Has anyone ever asked you, “Are you one of them tongue-talkers?” After you get your eyes to stop rolling, you have to decide whether or not to do a witty comeback (no, this is not the kind of response I usually choose, but it appeals to my flesh to think about it) “Well, yes, aren’t you? I know if the early church needed it, I sure do.” Or, you may decide to calmly and lovingly offer a defense for what you believe about praying in the Spirit and tongues with interpretation. But what about the out-of-the-blue statement, “All you [insert your “label” here] ever talk about is tongues”? Your mouth drops and you say, “Wait, didn’t you just bring it up?”
If the early church needed it, I sure do.
Any regular reader of this journal knows we talk about a great deal more than just glossolalia. I am glad that Pentecostals, charismatics, and those that are open but cautious regarding the gifts of the Spirit can agree on so many things. In our unity on essentials, we have diverse beliefs about many other subjects. May you find something in this issue that challenges and instructs you and which God may use to deepen you.
Raul L. Mock is one of the founders and directors of the Pneuma Foundation and editor of The Pneuma Review. Raul has been part of an Evangelical publishing ministry since 1996, working with Information Services and Supply Chain Management for more than two decades. He and his wife, Erin, live in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. LinkedIn
Pastor-scholar Tony Richie takes on a cessationist critic of glossolalia. Ronald E. Baxter, Charismatic Gift of Tongues (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1981), 149 pages. I can think of only two reasons why anyone would want to read this book: as an unavoidable assignment for a book review or to shore up shallow prejudice against…
The Full Picture of Passover by Kevin Williams will continue his Messianic Foundations Series. The Praying in the Spirit Series by Robert W. Graves continues with The Focus of the Charismatic Experience: Tongues, the Holy Spirit, or Christ? Baptism with the Spirit: Is it Normal to Receive at or after Conversion? by Michael…
R. T. Kendall, Holy Fire: A Balanced, Biblical Look at the Holy Spirit’s Work in Our Lives (Lake Mary: Charisma House, 2014), 256 pages, ISBN 9781621366041. R.T. Kendall (DPhil, Oxford University) is no stranger to controversy. Raised in the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition he converted to Calvinism as an adult. Yet his scholarship has challenged contemporary Calvinist…
This chart is from part 2 of the sixth chapter of the Praying in the Spirit Series. Figure 3 Charismata in the Post-Apostolic Church Robert Graves Robert W. Graves, M. A. (Literary Studies, Georgia State University), is the co-founder and president of The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship, Inc., a non-profit organization supporting Pentecostal scholarship through…
Wolfgang Vondey, The Scandal of Pentecost: A Theology of the Public Church (New York: T&T Clark, 2024), 269 pages, ISBN 9780567712646. Here is a book that lingers in the mind like an unresolved chord. In the cacophony of modern theology, where the church often whispers from the shadows of institutional safety, Wolfgang Vondey’s The Scandal…
This past Pentecost Sunday I was invited to preach at my old parish, Light of Christ Church, a charismatic Anglican church in Marietta, Georgia. I was utterly delighted, and determined that I would not only preach Pentecost, but encourage Pentecost. The four suggested readings were all on the Holy Spirit, except for the suggested Psalm….
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