1964 to 1981 and tells of Fr. Kelsey's more recent experiences. He writes quite a bit about the Movement in thr Roman Catholic Church. He mentions a book by Pope John XXIII that called for spiritual renewal within the Catholic Church. He also writes about the Movement at the University of Notre Dame and in several Monostaries and about the Cardinal Suenens of Belgium who was named by Paul VI to supervise the renewal in the Church. He also makes specific mention of the German Lutheran and Presbyterian Churches. The Introduction ends with a section on "Tongues and the Gifts of the Spirit." The first chapter, "A Speaking Acquaintance with Tongues," is an overview of glossolalia. He writes about the Pentecostal and Charismatic experiences and the problems in the established Churches. He touches on the psychological aspects with mentions of Jung and Freud. There is an entire chapter on this aspect later. At the end of the chapter, he gives his own point of view and confesses that he does not speak in tongues (at least did not in 1964). I found no reference to this in the Introduction, so the assumption is that he still does not speak in tongues. He closes the chapter with some stories of college students learning about the gifts of the Spirit. Yale is mentioned (does this mean that perhaps Bill Buckeley speaks in tongues?). Chapter 2, "The Biblical Evidence," goes into the Scriptural foundations for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. There are sections on "Peter's Experiences," "Paul's View," and "Peter and John in Samaria." These will be familiar to readers of Acts and the Pauline Epistles. The third chapter, "A Peculiar History," goes into the history of the use of the Charismatic Gifts in the post-Apostolic age. This was one of the most interesting parts of the book for me. Most church history books do not say very much about this topic, at least not the ones I have read up until now. Fr. Kelsey makes frequent reference to two books, "The Ante-Nicene Fathers," and "The NIcene and Post-Nicene Fathers." I intend to look these up. I will only mention some the names (name dropper?): Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, St. Chrysostom, and St. Augustine. He also makes mention of the "Didache," "Shepard of Hermas," and "The First Letter of Clement," all from the second century. The excesses of the Montanist heresies had much to do with the dropping of tongues, and other gifts, in the Western Church. They continued to be present in the Eastern Church, however. The latter part of the third chapter starts getting close to our own times. Mention is made of (name dropping again): St. Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Luther, and Francis Bacon. The early Quakers, Irvingites, and Shakers get mentioned. Closer to home, the Mormons are brought in (commentary - when one says "tongues are of the devil," the Mormons certainly qualify.) Then he writes about the Bible College in Topeka and Charles Parham. This was the beginning of the Pentecostal renewal in the U.S. From Topeka, it spread to Texas and then to Asuza St. in Los Angeles. Kara Kala, in Armenia, and the Armenian Pentecostals, including Demos Shakarian, come in for their share of discussion also. Chapter 4, "The Pentecostal Churches," describes the founding and growth of the many Pentecostal Churches we have today; Assemblies of God, Holiness Movement, and even the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship. This last is not a church, but an organization of Christian businessmen, I am a member (engineers are businessmen?), whose goal is to spread the "Full Gospel" of Jesus. The fifth chapter, "Tongues in the Traditional Churches," is the other very interesting chapter (for me). Now we are really getting close to home! Finally, he starts talking about Dennis Bennett. (By the way, my copy has pages 90 and 98 interchanged. Pg. 98 is where he starts writing about Fr. Bennett's experiences in Van Nuys when he first received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.) Reports are given of the Movement in all the major churches (yes, even the Baptists have some Charismatics). He writes more about Yale and other colleges. I won't try to go into it all here, it is a long chapter and worth reading, worth the whole book. Chapter 6, "What Can This Mean?" is a summary, trying to put everything is perspective. While I agree with most of what is said, I also disagree. Since Fr. Kelsey is not a Charismatic, I think he misses of the benefits that are not immediately apparent. But mostly a quite good summary. Not the last chapter. Chapter 7, "Understanding Tongues," is where he lost me. Apparently, Fr. Kelsey is a psychologist (aren't all ministers?). This chapter talks a lot about Freud, Jung, and others. Interesting if you like that sort of thing. I don't, but you might. Check it out. Looonnnng chapter. Chapter 8, "An Evaluation of Tongues," is another summary chapter, better than 6. Perhaps ch. 6 is not intended to be a summary, but it struck me that way. Both the positive and negative aspects of speaking in tongues are described. One of the dangers that Fr. Bennett has always pointed out is to make sure that you are rid of any other spirits that might be around before you ask Jesus to baptize you in the Holy Spirit. Not doing this can lead to all sorts of problems. There is an appendix that gives scriptural references for non-human (spiritual) reality. There is also a very good biblio- graphy. All in all, I found this to be good book, worth while, and interesting. I can recommend it to anyone, Spirit-filled or not, who is interested in the foundations and history of the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements in the Christian Church. I will try to answer mail that is sent to me, but I encourage public discussions of these topics. [Flames -> /dev/null] Tom Davis !uw-beaver!ssc-vax!tld (uucp-net) 70110,555 (Compuserve)