Karl Barth and Pentecostal Theology: A Convergence of the Word and the Spirit, edited by Frank D. Macchia, Terry L. Cross, and Andrew K. Gabriel. London: T & T Clark, 2024.

The book is published in the growing academic book series Systematic Pentecostal and Charismatic Theology.

The book is currently very expensive (US$150), but in a year or two the publisher should release a paperback version that will be closer to US$50. That is still expensive, but a little more reasonable for an academic book.

Description (from the Publisher):

The essays in this volume evaluate and build on Barth’s theology from the perspective of Pentecostal theology and, thereby, contribute to constructive Pentecostal systematic theology by using Barth as a valuable dialogue partner. At present, a theological conversation of Pentecostals with Barth does not exist and this volume fills this void. More widely, it will aid all those who seek a convergence of the Word and the Spirit in theology.

Barth and Pentecostals share some important common theological interests. Barth’s mature theology has a decidedly christological emphasis. Likewise, historically, Pentecostals have often spoken of a “full gospel” with an emphasis on Christ as savior, healer, baptizer (in the Spirit), and soon-and-coming King, with some Pentecostal traditions also adding a fifth emphasis on Christ the sanctifier. Furthermore, near the end of his life, Barth anticipated “the possibility of a theology of the third article, a theology where the Holy Spirit would dominate and be decisive.” The realization of Barth’s dream is no doubt coming to pass in part through the development of Pentecostal theology in as much as pneumatological theology (exploring how pneumatology affects, supplements, and might reform other doctrines) is an emerging paradigm for Pentecostal theology.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction, Frank D. Macchia (Vanguard University, USA), Terry L. Cross (Lee University, USA), Andrew K. Gabriel (Horizon College and Seminary, Canada)

Part One: Theology and Revelation

2. Theology as a Pointing Finger: Barth and Pentecostalism on the Nature of Theology, Todd Pokrifka (Institute for Community Transformation, USA)
3. Revelation as Encounter: Karl Barth, Pneumatological Realism, and the Pentecostal Notion of Prophetic Preaching, Gary Tyra (Vanguard University, USA)

Part Two: God and Creation

4. Oneness, Pentecostals and Karl Barth: Theological Cousins Who Never Met? David A. Reed (Wycliffe College, Canada)
5. Barth and Pentecostals on the Divine Perfections of (Im)mutability and (Im)possibility, Andrew K. Gabriel (Horizon College and Seminary, Canada)
6. Barth, Election, and the Spirit, William Atkinson (London School of Theology, UK)
7. Empowered by the Spirit: A Pneumatological Revision of Karl Barth’s Theological Anthropology, Lisa P. Stephenson (Lee University, USA)

Part Three: Christ and Salvation

8. Jesus the Spirit Baptizer: A Pentecostal Revision of Karl Barth’s Spirit Christology, Frank D. Macchia (Vanguard University, USA)
9. On Giving the Devil (No More Than) His Due: Karl Barth, Pentecostalism, and the Demonic, Michael McClymond (Saint Louis University, USA)
10. Subjects and Predicates: Barthian Grammar and Pentecostal Soteriology, David J. Courey (Continental Theological Seminary, Belgium)
11. Slamming the Door and Cracking a Window? Pneumatological Investigations for Possible Openings in Karl Barth’s Generally Closed Theology of Religions, Tony Richie (Pentecostal Theological Seminary, USA)
12. Barth, Pentecostalism, and the Eschatological Cry for the Kingdom, Christian T. Collins Winn (Augsburg University, USA)

Part Four: Holy Spirit and the Church

13. Spirit, Love, and Charisma: Pneumatology in the Theology of Karl Barth and Pentecostalism, Peter Althouse (Oral Roberts University, USA)
14. Let the Church be the Church: Barth and Pentecostals on Ecclesiology, Terry L. Cross (Lee University, USA)
15. You Wonder Where the Real Presence Went: The Sacraments and the Pentecostal Experience, Chris E. Green (Southeastern University, USA)

Bibliography

Index

PR

Publisher’s page: Karl Barth and Pentecostal Theology: A Convergence of the Word and the Spirit

More by authors appearing in this book:

The theology and influence of Karl Barth: an interview with Terry Cross

Terry L. Cross, Answering the Call in the Spirit: Pentecostal Reflections on a Theology of Vocation, Work and Life (Lee University Press, 2007) as reviewed by Mara Lief Crabtree

Frank Macchia: Assessing the Prosperity Gospel

John Wesley and Pentecostalism: an interview with Frank Macchia

Frank D. Macchia, Baptized in the Spirit: A Global Pentecostal Theology (Zondervan, 2006) as reviewed by Tony Richie

Frank D. Macchia, Tongues of Fire: A Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (Cascade, 2023) as reviewed by Wolfgang Vondey

Robert W. Graves, ed., Strangers To Fire: When Tradition Trumps Scripture (The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship, 2014) as reviewed by Tony Richie

Tony Richie, Essentials of Pentecostal Theology: An Eternal and Unchanging Lord Powerfully Present and Active by the Holy Spirit (Wipf & Stock, 2020) as reviewed by John Lathrop

Tony Richie, “Do All Abraham’s Children Worship Abraham’s God?”

My presentation was 18 minutes, and it begins at the 32-minute mark. You can watch it here: https://video.horizon.edu/en/c….

In my presentation I mentioned one of my articles and one of my books. I’ll note them below.

• “The Intensity of the Spirit in a Spirit-Filled World: Spirit Baptism, Subsequence, and the Spirit of Creation.” Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 34.3 (2012): 365-382.

• Simply Spirit-Filled: Experiencing God in the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2019.

I also discuss the intensity of the Spirit in this essay:

• “Pneumatology: Eschatological Intensification of the Personal Presence of God,” The Routledge Handbook of Pentecostal Theology, edited by Wolfgang Vondey (London: Routledge, 2020), 206-215. [Editor’s note: preview this 2020 book]

Pneuma Review: Please tell our readers about your Pentecostal roots.

Andrew Gabriel: I grew up worshipping in primarily Pentecostal churches, although we did, at times, attend some other denominational churches. After graduating from high school, I studied at a Pentecostal Bible college, and eventually I was ordained in the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, as I still am today.

Pneuma Review: In your book, Simply Spirit-Filled, you said that at one point in your life you were a spiritual experience junkie. Please explain what you mean by that and why you went through that phase.

Andrew K. Gabriel, Simply Spirit-Filled: Experiencing God in the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit (Emanate Books, 2019), 179 pages.
Read John Lathrop’s review.
Read an excerpt from the book: “Two Common Myths about the Spirit-Filled Life.”

Andrew Gabriel: As I think about it now, the term ‘junkie’ might sound pejorative, but I don’t mean it to be. My heart was certainly in the right place. I was a young, somewhat naïve, Christian who wanted “all that God has for me,” as the preachers used to put it. As a result, you could say that I was “all in” when it came to trying to experience God.

The result was that, like some others around me, I wasn’t too concerned with trying to discern if experiences were authentically from God, or if they were emotional experiences that were being manufactured by the groups that I worshipped with. And, for the most part, I think the people that were manufacturing those experiences had good hearts too. They also wanted to experience God, but they thought that there were only certain ways to do so. So, for example, the music had to be a certain way, or maybe they would “encourage” you to fall down.

Pneuma Review: Later in your life you became quite skeptical of spiritual experiences. What factors contributed to that skepticism and what eventually brought you back to again appreciate the value of these spiritual experiences?

Andrew Gabriel: I think my skepticism was simply me over reacting to my realization that not everything I had experienced in the church was truly from God. And it probably stemmed from the same thing that made me a spiritual experience junkie in the first place—namely, a desire to experience God. Only now, I was more concerned with having authentic experiences of God.

Eccentric Prophets

Some people try to justify their conclusion that it is spiritual to act strange by pointing to the eccentric behavior of prophets in the Old Testament. For example, Isaiah walked around naked (Isaiah 20:1–4)—some scholars say, wearing only an undergarment—and Ezekiel lay on his side for 430 days (Ezekiel 4:4–6). Some also point to Saul, who “changed into a different person” when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he prophesied (1 Samuel 10:6, 10).

These examples, however, don’t prove that one should expect to act strangely if one is to be truly spiritual. First of all, Saul might have just “changed into a different person” in the sense that “God changed Saul’s heart” before he prophesied (v. 9).

The Frantic Prophets of Baal

Furthermore, when you read about the prophets in the Old Testament, you don’t get the sense that the prophets were usually ecstatic and acting strangely. To illustrate the point, when Elijah had his standoff at Mount Carmel, it was the prophets of Baal who “danced around the altar they had made,” shouted, slashed themselves with swords, and engaged in “frantic prophesying,” while they endeavored to get Baal to send fire on their sacrifice (1 Kings 18:26–29). By contrast, when Elijah called on God to send fire on his sacrifice, he merely “stepped forward and prayed” (v. 36).

Strange or out-of-the-ordinary things might happen when people experience the Spirit—like speaking in tongues, dreams, or visions (Joel 2:28)—but such experiences are not the primary indicator of spirituality. That is a myth!

Spirit with Hardships

Another myth some Christians believe is that people who are really Spirit-filled will always experience victory. This belief is a cousin to the idea that if you have enough faith you will always experience health and wealth.

Just as faith doesn’t guarantee a life free of disappointments and hardships, the Spirit-filled life is not a life free of disappointments and hardships. Jesus is the epitome of spirituality, but he never became an earthly king. Instead, “through the eternal Spirit [he] offered himself unblemished to God” so his death might give us life (Hebrews 9:14).

In the Bible, “the one who is victorious” (Revelation 2:11) may suffer and face poverty (v. 9). Their victory is that they resist their culture’s anti-Christian values and are “faithful, even to the point of death” (v. 10). And their “victor’s crown” is eternal life, not achieving success in the eyes of the world around them (vv. 10–11).

Present Everywhere, Sustaining Life

Image: Annie Spratt

As a divine person, there is nowhere we can flee from the presence of the Spirit (Psalm 139:7). Therefore, by the Spirit, God “fills everything in every way” (Ephesians 1:23) and is “over all, and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:6). On account of this, Hendrikus Berkhof correctly recognizes that “insofar as the Spirit is the name of God in action, nothing short of the whole creation can be the field of his operation.”[1] This would necessarily include the human brain.

The Spirit is present everywhere sustaining life. Expressing this, Christians have sometimes referred to the Father as Creator, the Son as Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit as Sustainer. Likewise, the Nicene Creed, which is regularly affirmed in liturgical churches, affirms that the Spirit is the “Lord, the giver of life.” This, I think, includes within our brains, while we sleep.

The Spirit in the Brain

One might think that what happens in our brains is a “natural” process. But it is not natural, if one means apart from God. Nothing about the human being is “natural” in the sense that we are created and sustained, from start to finish, by God. As Job declared, “the Spirit of God has made me,” and “the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33:4).

Image: Alexander Possingham

A False Dichotomy

When it comes to issues of science and biology, sometimes people make a false dichotomy by thinking that either God is at work, or “natural processes” are at work in our bodies. It doesn’t, however, have to be an either-or option—both can be true. Similarly, Christians affirm that God is at work knitting each child together in their mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13), even though we learn in health class the natural processes of child development from the point of fertilization, to the development of an embryo, through to a fully formed fetus. Likewise, the Spirit works in and through the natural processes of our brain to renew our brain functions.

Roger Olson was raised Pentecostal and now writes as an evangelical within the Baptist tradition. Although Baptist, he is neither a fundamentalist nor a Calvinist. Rather, he is one of the few Arminian evangelical theologians who have written an accessible text introducing theology.

Olson’s intention is for the book to serve as a “very basic, relatively comprehensive, nontechnical, nonspeculative one-volume introduction to Christian belief” (p. 7). Hence, Olson primarily aims to describe the various views that Christians have held in Christian history rather than arguing for any particular viewpoint. Aside from the first chapter, the book’s outline follows the key topics in systematic theology, like, creation, Jesus, and the Church. Each chapter includes a section explaining what the historical consensus of the church has been regarding the theme of the chapter, a section explaining alternative views (including both historical heresies and, in some cases, non-Christian views), and a section outlining diverse Christian beliefs regarding the chapter’s topic. This approach not only helps readers avoid heretical beliefs, but it also serves Olson’s irenic aim of helping readers realize that there is a core to Christian beliefs that also allows for authentic Christians to disagree on some points. Olson concludes each chapter by also proposing a brief “unitive Christian vision” of the doctrine under discussion, where he briefly recommends his own position, including an affirmation of the consensus as well as an attempt to take a “both-and,” rather than “either-or,” approach to the various theological issues regarding which Christian disagree.

Reviewed by Andrew K. Gabriel

Publisher’s page: http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=5125

Preview: https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Mosaic_of_Christian_Belief.html?id=WPakCgAAQBAJ

Kelly Kapic and Bruce McCormack, eds., Mapping Modern Theology: A Thematic and Historical Introduction (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012), x + 421 pages, ISBN 9780801035357.

Most books on contemporary theology trace key themes in theology or focus on the contributions of influential theologians. While these approaches are helpful, it can be easy to miss how contemporary developments in theology have influenced each of the traditional topics in systematic theology. We can be grateful that Mapping Modern Theologyhelps us to see how this is the case.

Mapping Modern Theology is not technically a book on “contemporary theology” broadly speaking, however. Rather, the authors focus specifically on how theologians in the last couple hundred years have responded to modernity. The book begins with an essay by Bruce McCormack which introduces the concept of “modernity” within a theological context. He suggests that “modern” theology emerges when “church-based theologians ceased trying to defend and protect the received orthodoxies of the past against erosion and took up the more fundamental challenge of asking how the theological values resident in those orthodoxies might be given an altogether new expression, dressed out in new categories of reflection” and that philosophically  there was a “shift from a cosmologically based to an anthropologically based metaphysics of divine being” (p. 3).

Kelly M. Kapic is professor of theological studies at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.

The remainder of the essays by various evangelical (broadly defined) authors each focus on a different topic in systematic theology (e.g., creation, Christology, Holy Spirit, the Church), primarily from a Reformed Christian perspective. The chapters will be helpful for both non-specialists (although those who have never studied theology would be easily lost) and specialists. For example, the chapter on the Trinity (a topic in which I am well-versed) helped me to better grasp the impact of the “historical” approach to the Trinity in contemporary theology.

This book serves as a good reminder of the impact our philosophical assumptions can have on our theology, even when we are not conscious of them (or even deny them). The book will also serve well anyone who wants to know how the various topics in systematic theology have been influenced by modernity.

Bruce L. McCormack is Charles Hodge Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Mapping Modern Theology could serve as a helpful textbook to a course on systematic theology or contemporary theology. At the same time, the strength of the book could also be its weakness, as far as being used as a primary rather than supplemental textbook. That is, in the systematic approach of the book, one could miss the big picture changes happening in theology today and might not get a good sense of who the most influential theologians have been in contemporary theology. This would not be an issue if the course lectures took a different approach than the book. Another concern (which is true for many books) is that readers might get the impression that theology is only about debates where theologians disagree on things, and readers might therefore miss the depth of the historical consensus of the Church on doctrine. While being aware of these concerns, readers will benefit greatly from the contributions in Mapping Modern Theology.

Reviewed by Andrew K. Gabriel

This review first appeared on Andrew Gabriel’s blog, www.andrewgabriel.wordpress.com and is reprinted here with his permission.

Across the Spectrum contains seventeen short chapters which give a good introduction to a variety of debates spanning across the topics of systematic theology including: biblical inerrancy, divine providence, divine foreknowledge, how to interpret the Genesis creation narratives, the image of God, the relation of Christ’s human and divine natures, models of the atonement, Calvinism and Arminianism (including a chapter on eternal security), sanctification, the destiny of the unevangelized, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the presence of charismatic gifts today, women in ministry, the millennium, and hell. The book is concerned specifically with evangelical theology, particularly concerns raised in the American context, therefore the book does not aim to discuss every conclusion that the Christian traditions have taken on the topics covered. So, for example, the chapter on “The Lord’s Supper Debate” does not discuss the transubstantiation view, since this view is not held by evangelical theologians. Each chapter begins by briefly introducing questions that have lead to the debate and then notes the consensus among the diverse views. The authors also briefly note views that contrast with these evangelical proposals. The majority of each chapter discusses the biblical and theological arguments that support each viewpoint while also responding to potential objections to each viewpoint. The “Further Reading” sections at the end of each chapter and the glossary at the end of the book well serve students who seek to do further research on these topics.

This 2009 publication is a revision of the book as first published in 2002. The major changes from the first edition involve the reduction of a chapter on the “Human Constitution Debate” (e.g., body, soul, spirit) down to a section in the appendix, the expansion of the chapter on divine foreknowledge to distinguish “The Arminian View” from “The Calvinist View,” and the addition of a very helpful appendix (formerly available online), which very briefly introduces the diverse evangelical approaches to the following topics: theological method, models of the Trinity, the extent of Noah’s flood, the relation of wives to their husbands, Christians and politics, what happens to babies who die, baptism in the Holy Spirit (as well as its relation to speaking in tongues), the relation of Christians and demons, how to interpret the book of revelation, the timing of Jesus return (with respect to Preterism and the ‘rapture’) and, (as noted above) what constitutes humanity. Between the main chapters and the appendix, the book already offers a wealth of information. The book could be further strengthened by expanding the chapter on divine foreknowledge to consider additional attributes of God as well as by adding a discussion of the diverse evangelical views regarding original sin, the historicity of Adam and Eve, and forms of church governance.

Across the Spectrum is helpful for anyone looking for a brief outline of the debates in evangelical theology. The format succeeds at informing people at more than their own presuppositions, even though it is limited to focusing on evangelical theology. In a classroom format, the book could serve well as a supplement to a full introduction to Christian theology. One strength of the book is that it clearly illustrates how evangelicalism includes diversity on many theological topics (however, those who would define evangelical theology very narrowly might question if a few of the viewpoints in this book are in fact reflective of evangelical theology). Recognizing these strengths, a potential hazard of the book is that, if used alone, a person could read the book and conclude that theologians are only busy debating many topics and miss the depth of the key teachings of Christianity that are found within the consensus of the Church.

Reviewed by Andrew K. Gabriel.

Publisher’s page: www.bakeracademic.com/Book.asp?isbn=978-0-8010-3793-1

Preview this book: books.google.com/books?id=4tj2N1QaaO4C