Agnes Sanford: Apostle of Healing and First Theologian of the Charismatic Renewal, Part 2, by William L. De Arteaga

Mrs. Sanford was particularly concerned about the damage caused by imprudent ministries of exorcism. For a period in the 1960s there circulated a teaching that any personality fault or sin was due to a demonic spirit. Thus people were being delivered from “spirits” of smoking, over-eating, criticism, etc. Agnes insisted that exorcism should be the ministry of last recourse. She had witnessed damage done to persons who were put through charismatic exorcism rituals when in fact they needed counseling or inner healing.⁴⁹ Eventually her suspicions of the Renewal softened. From her home in Monrovia, she learned to appreciate the “Jesus People,” those most exuberant, hippie children of the Charismatic Renewal, and her heart went out to them. Her last novel, Route 1, (1975) shows the Jesus People in a positive light.⁵⁰

Just how much her speaking engagements and writings helped to bring the Charismatic Renewal out of its initial immaturity and theological naiveté is one of those things that is impossible to quantify. She personally spoke to thousands in that decade, and touched many more through her books. She was especially influential in the Episcopal and Roman Catholic branches of the renewal. This should not be taken to mean that Mrs. Sanford was the only person of the 1960’s who had a mature theology of the Holy Spirit and gifts of the Spirit. In fact, the Renewal was blessed from the very beginning with outstanding leaders who had excellent theological training and insights.

However, by the late 1970s many charismatics were becoming leery of Mrs. Sanford’s theology. Some were unconvinced that the ministry of inner healing had any biblical warrant, more believed her theory of the pre-existent spirit was “far out” and cultic. As the Calvin-Nee theory that all psychic activity was inherently demonic became part of charismatic/evangelical consensus theology, Mrs. Sanford’s more “Catholic” theology of the levels of spiritual powers was also seen as erroneous. Thus even before the caricature of Mrs. Sanford appeared in Dave Hunt’s The Seduction of Christianity many leaders of the Renewal were distancing themselves from her and her theology.

Mrs. Sanford went to be with the Lord on February 21, 1982, Transfiguration Sunday. She was full of vitality and curiosity to the very end. A week before she died she planned to go up in a two-person glider and had been excited about it. To her daughter and to several close friends she said, “You know, I might not come back. I might just keep right on going!”⁵¹ There seems no doubt that she knew she would continue to a higher place.

Tags: apostle, charismatic, healing, renewal, sanford

Category: Church History, Summer 2006