Agnes Sanford: Apostle of Healing and First Theologian of the Charismatic Renewal, Part 2, by William L. De Arteaga
Mrs. Sanford’s Place in the Charismatic Renewal
There is little doubt that in spite of the controversies she generated, Mrs. Sanford was indeed the first theologian the charismatic renewal. The Healing Light, issued as a Logos International paperback, became the healing text book of the early charismatic movement.52 She discipled many of the leadership of the charismatic renewal, including a handsome young priest named Francis MacNutt who met her at a CFO camp and eventually passed on the core of her teaching to the charismatic movement with his vastly influential works on healing.53
The tragic rejection of Mrs. Sanford’s theology by large sections of Evangelical, and charismatic leaders is a sad case of the persistence of theological conservatism confusing denominational theology and prejudices with true heresy. In every case I have outlined in this paper, Mrs. Sanford took solidly, and literal biblical positions that were declared “heretical” not because they contradicted scripture, but because they were expressed in New Thought vocabulary and would not fit into the mold of cessationist-influenced Evangelical theology. Mrs. Sanford and her work reminds one of the great Third Century theologian, Origen, who pioneered the discipline of Christian theology. He was rejected as a heretic by more-conservative and often ignorant critics and his writings anathematized. It is only in recent decades that Origen’s monumental contributions to Christian theology and his fundamental orthodoxy have been appreciated.54 It took over a millennium to begin to clear Origen’s name and appreciate his true role in Christian history. Hopefully, Mrs. Sanford’s achievements and fundamental orthodoxy will not take that long to be reestablished.
PR
Notes
27 Agnes Sanford, The Healing Light (St. Paul: Macalester Park, 1947). At the time of printing, an excerpt from Agnes Sanford’s book Healing Light was available online at this location: http://agnessanford.wwwhubs.com/sanford2.htm
28 Taped interview with Dr. Harry Goldsmith, August 1983. Dr. Goldsmith was severely wounded as a young soldier in W.W.II, healed by Mrs. Sanford’s prayers at Tilton, and became her life-long friend.
29 Compare her basic understanding of science with the seminal work of Sir Carl R. Popper, especially his technical The Logic of Scientific Discovery (New York: Science Editions, 1961), and the more readable Conjectures and Refutations: the growth of scientific knowledge (New York: Basic Books, 1962).
30 Healing Light, 21.
31 See for example: George A, Maloney, The Mystic of Fire and Light: St. Symeon, the new theologian (Denville: Dimension Books, 1975).
32 Healing Light, 145
33 Quenching the Spirit, chapter 17, Visualization and the Christian,” and Brooks Alexander’s masterful article “Mind Power and the Mind’s Eye,’” SPS Journal 9, no 3, (1990), 8-20.
34 Healing Light, 64.
35 Ibid, 128
36 Ibid., 94.
37 Ibid.. 77.
38 Ibid., 139.
39 Agnes Sanford, Behold Your God (St. Paul: Macalester Park, 1958).
40 Behold, 136-137.
Category: Church History, Summer 2006
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