The Spirit, the Affections, and the Christian Tradition is a collection of essays concerning the role and understanding of emotion throughout the history of Christian thought. These essays were contributed by academics representing a variety of disciplines, including historians, philosophers, and biblical scholars. Each chapter focuses upon a different historical era or historical figure, ranging from the first century with Saint Paul to Jonathan Edwards in the eighteenth century. Space limitations prevent me from summarize all twelve chapters, but some other notable figures of focus include Augustine, John Chrysostom, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and Blaise Pascal. Each essay not only provides new insights concerning these persons of faith, particularly their theology regarding the affections, but the authors also project trajectories for future work.

Part of the volume’s goal is to contribute to renewal historiography. According to Coulter, this type of historiography “underscores the methodological import of sensitivity or orientation to the charismatic dimension of Christian existence that informs the critical reading and interpretation of texts and ideas” (1-2). Coulter points out that some of the contributors do not typically operate from this background, nonetheless their work herein contributes to renewal historiography in important ways. It is an ecumenical venture that “facilitates a sensitivity to the charismatic and ecstatic as well as the pneumatological dimensions of Christian tradition” (23). Thus, for the Church universal, these essays attempt to provide a more holistic approach to history. Amos Yong’s final chapter offers an insightful analysis of the volume’s implications. Here, he argues that a renewal perspective can illuminate areas of history that have been neglected or marginalized heretofore. He argues, “any adequate understanding of the Spirit cannot be reduced to the intellectual register” (300). For him, historical and theological investigations that do not probe the heart, or the emotions, fail to explore the work of the Spirit.

In recent years, academia has begun to recover the role and value of the emotions, and this book fills a lacuna concerning the affections in Christian thought. Obviously, the contributors were only able to examine a sample of historical views, but the depth of the insights gained here is promising. It points toward the possibility of other insights being retrieved. Along these lines, however, feminine perspectives deserve greater attention. Elizabeth A Dreyer’s chapter on emotion in the Middle Ages addresses women, such as Hadwwijch of Brrabant, Teresa of Avila, and Catherine of Sienna, but overall, I would like to see the voices of women be given a more prominent role. In sum, these essays were written with a scholarly audience in mind, so it requires some academic vigor. Although the text is principally concerned with historical views, it presents applications for the contemporary context. Readers may find it provocative and challenging, if not transformative. I found the book to be a worthwhile and fulfilling read.

Reviewed by David Bradnick

Publisher’s page: http://undpress.nd.edu/books/P03251

Preview The Spirit, the Affections, and the Christian Tradition: https://books.google.com/books?id=IlUFDgAAQBAJ

Roger E. Olson, “Response to ‘the Benedict Option’” Patheos (June 3, 2017).

See also the commentary by Michael Brown: https://stream.org/mixed-feelings-rod-drehers-benedict-option/

Jayson Capser, “Forgiveness: Muslims Moved as Coptic Christians Do the Unimaginable” Christianity Today (April 20, 2017).

The subtitle reads, “Amid ISIS attacks, faithful response inspires Egyptian society.” What is God doing in the world? Using martyrs to reveal his love and forgiveness.

Samuel Ogles, “What Pastors Need to Know About Mental Health, Ministry, and Liability: How both legal experts and ministry leaders approach mental health issues in the church” Church Law & Tax (May 2017).

“Mental health is a complicated field, one that is foreign to much of the general population. And it’s seldom talked about publicly, even in churches: places meant for depth and healing. But mental health professionals have said that churches’ avoidance of these issues has recently started to change.”

“Attorneys say there may be real liability in offering counseling services to those suffering from mental illness. Churches may still decide that the pastoral need outweighs the legal risks and offer some counseling services, but that decision should be carefully considered.”

Griffin Paul Jackson, “US Prepares to Deport Hundreds of Iraqi Christians: American veteran faces forced return to dangerous homeland that two-thirds of his fellow believers have fled” Christianity Today (June 12, 2017).

Eddie Hyatt, “Why We Must Write God’s Women Back into Revival History” CharismaOnline (June 19, 2017).

Kate Shellnutt, “Gender Inclusivity Isn’t Liberal. It’s Biblical: Why conservative theologians are defending changing certain Bible verses to include women” Christianity Today (June 2017).

Although specifically in reference to the Christian Standard Bible (CSB), this article covers recent developments and discussion about how the Bible is translated and communication issues regarding gender-neutral language. Rick Mansfield says, “[T]here is a lot of misunderstanding about the Bible translation process, and it’s very easy to get churchgoers worked up over the issue if you tell them someone’s trying to water down the Bible or make it politically correct.”

Philip Yancey, “The death of reading is threatening the soul” The Washington Post (July 21, 2017).

Philip Yancey contributed “Unwrapping Jesus” to the premier issue of The Pneuma Review. Other PneumaReview.com authors have this to say about him and this “Acts of Faith” column appearing in The Washington Post:  William De Arteaga: “Philip Yancey was an editor of Christianity Today, and now writing for The Washington Post. This is a major piece.” John Ballard comments: “He makes a good point. I especially liked the poetry reference. ‘I find that poetry helps. You can’t zoom through poetry; it forces you to slow down, think, concentrate, relish words and phrases.’ We do live at a time when an avalanche of previously unavailable content is coming at us all the time, so we need different skills than previous generations.”

Eddie L. Hyatt, “Understanding the New Testament Gift of Prophecy” God’s Word to Women (July 25, 2017).

John Lathrop writes, “Here is a good article about the New Testament gift of prophecy. It is still with us today!”

Michael Brown, “Old Testament vs. New Testament Prophets” Ask Dr. Brown (August 7, 2017).

This 3 minute YouTube video seeks to answer: “How are they different? What are their similarities?”

Victoria Arnold, “Russia: One year of ‘anti-missionary’ punishments” Forum 18 (August 8, 2017).

“More than 180 individuals and communities have been brought to court in the year since ‘anti-missionary’ punishments came into force on 20 July 2016. Forum 18’s list of known cases documents the wide range of people and communities across Russia subjected to such punishments.”

D. L. Mayfield, “Facing Our Legacy of Lynching: How a memorial could help lead America—and Christians—to repentance from a dark history” Christianity Today (September 2017).

“More than 4,000 African Americans were lynched between 1877 and the rise of the civil rights movement in the early 1950s. Lynching was a brutal public tactic for maintaining white supremacy, frequently used with the tacit blessing of government authorities.”

J.D. King, “Early Christians Were Healed While Taking Communion” AuthorJDKing.com (August 29, 2017).

William De Arteaga comments: “This is usable knowledge.”

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, “1 in 3 American Evangelicals Is a Person of Color” Christianity Today (September 2017).

“‘The American religious landscape has undergone dramatic changes in the last decade, and is more diverse today than at any time since modern sociological measurements began,’ reported PRRI on its 2016 American Values Atlas, based on more than 101,000 bilingual surveys between January 2016 and January 2017.

“In fact, the number of nonwhite Protestants has grown so large that the group has surpassed white mainline Protestants, and has nearly caught up with white evangelical Protestants.”

Jeff Christopherson, “The Fallacy of Spiritual Gifts: God uses weak people” The Exchange (September 12, 2017).

Rachel Marszalek is Vicar of All Saints Church in London, England. In this report from the New Wine United 2017 convention, she primarily shares insights and perspective about what is happening within the Anglican Church. For more about the New Wine movement and the United 2017 convention, see her other report, “Elephants Explored.”

Whether we meet God in the silence or the stadium gathering; whether we speak in tongues or sing the liturgy, whether we raise our hands or lie prostrate on the floor, Anglicans share a heritage. Philip North, the Bishop of Burnley, wrote recently about this magnanimous Church of England of which New Wine is a part. He was fascinated by the anthropology and spirituality of its various constituencies taking time out from the mother-ship, to meet, usually in a field somewhere, with its own. Keswick is home for a week for the evangelical, Walsingham – the Anglo-Catholic and Somerset – the New Wine Charismatic. There is also Spring Harvest for the gently charismatic evangelical and Greenbelt for those, well, I am hard pushed to say, those who are deconstructing and reconfiguring faith in various ways.

At New Wine, Bishop Philip said ‘the gospel is a very jolly thing … there is a powerful sense of the immanence of God … proclamation … is relevant to the immediate needs and aspirations of the culture … the festival has a powerful energy focused on a passionate belief in the local church as the hope of the world, and a real sense that we can go back home to make a difference.'[1]

Since I last reviewed New Wine for PneumaReview.com, there has been a change of leadership. Paul and Becky Harcourt are at the helm and bringing with them a new charism. This charism is encouraging a movement of God into the ordinary. There is, these days, more of an emphasis on the fifty weeks than the two spent together in worship. Paul’s opening challenge to us was to take New Wine home. This is where God will make the real difference. During ministry time, the expectant crowds are also prepared to ‘not expect.’ In other words, there is more room for the God who might not show up in experiential ways despite our sung worship, prepared hearts and open hands; the God who is also mystery and catches us by surprise. Don’t worry if He is not so tangible right now, wait … God knows … God knows you. He has His timing.

There is more humility.

In some ways, there has had to be!

In the Church of England’s July General Synod a Private Member’s Motion[2] was put forward by a change advocate, to ban conversion therapy. Its author is one of a very wide contingent strategising for doctrinal change on marriage.

Conversion therapy was denounced, passionately, at July’s synod.

Expected.

What is interesting, is that an amendment to that motion, ironing out some of the subtleties for those of us who believe in ‘conversion’ and who have heard the testimonies of people with broken sexualities, heterosexual and homosexual, made new, was not really ‘heard.’ Sean Doherty encouraged the Synod to appreciate that ‘all sexuality is equally affected by the Fall’ asking the House of Bishops to ‘discourage inappropriate … practices, and to encourage good ones’ when it comes to prayer and pastoralia.[3]

This year’s New Wine Summer Gathering was called ‘Uniting Thousands to Worship One.’ Committing itself to inspiring Bible teaching; seminars; passionate worship; fun for all the family and ministry in the Holy Spirit, it met across two weeks from the 23rd July to the 6th August, 2017. My family and I joined New Wine for Week One.

The conference is attended by Christians from all walks of life and from all over the UK. A large contingent worship in Church of England churches. Bishop David Pytches, its founder, was present this year. Bishop Philip North, one of our relatively new Bishops and from a different tradition within the Church of England, addressed the conference and described the event afterwards as one where ‘there is a powerful sense of the immanence of God … the festival has a powerful energy focused on a passionate belief in the local church as the hope of the world, and a real sense that we can go back home to make a difference.'[1]

Dexter Low attended Fuller Theological Seminary and was mentored by the late Dr. C. Peter Wagner (page xi). He is an apostolic leader who founded the Latter Rain Church of Malaysia. In this, his first book, he writes about how to transform communities, cities, and nations. He not only sets forth plans or principles he also provides facts and figures about what has already been done to bring about transformation in various places. Low says, “God’s mandate is to restore all people and all nations to their original intent by fulfilling the Great Commission” (page xix).

The author maintains that in order to truly transform a city or nation the seven spheres of influence have to be impacted. These spheres are: Family, Religion, Government, Media, Education, Business, and Arts and Entertainment (page 44). The list of the seven spheres of influence was put together by Loren Cunningham of Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, who each independently identified these same seven spheres of influence (page 44). Low believes that transformation is not just a theory but that it can be a reality (page xxi). He says two elements that are vital to transformation are “persevering leadership” and alignments with other people who have the same mindset (page xxi). Working together is not always easy but Low says “We must not allow past wounds and disagreements to get in the way of progress” (page 8). Society as a whole must be impacted. The author reminds us that “God wants to bring down heaven on earth” (page 15). Jesus told us to pray that God’s will would be done on earth as it is done in heaven (Matthew 6:10). Low illustrates the reality of transformation by providing examples from a number of different places in the world including Malaysia, Guatemala, and the Philippines (pages 2-9).

In order to bring about the transformation of a nation, Low says there must be a change in the church’s thinking. He identifies seven areas of thinking that must change in order for transformation to take place. The following is his list: Mind-set of the Separation between Church and State, The Stained Glass Mind-Set vs. the Market Place Mind-Set, Mind-Set of Withdrawal vs. Engaging, Escapism Mind-Set vs. Kingdom Mind-Set, Poverty Mind-Set vs. Prosperity Mind-Set, Local Church Mind-Set vs. Kingdom Mind-Set, Negative Mind-Set vs. Positive Mind-Set (page 21). He addresses these various mindsets in the remainder of chapter three. There is a reason why these changes must take place. Low says (specifically with reference to the Stained Glass Mind-Set vs. the Marketplace Mind-Set), “When we think that we can only minister within the church, we will never make any impact or change in our communities” (page 27).

Tears universally exist across cultures and throughout history. The Bible records many examples of tears both from humans and from God. In this paper I will explore tears in culture and in various religious traditions. I will explore tears in theology and describe some possibilities for improving churches based on a theology of tears. This work is not an exhaustive view of tears in the Bible or in theology. It will, however deal with the key ideas and theological conflicts concerning the subject. Specifically, I will provide a biblical hermeneutic of crying to assist the church to minister to those who cry.

Tears in History, Culture and Religion

Humans enter the world with tears, and tears provide a primary means of communication for the early parts of life. Kimberly Christine Patton and John Stratton Hawley observe, “Among the very earliest expressions of distress in the infant’s range, tears remain a profound existential signifier at all stages of human life, particularly in the face of fear, loss, or despair. Crying is a response of the parasympathetic nervous system that helps return the stimulated organism to homeostasis.”[i] While some primate infants exhibit behavior similar to human crying to summon parental care, humans are the only animals able to cry as adults.[ii] From an evolutionary viewpoint, adult crying manifests as a means of signaling defenselessness and surrender or of summoning help from others within the crier’s social network.[iii] Adult human tears appear as a uniquely human behavioral phenomenon.

Tony Richie: Consultation on American Evangelicals and Islam

Antipas Harris: How Can Christians and Muslims Relate?

I am grateful that my friend who participated in the Consultation, pastor-scholar Tony Richie, invited me to attend the public forum on Friday, August 25. This forum was appropriately titled, “Learning to Engage our Muslim Neighbors.” The diverse panel was made up of Rick Love, Marion Larson, Richard Mouw, John Azumah, Michal Muelenberg, and facilitated by Cory Willson.

Recently, the leadership at my church has been thinking about how hope, humility, and hospitality can be a profound way of expressing how we follow Jesus. Therefore, when Marion Larson used similar language to speak about stances to take as we approach conflict and welcome strangers, I was all ears. Three ideas she mentioned were Receptive Humility, Reflective Commitment, and Imaginative Empathy.

Part of Receptive Humility is being willing to receive gifts and hospitality. In my experience, this ability to graciously receive is something our Muslim neighbors understand much better than I do. We value being a good host, do we value being a good guest?

Having a Reflective Commitment is making a decision to be teachable, to intentionally reflect that I don’t have it all figured out and that I have much to learn. All of us need to be humble enough to recognize we are wrong about some things. I always want to be willing to let God surprise me.

When we meet people’s humanity, we see how much we are alike. It is easier to appreciate others when we recognize that we are in the same human boat.

Jesus teaches to love our neighbors. He does not give us religious criteria for loving the neighbor. We do not need to agree with our neighbors to love them.

In a world of political and social distresses over ethnic, gender, racial and religious plurality, how can the Christian lead in expressing love? One way is to get to know our neighbors. It is hard to truly love people we do not know.

We must not allow the media, social media, politicians and others teach us who another person is because of the other person’s beliefs or preferences.

Let’s meet and spend time with people who are not like us – whatever “us” means to you.

Learning from others is a civil exercise.

Living alongside people who we do not agree with is a sign of intelligence.

Loving people who are “different” is the heart of Christian love of neighbor.

The future of our world belongs to those who know what it means to bear witness to Christ in lifestyle and love of neighbor. Amidst increased plurality, what wonderful opportunity as well as challenge to live out the call of Christ in renewed ways!

Many blessings,

Dr. Antipas

[Editor’s note: Read Tony Richie’s report: “Consultation on American Evangelicals and Islam.”]

John Piper did not attempt to add another biography of William Wilberforce’s life. He has instead probed to find the source of what motivated Wilberforce to spend his life for the abolition of slavery in Britain. Piper documented his source material effectively, demonstrating that he has read both primary and secondary literature and is able to point readers to where they also may find the treasured quotations of Wilberforce. Piper has made a unique contribution to the study of Wilberforce because he has directed the reader how to apply the lesson of this great man’s life and how to incorporate faith with practice. Wilberforce proves the success of faith infused politics.

It is essential to read biographical stories for more than inspiration; we must read with an ear to hear what they are attempting to teach us. Piper focuses the reader’s attention on the powerful motivating force that under-girded the legendary tenacity of Wilberforce, who spent his political career to secure the emancipation of the slaves of Great Britain. Piper leads the reader through repetitive probing to consider how the Christian faith of Wilberforce compelled him to endure failure and yet remain steadfast until he successfully transformed both parliament and the opinion of a nation.

The brevity of the book condenses the life story of William Wilberforce into an easy read of a couple hours. It contains sufficient information of his life and contribution, to enable one to be conversant of this man, without taxing the time of one who is too busy to read extensively. The essential highlights of his Christian witness emphasize the influence of his faith, in the realm of political legislation; this synthesis is central to Piper’s message. To read this book is to grasp quickly the basic story and moral influence that the faith of William Wilberforce had on the social injustice of slavery.

Reviewed by John R. Miller

Author’s page, where you may download eBook versions without cost (as of July 21, 2017): http://www.desiringgod.org/books/amazing-grace-in-the-life-of-william-wilberforce

 

This review was originally published on the Pneuma Foundation website on August 24, 2007. The Pneuma Foundation is the parent organization of PneumaReview.com.

Panel during the Friday, August 25, 2017, public forum entitled, “Learning to Engage Our Muslim Neighbors.” From left to right: Michal Muelenberg, John Azumah, Richard Mouw, Marion Larson, Rick Love, and Cory Willson (facilitator).

Yet it has been rightly said that Christian responses to Islam and Muslims in the post-9/11 world represent “a struggle for the soul of the Christian faith”. How individual Christians, congregations, and the larger church engage with their Muslim neighbors and with Islam generally has tremendous import for the mission of Christ’s church and for Christian witness worldwide. This conundrum is true around the world and is increasingly as relevant in North American communities, large and small.

While the American context was the focus, input came from leading majority world voices, particularly Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Organizers understood that living in an age of the global church requires wisdom from those parts of Christ’s body for the American church to properly and effectively continue to play its leading role in global missions. The hope is that this gathering will spur on future smaller consultations that bring together Muslims and evangelicals to discuss pressing issues and tensions that exist between Christians and Muslims in America. Several participants are already engaged in these types of conversations and projects with Muslims. For example, Fuller Seminary, Columbia Theological Seminary, and Pentecostal Theological Seminary regularly teach courses involving engagement with the reality of Islam and its adherents at various levels of theological and dialogical discourse.