Calvinist and Charismatic

In a previous post, I showcased a chapel talk by James K. A. Smith, a professor of philosophy at Calvin College. CT in its May 2008 issue carries a repackaging of that talk into a sleek article entitled “Teaching a Calvinist to Dance.” To be both charismatic and Calvinist is considered by many to be a contradiction in terms. In polite society, furthermore, both terms are often used as slurs.

Iyov asked me back then to say more about what it’s like to be a charismatic. I haven’t done that yet, but I should. What is it like to speak in tongues? And faith healing, isn’t that just hocus-pocus? I like to look for natural explanations to things – without thereby excluding a divine role “under the hood.” There must be a physiological explanation for the feeling of electric warmth that is sometimes experienced in the laying on of hands. But I don’t know what it is. There may be an explanation for premonitory dreams – some of them terribly specific in detail – but once again, I don’t know what it is.

According to CT, Smith’s book Thinking in Tongues: Elements of a Pentecostal Worldview will be published next year by Eerdmans. I look forward to reading it.

Comments

[David Reimer]

This is a PhD thesis that readers (even writers!) of this entry might be interested in.

And just in case the link doesn't work:

Personal name: Baker, Heidi
Title (in full): Pentecostal experience : toward a reconstructive theology of glossolalia / by Heidi G. Baker
Dissertation note: PhD(Theol) 1996 KC
Add. corporate: King's College, London. Department of Theology Dissertations

[JohnFH]

That sounds very interesting, David.

Thanks for the reference, but I've never ordered a dissertation from the UK before. Through Interlibrary loan, I suppose, or is there a way to purchase a copy, as is possible with many North American dissertations?

[Sam]

Hi John -

I enjoy your blog - though language/translation is not my cup of tea, I do enjoy your posts and learn from them.

There was some dicussion about this topic at my post: http://samnunnally.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/spiritual-gifts-and-reformed-theology-can-they-co-exist/ that was interesting.

Though I believe that Calvinism and charismatic experience are contradictory, I believe this has more to do with historical precedent rather than doctrinal issues. Historically, the two have never been able to fully integrate without compromising the role of spiritual gifts. As a charismatic, it's interesting (and admirable)that the Waldenisians initially suffered persection for their "charismatic" view of healing and lay preaching. I would love your input on the subject.

I'm also curious as to how you align yourself with Calvinistic beliefs when the Waldensians predated the Reformation by several hundred years. Did some merger occur along the way? Honestly, I just don't know that much about the Waldensian movement.

Thanks,

Sam

[JohnFH]

Sam, from your excellent blog and entertaining "about" page, it is clear you have been blessed in many ways. Putting academics and the pastorate together will not be easy, but can be enriching to both.

The Waldensians adhered to the Reformation in the 1500s. They quickly became part of the "Genevan International." That may not be an English phrase. I'm calqueing an Italian phrase.

[Kevin Sam]

John, I don't think it should be contradictory to be charismatic and calvinist. Not at all. There are many, and many charismatic Anglicans, Lutherans, Catholics, etc. I know what it's like to be one John, and I'd also be interested in hearing from you about what it's like to be charismatic.

[JohnFH]

I could not agree more, Kevin Sam. Keep up the great blogging.

[eclexia]

I don't seem to fit well into either the Calvinist or the charismatic camps. But then I don't fit well in the camps that stand in tension with them either. Perhaps the word "tension" is key. Whichever angle I'm looking at these things from, I feel the tensions and questions, which doesn't let me easily settle down theologically.

At the same time, I am asking the kinds of questions you are referring to here. Even when I am moved by the Holy Spirit, I tend to wonder, Is it the Holy Spirit, or is it something a lot more mechanistic, a combination of things that set my neurotransmitters firing?

When I'm standing on the side feeling the pull of the tensions opposite to Calvinism and charismaticism (is that the word?), I feel this one similarity between them: the implication that perhaps I am a machine that God takes over and controls. From the extremes of the one side, it seems that God has predetermined everything so that I can hardly be held responsible, though He is God so he has the right to hold me responsible anyway.

And from the charismatic side, it seems to be that the Holy Spirit takes such control of me that it is no longer me functioning anyway, and I wonder if I am a machine controlled by the Holy Spirit. (I was thinking this week how some Christian songs promote the opposite view of "the devil made me do it", i.e. "The Holy Spirit made me do it. I just can't help myself. I have to praise him." Or speak in tongues, etc.

Even as I ask these questions I'm not fixated entirely on them and I don't enjoy how cynical they sound when I put them in words, especially print where you can't see my heart or hear my intonation. Even as I wonder these things, I feel so deeply how I don't think I could have survived the past few years and made it to today, still having hope, if I did not absolutely believe and trust in the complete Sovereignty of God. And there have been many times where the Holy Spirit touched me so deeply and personally in my spirit and emotions and brought healing that I could not have received through cerebral understanding of theological truths.

Even so, I sit with my questions and wonder. Tension, tension, tension. Sigh.

[Jenelle]

Whoa! Someone found you Heidi Baker's dissertation! She is a legend.

I found James K.A. Smith's Who's Afraid of Postmodernism to be an excellent read. Thanks for the CT link. Good stuff.

[JohnFH]

Thanks for the tip, Jenelle. There as so many excellent young scholars I'm finding about. The future looks bright.

[Jenelle]

John,
Just to clarify, Heidi Baker is a legend less as a scholar, and more a'la her intense work in Mozambique...caring for orphans, food supernaturally multiplied, healings, etc. Certainly interesting to find her dissertation, though!