Washington, DC – High profile cases of pastors and priests both perpetuating sexual violence or covering up domestic violence have dominated the media in recent months. As a nation we have witnessed a rush to silence or blame women by individuals claiming to represent entire denominations. This harsh reality inspired the call to faith leaders to submit sermons about domestic and sexual violence and resulted in over 150 submissions from 28 states, 3 countries, and 20 different faith traditions. Sojourners has launched an interactive website featuring 100 sermons and resources on making churches safer sanctuaries for survivors. The sermons can be searched by location, scripture, or denomination.

Jenna Barnett, Women and Girls Campaign Coordinator for Sojourners, stated, “The church has much to lament. We must acknowledge the harmful messages we’ve sent to victims and survivors: to stay in dangerous marriages at all costs, to shame women for the sexual violence someone else inflicted. But we also work to provide a new message from our pulpits: that Jesus wants your liberation, not your suffering. That Jesus prioritizes the vulnerable, not those who abuse their power to harm the vulnerable. We need more faith leaders to break the silence on domestic and sexual violence from within the walls of their own sanctuaries.”

In a recent survey commissioned by Sojourners, IMA World Health, the We Will Speak Out coalition and conducted by LifeWay Research, there was a significant increase in the number of pastors speaking about domestic and sexual violence, with 51 percent of pastors in 2018 claiming to speak with their church about the topic several times a year or more, as opposed to 34 percent in 2014.

According to Jenna Barnett, “Sermons announce a church’s priorities. By preaching from the pulpit on domestic and sexual violence, pastors send a message to survivors that they are seen, believed, and that the church is working to be a trauma-informed space that can nurture your healing and connect you to other experts in your community.”

Image: Grant Whitty

“Sojourners is spotlighting these 100 sermons because we want to resource and inspire other faith leaders to follow the bold example of pastors all across the country and all across the theological spectrum who are breaking the silence on domestic and sexual violence. Sermons alone cannot end this violence or the pain left in its wake. But sermons can announce a church’s decision to prioritize victims and survivors over perpetrators. These are not easy sermons to preach, but we worship a savior who never shied away from tough conversations,” said Jim Wallis, President and Founder of Sojourners.

Resources Referenced: 100 Sermons Website: https://sojo.net/100sermons

2018 survey: Broken Silence 2.0: Pastors’ Attitudes & Actions Around Domestic & Sexual Violence in the #MeToo Era https://wewillspeakout.us/broken-silence/

Roger E. Olson, “Remembering the Difference between Patriotism and Nationalism” Patheos (July 1, 2018).

Mandy Smith, “When Your Calling Feels Like Death: Doing God’s will, even in ministry, isn’t always fun and flourishing” CT Pastors (June 2018).

Cletus Hull, “My Church is a Mental Hospital” Fuller 11 (2018).

An article from PneumaReview.com author Cletus L. Hull III about chaplaincy and ministering forgiveness and child-like faith to those receiving mental health care.

Brandon J. O’Brien, “Isaac Backus: An 18th-Century Evangelical with 21st-Century Wisdom” Christianity Today (July/August 2018).

Is the byline over-reaching a bit, or is this an American hero of religious freedom that you have never heard of–but should have? “On questions of race, religious liberty, and political power, the Baptist preacher should be our guiding light.”

John Lathrop, “Finish Well Ministry Amidst Challenges: There will always be numerous roadblocks but complete what God has called you to do” Christian Trends (July 28, 2018).

Bob Smietana, “Prosperity Gospel Taught to 4 in 10 Evangelical Churchgoers” Christianity Today (July 31, 2018).

“Survey finds most Protestants believe God wants them to prosper financially. But views diverge on whether they must tithe to receive it.”

“Saudi Arabia may relax its ban on Christian churches: New evidence suggests the Prophet tolerated churches in Arabia” The Economist (August 2, 2018).

Thanks to Brigada for recommending this article.

“Signs and Wonders as Churches Emerge in India” Christian Aid Mission (August 2018).

“‘People didn’t want Christianity there,’ the missionary said. ‘But God told me to build again.’”

Shane Bennett, “New Flavors on Your Local College Campus” Missions Catalyst (September 12, 2018).

Practical ways to reach out to international students that promote authentic and life-changing friendships (and not just the students).

Bobby Ross Jr., “When Clothing and Household Items Are Donated: Churches may want to tell taxpayers that generosity is its own reward” Church Law & Tax (September 4, 2018).

Be aware of how the new US tax law will affect non-cash donations. “Under the new tax law, over 94 percent of taxpayers will not itemize, giving more reason for donors to avoid the compliance issues.”

Roger E. Olson, “A Call for Protestants Everywhere to Take ‘Marriage’ Back from the State” Patheos (September 19, 2018).

Historian of religion, Roger Olson, asks if the general acceptance of divorce and remarriage in our churches, without any qualification, has positioned conservative, non-fundamentalist churches to soon embrace gay marriage and even polygamy.

Jessilyn Justice, “Hillsong Splits From Assemblies of God in Australia to Become Its Own Denomination” CharismaNews.com (September 20, 2018).

Image: Tom Eversley

In this three-part series, Trevor Martindale gives us an in-depth look at how Edward Irving, one of the 19^th Century’s most important church leaders, understood the meaning of God coming in the flesh. What does that controversy have to teach us today?

Abstract
This dissertation examines the theological viability of Edward Irving’s notion of Christ’s ‘sinful flesh’. The foundational element of this notion determines that his belief in Christ to have been fully consubstantial with mankind necessitates the positing of his assumption of a fallen human nature under the same conditions that are common to all humanity. We argue that Irving’s contextual claims challenged the predominant doctrinal formulations of Federal Calvinism, which had departed from earlier Patristic and Reformed theological requirements for the vicariously salvific nature of the Incarnation and Atonement of Christ to be based primarily on ontological or substantial union with mankind.

Introduction

At the heart of the Christian faith is the resolute conviction that “the Word became human and lived here on earth among us.”^[2] The belief that Jesus Christ is “God with us”^[3] exhibits the foundational driving force of the Christian message – the Incarnation. While the origins of this doctrine are Biblically traceable,^[4] its development has often prompted intense controversy. From the great Christological controversies of the Patristic era^[5] to a more recent debate over the Incarnation as ‘myth’,^[6] such examples illustrate the church’s continual quest to understand what the Incarnation means for humanity within each generational context in which she finds herself. The importance of this doctrine cannot be underestimated, as the age-long struggle concerning issues pertaining to the Incarnation has often led to radical reinterpretation of foundational truths of the Christian faith[7] ­– interpretations that are not always welcomed by the established church community.

As we begin, some remarks concerning the methodology used to achieve this are necessary. The aim of Chapter one will be to provide a ‘bird’s-eye view’ of the historical controversy. This will involve a brief summary of pertinent biographical details of Irving’s life followed by a review of the significant literature that has been written both in support and rejection of his ideas since his death.

Frank H. Billman, The Supernatural Thread in Methodism: Signs and Wonders Among Methodists Then and Now (Creation House, 2013).

This bibliography is part of an excerpt from The Supernatural Thread in Methodism: Signs and Wonders Among Methodists Then and Now by Methodist historian and renewalist Frank Billman.

Related Articles:

• Frank Billman’s introduction to “A Pentecostal Season: The Methodists in England and America”
• “A Pentecostal Season: The Methodists in England and America,” Part 1 (Summer 2018)
• “A Pentecostal Season: The Methodists in England and America,” Part 2 (Fall 2018)

Bibliography

Arnott, John G. The Father’s Blessing: A refreshing move of God that is shaking Toronto-and the world. St. Mary, FL: Charisma Media. 1996.

Badley, Brenton T. Warne of India: The Life-Story of Bishop Francis Wesley Warne. Madras, India: Madras Publishing House. 1932.

Beard, Steve. Thunderstruck: John Wesley and the Toronto Blessing. Wilmore, KY: Thunderstruck Communications. 1996.

Brawley, Vince. “The Lady from Baga.” Mission Society News. August 25, 2011.

Case, Riley. “Cutting out Options for Seminary Education” in We Confess, March/April. 2007.

Chilcote, Paul Wesley. Her Own Story: Autobiographical Portraits of Early Methodist Women. Nashville: Kingswood Books. 2001.

Clark, Randy. Evangelism Unleashed. Mechanicsburg, PA: Global Awakening. 2005.

Clark, Randy. [Compiler]. Supernatural Missions: The Impact of the Supernatural on World Missions. Mechanicsburg, PA: Global Awakening. 2012. [Editor’s note: Read John Lathrop’s review]

Clark, Randy. There Is More!: Reclaiming the Power of Impartation. Mechanicsburg, PA: Global Awakening. 2006.

Crandall, Chauncey. Raising the Dead: A Doctor Encounters the Miraculous. New York: Faith Words. 2010.

Crawford, Mary. The Shantung Revival. Shanghai, China: China Baptist Publication Society. 1933. Reprinted by Global Awakening, Mechanicsburg, PA. 2005.

Crowder, John. Miracle Workers, Reformers, and the New Mystics: How to Become Part of the Supernatural Generation. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image. 2006.

Crowder, John. The Ecstasy of Loving God: Trances, Raptures, and the Supernatural Pleasures of Jesus Christ. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image. 2009.

Dallimore, Arnold A. George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-Century Revival. London: The Banner of Truth Trust. 1970.

Daniels, W. H. The Illustrated History of Methodism in Great Britain and America, From the Days of the Wesleys to the Present Time. New York: Philips & Hunt. 1880.

Davies, Larry. www.sowingseedsoffaith.com. February 26, 2012.

DeArteaga, William. Quenching the Spirit: Discover the REAL Spirit behind the Charismatic Controversy. Creation House. 1996. [Editor’s note: See also William De Arteaga’s author page at PneumaReview.com and Mike Dies’ review]

DeCenso Jr., Frank (ed.). God’s Supernatural Power in You. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image. 2009.

Ferguson, Charles W. Organizing to Beat the Devil: Methodists and the Making of America. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company. 1971.

Galli, Mark. “Revival at Cane Ridge”. Christian History. Issue 45 (Vol. XIV, No.1).

Hebert, Albert. J. Saints Who Raised the Dead: True Stories of 400 Resurrection Miracles. Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers. 1986.

Hyatt, Eddie. 2000 Years of Charismatic Christianity: A 21st Century Look at Church History from a Pentecostal/Charismatic Perspective. Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House. 2002. [Editor’s note: See also Eddie Hyatt’s author page at PneumaReview.com and Raul Mock’s review]

Miraculous healing, falling down under the power, tongues …

Is this Methodist?

For some, this is a more important question than “Is it Biblical?” or “Has it happened before in church history?”

Frank H. Billman, The Supernatural Thread in Methodism: Signs and Wonders Among Methodists Then and Now (Creation House, 2013).

Randy Clark reports that when several Southern Baptist seminary professors of evangelism were asked by phone, “What was the greatest revival in Baptist history?” The response was unanimously, “The Shantung Revival in China.” Healing, falling, electricity, laughing in the spirit, even the raising of the dead is recorded in The Shantung Revival, a book by Mary Crawford, one of the Southern Baptist missionaries who experienced this revival first-hand in the early 1930’s. In the book are accounts of almost everything that has been characteristic of the Toronto Revival and the Pensacola Outpouring. Unfortunately, most Southern Baptists are not aware of what happened during their greatest revival. Several years ago, the book was reprinted with almost all of the phenomena of the Holy Spirit edited out.[1]

Southern Baptists have “sanitized” their history at this point. They have removed historical accounts that are not consistent with their current theology and practices. Some Presbyterians did the same thing when it came to recording the history of the Cambuslang revival. And some Methodists have done the same “sanitizing” of our history in removing many accounts of the supernatural power and manifestations of the Holy Spirit moving among the Methodists.

So, what about the ministries of Wesley, Whitefield and Asbury? Is this stuff Methodist?

Wesley wrote on April 17, 1739, “We called upon God to confirm his word. Immediately one that stood by (to our no small surprise) cried out aloud, with the utmost vehemence, even as in the agonies of death. But we continued in prayer, till a new song was put in her mouth. … Soon after two other persons, … were seized with strong pain, and constrained to roar for the disquietness of their heart.”[4]

Author’s Introduction for excerpt from The Supernatural Thread in Methodism: Signs and Wonders Among Methodists Then and Now

Baptism in the Holy Spirit for power and manifestations of the power of God in healing, deliverance from demons, angelic encounters, falling over, crying out, shouting, jumping, dancing, laughing, trances, dreams, visions, and other such behaviors are often associated with Pentecostalism. And although most Pentecostals can trace their spiritual lineage back to the Methodists, most Pentecostals and most Methodists of all kinds are not aware that all of these experiences and more were widely observed among the first Methodists. When Methodists today comment on such experiences and say, “That’s not Methodist, that’s Pentecostal,” what they don’t realize is that those experiences were Methodist 150 years before there were any Pentecostals!

Frank H. Billman, The Supernatural Thread in Methodism: Signs and Wonders Among Methodists Then and Now (Creation House, 2013).

In August 2017, I was privileged to speak at a summer conference in Estonia on the shores of the Baltic Sea. About 200 people had gathered from multiple countries to be part of this gathering. At the close of the conference we provided the people with a “fire tunnel” where the leaders of the conference formed two lines facing each other and the participants slowly walked through this “tunnel” as the leaders lightly laid hands on them and prayed for them in their native language or in tongues. Numbers of people needed help to stand and walk through the tunnel because the power of God was so strong upon them. A teenaged boy came through and part way through the line he fell to the ground, broke out in loud holy laughter and began rolling. The leaders on the one side of the tunnel had to jump over him as he rolled out of the tunnel.

This was not a Pentecostal conference, it was a United Methodist conference. A United Methodist District Superintendent called the conference. The leaders were Methodists from the US, the UK and Estonia. And the teen who fell and rolled was a United Methodist pastor’s son. I had witnessed my first Methodist Holy Roller! A United Methodist man from Finland happened to be standing at the end of the tunnel when the “Holy Roller” went by. He turned to me and others and said, “What is this? I have never seen anything like this! What is this?” And we explained that this was the power of God moving like he did among the early Methodists.

That man went back to Finland and told people about what he experienced at the Methodist conference in Estonia. In June of this year the United Methodist annual conference of Finland hosted a Life in the Spirit Seminar from Aldersgate Renewal Ministries. The Supernatural Thread continues to be found among the Methodists!

Frank Billman
July 2018

A Pentecostal Season: The Methodists in England and America, Part 1
(Summer 2018)

A Pentecostal Season: The Methodists in England and America, Part 2
(Fall 2018)

See also:

Experiencing Life in the Spirit: an interview with Frank Billman

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.

This compendium of articles put together by Clifton Clarke excels in being a clear, carefully presented and carefully argued account, taking a variety of different theologically-rooted angles on AP (African Pentecostalism). As would be expected, the tone is optimistic and positive to the effect that AP has important significant contributions to make to the wider field of theology, both within Africa, and in the world at large. Being a compendium that includes a variety of work by different authors makes it hard to draw too many conclusions about the whole. I will endeavour to give an enticing flavour of the book below.

The claim aptly made and articulated by Gallegos, that APs being rooted in ‘primal’ ways of thinking gives them advantages in Biblical interpretation over perhaps highly educated but ‘modern’ people, rings true. Pentecostalism in Africa is in some respects a ‘coming of age’. This is a very valuable comment: theological theorists’ search for indigeneity in African Christianity can find many of their answers in AP. AP churches are, in many instances, self-governing, and ready to be outspoken beyond what they have been told by their Western instructors must be right. AP is a part of a great revolution for Africa!

Recent scholarship on the rapid expansion of Christianity in the Global South consistently affirms the Pentecostalization of the church. Scholars are producing histories and theologies on the efforts of Pentecostal missionaries from the Global North and the rise of independent Pentecostal churches (hence the series at hand). In this work, Jakob Egeris Thorsen gives a much-needed history and analysis of another dimension of Global South Pentecostalization, namely the role of Charismatic experience and praxis within Catholic parish life.

In this revision of his PhD dissertation defended at Aarhus University in Denmark, Thorsen delivers a Missionwissenschaft, a methodological blend between science of religion and mission theology, to assess the rise of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) in Latin America and specifically Guatemala. Thorsen argues that the rapid Pentecostalization of the Catholic Church created increased blurring between CCR and the institutional Church. He discovers renewalists who reject institutional religion for more particularistic and countercultural praxis and witness, but paradoxically remain in the tradition and embrace institutional hierarchy.

Thorsen focuses on the religious life of Charismatic and non-Charismatic Catholics in La Colonia, a small parish in the lower middle-class district of Santísima Trinidad on the outskirts of Guatemala City. He conducted six months of fieldwork in this small Guatemalan Charismatic Catholic parish (from June to December 2009) in order to assess the ecclesial contributions of Guatemalan Charismatics, particularly their negotiation of parish life alongside priests, bishops, non-Charismatics, and non-Catholic Pentecostals. Apart from routine participation in weekly parish events, Thorsen concentrated his research on three Charismatic groups, namely, a full-scale Charismatic youth group, a soft-Charismatic Bible study, and an upper middle-class non-parish based Charismatic youth group. He conducted more than thirty interviews of parish members including Charismatic and non-Charismatic parishioners as well as four priests and two Charismatic auxiliary bishops. Along the way, Thorsen reveals his personal connection and possible motivation for this project; he first came to Guatemala as a sixteen-year-old high school exchange student and subsequently converted to Catholicism in his early twenties. Thorsen’s wife is from this community, and their daughter was baptized in this parish. He describes himself as a non-Charismatic lay theologian and a friendly critic of the CCR.

The Case for Miracles marks the latest installment in Lee Strobel’s series of “The Case for…” books. Strobel, a former atheist and award winning legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, is probably best known for his 1998 book, The Case for Christ, and with over twenty books under his belt, he has established himself as a well-respected voice in the world of Christian apologetics.

What makes Strobel’s “cases” so compelling is the fact that, as a journalist with a legal background and the former perspective of an atheist, he tries to employ an objective approach to all his work by taking on the role almost akin to that of a private investigator.

As has come to be expected by those familiar with Strobel’s work, The Case for Miracles takes the form of a series of interviews that function as the various chapters of the book. He takes the bold step of first interviewing Dr. Michael Shermer, founder of The Skeptics Society and editor-in-chief of the magazine, Skeptic. Interestingly, Shermer comes from an antipodal position of being a former Christian turned agnostic. Shermer’s skepticism was cemented with unanswered prayer regarding his college sweetheart who was paralyzed in a car accident. As is often the case with so many who have tuned their back on God, it begins with the perceived radio silence of a God they used to think existed.

Lee Strobel

Shermer makes what appears to be some cogent arguments against the existence of miracles. He cites anecdotal evidence as questionable and inconclusive and goes on to reference The Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP). Through the Harvard Medical School, STEP was a ten-year, $2.4 million clinical trial of the effects of prayer involving 1,802 cardiac bypass patients at six hospitals (p. 51).  The results showed that “there was no difference in the rate of complications for patients who were prayed for and those who were not.” (p. 51). Translate that as ‘prayer changes nothing’, or in Shermer’s words, “That’s not good for your side, Lee.” (p. 52). Shermer goes on to acknowledge the work of Scottish philosopher, David Hume, as influential on his view towards miracles or anything supernatural, saying, “Oh yeah. I think his treatise against miracles is pretty much a knockdown argument. Everything else is a footnote.” (p. 54).

While the first three chapters are dedicated to expounding Michael Shermer’s criterion for miracles being unlikely to impossible, the rest of the book focuses on the evidence that favors miracles. Strobel begins with interviewing Dr. Craig Keener.

At the Craig S. Keener author page at PneumaReview.com you will find numerous articles, reviews, lectures, and videos about biblical studies, including excerpts from Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts.

Craig Keener, a prolific New Testament scholar and author, has among many works, penned a two-volume epic study of miracles. He is quick to refute Hume’s “knockdown” argument against the validity of miracles. “Hume defines miracle as a violation of natural law, and he defines natural law as being principles that cannot be violated. So, he’s ruling out the possibility of miracles at the outset. He’s assuming that which he’s already stated he will prove—which is circular reasoning. In fact, it’s an anti-supernatural bias, not a cogent philosophical argument.”  Keener goes on to cite a number of modern-day miracles that he has investigated. One of the most impressive and moving miracles documents the case of a woman who, due to multiple sclerosis, had deteriorated to the point of death and was in hospice care confined to a bed and unable to care for herself. After a radio station of Moody Bible Institute put out a prayer request for the woman and some 450 Christians shared they were praying for the woman, she heard a voice from behind her say, “My child get up and walk” (p. 103). What resulted was a full and complete recovery that, thirty years later, still confounds the medical community. There are years of medical records to substantiate the illness and recovery, and the attestation of board certified surgeons with thousands of operations under their belts.