Jeremiah Campbell (DMin, Talbot School of Theology) has written a very accessible volume in defense of connections between tongues as prophetic speech and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. He offers what would be deemed a Classic Pentecostal interpretation of tongues as initial physical evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and presumes this throughout his readings of both Scriptural and historical testimonies. This volume is written to address issues which outsiders might have regarding the connection of tongues to the Baptism and to offer answers to objections regarding such.

Campbell opens with his own brief personal testimony (in good Pentecostal fashion) of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. He then offers a five part “journey” (essentially an apologetic journey) with brief coverage of: (1) the role of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, (2) the filling of the Spirit in the Old Testament (he prefers “Covenant”), (3) the filling of the Spirit in the New Testament, (4) the filling of the Spirit in Church history, and (5) the filling of the Spirit and Pentecostal renewal.

The first part presumes that a Trinitarian reading will give appropriate direction to all that follows. It reads a number of Biblical texts as indicating Trinitarian beliefs and confessions. While such might be well received by individuals already in agreement with Trinitarian beliefs the arguments are a-historical in context (with the specific use of “Lord” in the confessions of Paul, on which one might examine the extensive work of Gordon Fee’s Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study).  Further, it is a curiosity that Campbell does not properly represent the use of YHWH in the English translation he makes use of (NIV1984) which indicates the name as LORD.

Jeremiah Campbell

In the second part, Campbell offers a brief argument for the connection between prophetic speech and the fullness of the Spirit. The “fullness” is presumed in the texts examined though it may simply be that he has chosen this as the leading metaphor to identify the various terms regarding Spirit endowment/experience. This connection to prophetic speech is likely one of the best offerings in this overall volume (which follows the work of Roger Stronstad’s The Prophethood of All Believers). While Campbell examines many of the texts of the OT which use the Hebrew ruah (“S/spirit”), he selectively offers only those deemed connected to prophetic speech. Thus, for example, he does not address the Spirit upon Joseph (as indicated by Pharaoh) or Bezalel and Oholiab. The former would seem to fit his overall trajectory in this chapter. While there are numerous gaps in his argument regarding the OT (which presuppose a Pentecostal interpretation apart from literary or historical interpretations), he is to be commended in continuing the work of Stronstad regarding prophetic speech in relation to tongues-speech and Spirit baptism. One caveat would be to note that Spirit experiences are not limited to prophetic speech, but include prophetic acts (such as Ezekiel’s mock Jerusalem, tongues of fire, or Paul’s belt).

The third part attempts to reconcile the oft noted differences between the Lucan theology of the Spirit in Luke-Acts and the Pauline. Many may be unsatisfied with his attempt, but it is commendable that he should address such as a hurdle to appreciating the preferential treatments of a given Biblical voice as determining how one might read other voices in the NT. Notable gaps in his reading of the NT would be Spirit endowment in the writings attributed to John which offer yet another distinct voice to the NT witness of the experience/s of the Spirit.

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to reveal the initial development of the teaching on the Holy Spirit in the life of Alexander Campbell, founder of the movement named the Disciples of Christ. Campbell’s pneumatology must be placed within the context of American history in the nineteenth century. Beginning with the influence of Cane Ridge and Millennialism on his theology, his weak pneumatology led to an insipid work of the Spirit through the denomination’s history. However, in the charismatic renewal of the twentieth century, Don Basham stood boldly against the rationalistic atmosphere of his church and became well-known for his teachings on deliverance and casting out demons. Consequently, the initial aspect of the paper contains the early history of Campbell’s pneumatology. The second part is a revelation of the charismatic Spirit’s work in one of Campbell’s followers, Don Basham. Though the two appear theologically different, the thesis of the paper is that the operation of the Holy Spirit is the amputated element of Campbell’s theology which is renewed by the baptism in the Holy Spirit in Don Basham and the mainline churches.

Alexander Campbell (1788 – 1866).

The indigenous growth of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in America has a remarkable background and history. As Alexander Campbell searched for a way to end partisan bickering among Presbyterians in Scotland, his company of Christians became one of the largest church movements in American history. As Kevin Ranaghan wrote in his journalistic description of the movement, “one type of revival movement, called Campbellite stressed the word of God well enough, but the word as understood and interpreted by ‘good common sense.’ From the somewhat more rationalistic revival emerged the Disciples of Christ in the north and the Christian Church in the south.”[1] Because the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) had a diluted pneumatology, the Spirit’s presence was submerged in the past 180 years limiting revival and renewal in its members.

Cane Ridge

Interior of the original meeting house at Cane Ridge, Kentucky. Image: Chris Light.

Cane Ridge became known for its unusual manifestations of the Spirit. Though many churches were calm and quiet places of reflection, this experience was diametrically different. Leroy Garrett recorded in the The Stone-Campbell Movement, a graphic description of the “exercises” manifested at Cane Ridge:

They consisted of laughing and singing, the jerks, falling and even screaming and barking. The falling and screaming would sometimes go together, leaving the subject as if he were dead. The jerks were mostly a head movement, which sometimes agitated the whole body. Some people became amazingly acrobatic, for they would stand in one place and jerk backwards and forward with their head almost touching the ground…witnesses would see people on hands and knees in the woods, making the noise with uplifted hands, and would report that ‘they barked up trees like dogs.’[4]

This event was a Pentecost experience before Azusa Street was a reality. C. Dwight Dorough in The Bible Belt Mystique added that “persons were very often favored with visions and heavenly singing.”[5] This early nineteenth century worship was a precursor to what the twentieth century would encounter with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Yet, Alexander Campbell, a rationalist and devout reader of the intellectual philosopher John Locke never incorporated emotional worship into his church.