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Discerning the Charismatic Renewal
By Vinson Synan

"DISCERNING of Spirits" is one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit listed by the Apostle Paul in I Cor. 12:8 - 10. Although less spectacular than speaking in tongues and healing, this "discerning gift" has been exercised through the centuries by ecclesiastical authorities in judging various renewal movements that have periodically arisen in the church. In the operation of this gift, John said, "Try the spirits whether they are of God..." (I John 4: 1), to which Paul added, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good"(I Thess. 5:21).

For over twenty years, the churches of the world have been confronted with the specter of Pentecostalism, which in recent years has entered the traditional churches under the name of" charismatic renewal". Almost reluctantly, mainline churches have been forced to come to grips with the phenomenon of this vigorous and growing movement with adherents in practically all denominations in every nation of the world. The record of this monumental task of discernment has been compiled and edited in Kilian McDonnell's comprehensive collection of documents, entitled Presence, Power, Praise: Documents on the Charismatic Renewal (Collegeville, Minnesota; Liturgical Press, 1980, 3 vols., $95.00).

I

McDonnell is uniquely qualified to accomplish this task. A monk of St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, he serves as a professor of theology in the graduate school of St. John's University as well as the founder and president of the "Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research", located at St. John's. From this base, McDonnell has been a participant in Roman Catholic dialogues with Presbyterians, Methodists, and Southern Baptists. His greatest ecumenical involvement, however, has been with the Pentecostals and charismatics. For almost ten years, he has chaired the Catholic delegation to the International

Vinson Synan is Assistant General Superintendent of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, Department of Evangelism, Oklahoma City. He has had a wide career of teaching, writing, and church administration. A doctoral graduate of the University of Georgia and a professor of history at Southwestern College of Christian Ministries, Dr. Synan has participated in ecumenical discussions with Lutherans and Catholics. He is here reviewing the major three - volume work by Kilian McDonnell, Presence, Power, Praise: Documents on the Charismatic Renewal (1980)

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Pentecostal - Vatican dialogue, and has served as a theological consultant to the Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.

Since 1970, McDonnell has contributed more to the creation of a charismatic theology for the traditional churches than any other single person. In particular, his adaptation of James G. D. Dunn's insights on Pentecostal experience has been foundational to the development of a charismatic theology in the Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Presbyterian traditions. Many of the Roman Catholic documents, including the Malines Documents, were largely written by McDonnell. In reading Presence, Power, Praise, one should remember that McDonnell is not only an editor and compiler, but a major theological influence in the development of many of the documents themselves, particularly those appearing after 1970.

II

The documents cover the two decades from 1960 to 1980. What they do not attempt to reveal, however, are the six decades of reaction to the Pentecostal movement from 1901 to 1960. The early attempts of the churches to evaluate the Pentecostal movement were abrupt and decisive. The older holiness churches and fundamentalists, who were competing in the same religious market, dismissed the early Pentecostals as being mentally unstable, in heresy, or possessed by demons. In time, these criticisms softened as the Pentecostals rose on the social and economic scale.

This early discernment process included lurid and critical articles in the religious and secular press, actual physical attacks and persecution, extremely negative theological criticism by the holiness and fundamentalist churches, and severe psychological and sociological indictments from social scientists. For their part, the mainline churches took little or no notice of the movement.

It was only after 1960 that these churches were forced to take recognizance of Pentecostalism and then only after large numbers of their members began to bring the movement into their own churches. It was only then that the church began to meet the claims of the Pentecostals on a biblical and theological level. These documents therefore represent a serious attempt by the churches to give a fair evaluation of the movement by going beyond the unfortunate stereotypes of the past.

III

In Presence, Power, Praise, McDonnell presents 104 documents relating to the charismatic renewal from a wide variety or sources. Documents were gathered not only from the United States and Canada, but also from Latin America, Europe, Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. The documents were produced by such churches as the Nazarenes, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Mennonites, and various national and international Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Luther

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an, Roman Catholic, and Anglican bodies. Also included are position papers produced by such traditional Pentecostal churches as the Assemblies of God and the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee). In addition to this extensive array of documents, the editor was unable to include fifteen others because of printing deadlines and failure to receive permission for publication.

The first two volumes contain eighty units of documents produced by the leadership of a denomination within a continent, nation, or region; volume three presents twelve major documents issued by international church jurisdictions. Many documents were translated from Spanish, French, Dutch, German, and Afrikaans. Some are published here for the first time in English.

For the sake of researchers as well as the general reader, the collection is arranged chronologically by year and alphabetically by denomination. Comprehensive indices also appear at the end of each volume. Most documents have been printed in their entirety, including footnotes and bibliographies, as they were originally published.

Adding to the value of the work is the introductory essay by the editor, entitled, "Parameters, Patterns, and the Atypical". In this forty - six page essay, McDonnell describes the scope of the work, offers practical definitions of the charismatic renewal, and explains the charismatic approach to such topics as prophecy, subjectivism, experience and theology, the charisms, dispensationalism, the special relationship of tongues to the renewal, psychological profiles of participants, healing, freedom, charismatic communities, and the ecumenical dimensions of the renewal.

McDonnell has further enhanced the collection by inserting introductory essays to each of the 104 documents which give a quick reference to their content and character. Unlike the introduction, these essays are non - evaluative, allowing the documents to speak for themselves.

IV

What the documents reveal is the uneasy discernment of the churches in the face of something new, different, and "not entirely proper when judged by the norms of social acceptability". In general, the earlier documents were more negative then the later ones. Almost all give the appearance of attempting to be open and fair, usually recognizing the strengths of the renewal while pointing out areas of possible abuse. The earlier ones also judged the new charismatics against the backdrop of the older classical Pentecostal churches while the later ones deal with the charismatic phenomenon as a part of their own church membership.

The more negative documents came from the older holiness and fundamentalist movements which had encountered Pentecostalism earlier in the century. The Christian and Missionary Alliance, for instance, reaffirmed in 1963 the "seek not - forbid not!" dictum that had first been formulated by A. B. Simpson in 1907. Baptists and Nazarenes

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refused to deal with the scriptural and theological issues raised by the renewal and rejected it out of hand because it did not accord with their doctrine and traditions.

The more positive documents came from the mainline liturgical churches. The first three documents were produced by the American Episcopal Church, the first mainline denomination to feel the impact of the movement. Reactions to the experiences of Fr. Richard Winkler in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1956, and Dennis Bennett in Van Nuys, California, in 1959, invoked a pastorial letter from Bishop James Pike of California (1963) which spoke of the movement as "heresy in embryo." While other official Episcopal and Anglican studies of the same period saw some value in the movement, they contained warnings about the dangers of extremes.

Of special interest was the ground - breaking report of the United Presbyterian Church which was presented to the General Assembly in 1970. This was the most comprehensive and detailed report produced up to that time. Its tone was mainly pastoral, offering guidelines to be used in dealing with neo - Pentecostals in Presbyterian churches. A subcommittee made up of competent persons from the behavioral sciences concluded that there was "no evidence of pathology in the movement." As far as tongues were concerned, the report stated that "the practice of glossolalia should neither be despised nor forbidden; on the other hand it should not be emphasized nor made normative for the Christian experience."

The reactions of Lutherans in the early 1960s were similar to the Episcopal and Presbyterian documents, voicing concern for abuses, but admitting that tongues - speakers could remain members in good standing within the churches. Generally the reports of the American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America were much more favorable than the report of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, which in 1972 strongly suggested that Pentecostalism was incompatible with Lutheran theology, faith, and practice.

Although the roots of the renewal in some ways lie in the Methodist tradition, the American Methodists belatedly produced a first major evaluation of the movement in 1976. American Methodists were much less positive in attitude than European and Australian Methodists, who felt that the movement brought Methodism back to a renewed evaluation of the nature of holiness. The American Methodists, on the other hand, asserted that although Pentecostalism emerged from the Wesleyan tradition,"it has little in common with Wesley's theology".

The first Roman Catholic response came in 1969 after outbreaks of Pentecostalism at Duquesne and Notre Dame Universities in 1967. This was a report from a committee of bishops who, while not approving the movement in its totality, concluded that "the movement should at this point not be inhibited but allowed to develop". In a later statement (1975), the bishops saw "positive and desirable directions" in the renewal which appear to bear much fruit in the lives of many of our

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Catholic people. Latin American Roman Catholic statements were more guarded than those issued from the United States.

International Roman Catholic reaction to the renewal was most fully expressed in three publications known collectively as the "Malines' Documents". The name "Malines" was used because the documents were issued under the authority of the Bishop of Malines (Brussels, Belgium), Joseph Cardinal Leon Suenens, who has served three Popes as pastoral advisor to the renewal. These documents are here printed in full and deal with the following areas: Theological and Pastoral Orientations I (1974); Ecumenism II (1978); and Social Action III (1979). The principal author of these three documents was the editor of Presence, Power, Praise, Kilian McDonnell. Probably because of McDonnell's stature as a theological advisor to the renewal, the Catholic documents are the most positive of all those in the collection.

Interestingly enough, the last document in the collection is one issued by the World Council of Churches in 1980. The grass - roots ecumenism of the charismatic renewal was viewed as a sign of hope for many "tired ecumenists". Although questioning the commitment of the renewal to socio - political action, the report on the whole was positive and supportive of the spiritual and community - building aspects of the charismatic movement.

McDonnell's final verdict on the discernment of the churches is that "while pointing out what they judge as the excesses in the renewal, the churches have generally reacted with generosity and calm." The picture of the charismatics after being subjected to the discernment process of the churches is best summarized by the editor at the end of his introduction:

Those documents which come from the renewal indicate that the charismatic movement is unrepentant about its bold witness, receives criticism with the air of being misunderstood, desires to attain some maturity in theological reflection, wants to remain in and of the churches, looks for acceptance but fears it, and refuses domestication. The struggle goes on.

V

As the struggle continues, one is forced to speculate on the future of the charismatic renewal in the light of this massive task of discernment by the churches of Christendom. After reviewing these three volumes, the reader begins to feel that few renewal movements in church history have been so closely scrutinized as the charismatic renewal.

Early observers of the movement, such as Henry P. Van Dusen and Lesslie Newbigin, saw Pentecostalism as something new and generically different from traditional Catholicism and Protestantism, a "third force" to use Van Dusen's phrase from a 1955 Life magazine article. Since 1960, the charismatic renewal has seen something of an attempt at domesticating the movement and containing it within the structures of the traditional churches.

According to Cardinal Suenens, the renewal represents a "surprise of

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the Holy Spirit" and a "stream of grace" which will ultimately disappear into the life - stream of a renewed church. In other words, the ultimate goal of the movement is renewal within the churches rather than reformation outside the churches. At the same time, the classical Pentecostal churches continue their explosive world - wide growth outside the pale and control of the major denominations. Renewal and reformation are thus taking place at the same time a phenomenon unique in church history.

There are those who feel that the future of Christendom will largely be molded by the developing third - world, indigenous Pentecostal movements inter - reacting with the vigorous charismatic elements in the traditional denominational churches. If developments in Latin America and Africa are indicative of the future, Christendom may well be dominated in the twenty - first century by the surging national Pentecostal churches of the third world and a spiritually renewed and resurgent Catholicism inspired by the charismatic renewal.

In between these major forces will be the traditional mainline Protestant churches. Unlike the Catholics, these churches seem to have been more deeply affected by the charismatic renewal on their mission fields than in the United States. Rumors have it, for instance, that as many as seventy - five per cent of Southern Baptist missionaries have either spoken in tongues, or have been personally involved in charismatic renewal activities. The same proportions may well hold for those missionaries of the other mainline Protestant churches. It is not unusual to hear of entire national Anglican or Presbyterian churches in Latin America or the Far East being swept into the renewal.

There are also signs that the charismatic renewal is fast becoming institutionalized, as the various segments of the movement establish offices and publications of their own. For example, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is directed from a nine - story office building in South Bend, Indiana, formerly known as the LaSalle Hotel. The Presbyterian Charismatic Communion maintains a growing staff of workers in their offices in Oklahoma City. Similar offices are developing among other groups.

In reviewing this picture, one is reminded of Merrill Tenney's aphorism concerning the fate of renewal movements. First there is a man, then men, after this comes the movement, followed by a machine, and finally ending with a monument. If this were applied to the charismatics it might be suggested that this phenomenon began in the traditional churches about 1960 with the man, Dennis Bennett, followed by many men (and women) in the various denominations which created the charismatic movement which flowered dramatically in the 1970s climaxed by the Kansas City Charismatic Conference of 1977. Now in the 1980s, various charismatic machines seem to be developing in several denominations. Ultimately these machines may erect monuments to those prophetic figures of the 1960s who pioneered the movement.

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One would hope that the charismatic renewal will continue to be a prophetic force to the entire church and not degenerate into a group of stale denominational bureaucracies, as so many other renewal movements of the past have done. Perhaps the inherent freedom of the Holy Spirit, which can control human events but which can never be controlled, will keep the movement vital and alive. The windows of the Upper Room should always remain open to catch fresh breezes of the Holy Spirit as they blow through the church.

Several years ago, Walter Hollenweger, then with the World Council of Churches, predicted that by the turn of the century, over one half of the Christians of the world would be from the Southern Hemisphere, non - white, and of the Pentecostal/ charismatic variety. Recent reports show that already in several nations the Pentecostals and charismatics already constitute about 20% of the population, while the Roman Catholic charismatics speak of millions of Catholics involved in over 100 nations of the world. If these trends continue, Hollenweger's prediction may well turn out to be a gift of prophecy.

Aside from questions of growth rates and whether the movement has reached its peak, the charismatic movement has already proved to be one of the major stories of this century and as such will be the subject of extensive scholarly research for years to come. Those who study the movement will owe a great debt of gratitude to Kilian McDonnell for both his theological and historical insights which brought Power, Presence, Praise into existence. Without question, this set of volumes constitutes the single most valuable, complete, and reliable resource ever produced relating to the charismatic renewal.