He has been called a boring windbag who “…deliberately sets out to be tortuous.”[1] Philip Yancy acknowledges that at times his writings have perplexed him.[2]

They are speaking about the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, whom many have call the Father of Existentialism, although he did not coin the term.

In his book, Philosophy & The Christian Faith, Colin Brown writes that “Kierkegaard deliberately sets out to be tortuous and…in order to bring his reader to the desired goal, Kierkegaard often found it necessary to be devious.”[3]

The author of over 35 books, Soren Kierkegaard’s (1813-1855) writings were mostly ignored outside of his native Denmark until the 20th century.

Anna Louise Strelis Söderquist, St. Olaf College curator of the Hong Kierkegaard Library argues that “Kierkegaard’s work still has burning relevance for us today, wherever we live and whatever our backgrounds, for he meets his reader in the inner depths, where reside the personal, yet universal questions about who one is and how one ought to live.”[4]

Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a devout Christian who was grieved over the condition of the Lutheran church in Denmark, the State Church.

Shelley O’Hara writes, “Kierkegaard was incensed by the lack of involvement it took to be a Christian, and he felt that Official Christianity or Christendom had departed so far from the New Testament teachings that it needed to be torn down and rebuilt…Kierkegaard…was not attacking the teachings of Christianity, but the official way it was sanctioned and carried out by the Lutheran Church at the time.”[5]

His anger was so great toward the Lutheran Church he refused communion while on his death bed.

If you have read or attempted to read Kierkegaard you know that he can be a difficult read and one may wonder if it would be beneficial to read his works.

One would benefit greatly by reading Lee C. Barrett’s (PhD, Yale) instructive book Kierkegaard as Theologian. As Professor of Theology, at Lancaster Theological Seminary at Moravian University, he has written extensively on Kierkegaard including several books and articles.

What makes this book so instructive and helpful, especially for those new to the philosopher’s writings? Before reading selections from Kierkegaard, Barrett summarizes the text in great detail, making Kierkegaard’s writings much easier to understand.

The texts that Barrett’s comments on are several of Kierkegaard’s more familiar writings, including For Self-Examination, Judge For Yourself, Either/Or, The Sickness Unto Death, and Fear and Trembling, among others.

He also explains Kierkegaard’s theological style:

Kierkegaard’s work as an exercise in theology requires some explanation and justification, for Kierkegaard’s writings do not resemble anything remotely like a collection of standard theological texts. If he counts as a theologian at all, he certainly was not a typical one.[6]

At the end of every chapter Barrett supplies questions for reflection, which may prove helpful to readers as they digest and savor what both Kierkegaard and Barrett are saying. It is certainly not a book to rush through.

Barrett’s book simply titled Kierkegaard (Abingdon Press) is another helpful read to understanding Kierkegaard’s writings.

Reviewed by Larry Russi

Publisher’s page: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/tt-clark-reader-in-kierkegaard-as-theologian-9780567670373/

Notes

[1] Colin Brown, Philosophy & The Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,1968),125

[2] Søren Kierkegaard, Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard (Farmington, PA: The Plough Publishing House, 1999, back cover

[3] Colin Brown, Philosophy & The Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,1968),125

[4] Claire Strother, “A World-Renowned Center for the Study of Kierkegaard” St. Olaf Magazine (Spring/Summer 2022), 23.

[5] Shelley O’Hara, Kierkegaard Within Your Grasp (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2004), 6

[6]Lee C. Barrett, ed. T & T Clark Reader in Kierkegaard as Theologian (NY: Bloomsbury, 2018), 1

It is from the Eastern tradition of which Symeon is a part that we are given the foundational, theological concept of theosis. Theosis is the deification of an individual Christian by the grace of God.¹  Deification, also known as divination, is the process by which humanity becomes assimilated, or united with God. This occurs through the energies of God by which God communicates. Deification is understood as a five stage process. The first stage was the deification of human nature that occurred in the Incarnation. As it is based upon the Incarnation, it is concurrently based upon the salvific work of the Christ who was incarnated. It is this salvific work which is the provision of the means for our divination and is the second stage in the process. Deification is, in fact, part of that redemptive work. It is in essence the recapitulation of humanity; that is, it provides for a new ontological reality of humanity.²  It is the τελοσ and culmination of salvation. The third stage is in the initial salvation of the believer which is understood as coming at baptism. The deification of the individual commences in principle at this point. The fourth stage is the process of growth that occurs in the individual believer’s life, the process of emptying of the self and becoming in union with God. This stage is not unlike the concept of Christian perfection as found in Wesleyan thought. The final and full deification of the believer occurs in the reception of the individual into heaven, the beatific vision. For Symeon, deification is the highest possibility for humanity, for it is becoming a god by adoption, not that the creature becomes Creator, but the creature is allowed to share in the divine nature through the grace of God.

Mel Robeck

Flyer about the lecture (available at the time of publication)

Pastor Derek Vreeland gives a brief introduction to an important early church father.

Early Life

Irenaeus, from the Church of St. Irenaeus, Lyon, France.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Little is known about the early life of Irenaeus (c. 130-202). He was born into a Christian home in Asia Minor in modern-day Turkey. Most Catholic histories claim that he was born in Smyrna. (The dates of his birth and death have been debated.)

As a boy he sat under the teaching of Polycarp, who was a disciple of the Apostle John. Polycarp was martyred in 156 AD. The death of Polycarp is legendary. It is recorded that Polycarp was tied to a stake and asked to renounce his faith in Christ. He replied, “For 86 years I have been His servant and he has never done me wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?” Polycarp was sentence to be burned at the stake by the Roman government. According to tradition, when the fire was lit, Polycarp was not consumed by the flames. A Roman guard stabbed him in the side and according to one eyewitness a dove flew out. So much blood poured out from his side that it put the fire out.

As a young man, Irenaeus was quite influenced by Polycarp. Irenaeus wrote,

I can tell the very place in which the blessed Polycarp used to sit when he preached his sermons, how he came in and went out, the manner of his life, what he looked like, the sermons he delivered to the people, and how he used to report his association with John and the others who had seen the Lord, how he would relate their words, and the things concerning the Lord he had heard from them, about His miracles, and teachings. Polycarp had received all this from eyewitnesses of the Word of life, and related all these things in accordance with the Scriptures. I listened eagerly to these things at the time, by God’s mercy which was bestowed on me, and I made notes of them not on paper, but in my heart, and constantly by the grace of God I mediate on them faithfully.[i]

His connection to Polycarp puts Irenaeus in a special category. Irenaeus was discipled by Polycarp who was discipled by John who was discipled by Jesus himself.

At sometime during Irenaeus’ early years he moved to Lyons in South France. Lyons was the capital of the Roman occupied France. It was a booming city known for its many merchants. The church in Lyons was planted by missionaries from Asia Minor. So for Irenaeus the church in South France was a kindred spirit with the church in Asia Minor.

Days of ministry

Location of Lugdunum in Gaul, renamed Lyons in the Medieval Period.

The Bishop of the church in Lyons was Pothinus, a native of Asia Minor. At sometime during the early 170s, Irenaeus became a presbyter at the church in Lyons. In 177, Pothinus sent Irenaeus on a mission trip to Rome. This was during the brutal persecution of the Stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius. The emperor was infuriated by the confidence and faith of Christians who had a greater peace than that of his Stoic mentors. Often Aurelius would crucify Christians along the roadsides through the Roman Empire. On one occasion, he surrounded his palace garden with crucified Christians and lit them on fire to light the garden at night.

Pothinus was martyred during 177 or 178 AD during a time of persecution in Lyons. Irenaeus was spared while he was away. When he returned in 178, he was installed as the second bishop of Lyons. From there he taught and wrote until his death sometime between 200 and 206 A.D.) As bishop, Irenaeus had that heart of a pastor. He was also a unifier. He was often called upon as a moderator when debates broke out in the Church. For example, there was a debate over whether Easter should be celebrated on Nisan 14 according to the Jewish Passover or on a Sunday, the day of the resurrection. Irenaeus continually submitted that the dates of religious holidays where not more important than maintaining the bond of love and unity in the Church.

Image: Ralf Roletschek

Zachary Tackett, “Why I Became A Pentecostal Theologian” Ecclesiam (April 12, 2016).

Zachary Tackett has written a beautiful brief personal testimony about why he is a Pentecostal theologian, and I offer my heartiest AMEN to his ecumenical Pentecostal vision.

Zachary Tackett

“The message of Pentecost declared that all peoples – of all languages and ethnicities, women and men, poor and wealthy – were to participate together and fully as family.”

http://ecclesiam.com/2016/04/why-i-became/

Gordon D. Fee, PhD (University of Southern California) is Professor Emeritus of New Testament Studies at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada.

The Society for Pentecostal Studies held a special session to honor the life and work of Dr. Gordon Fee in November 2014 as a part of the joint American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature annual meetings held in San Diego, California.

See “The Legacy of a Pentecostal Theological Educator: Gordon Fee” that I wrote for the January 2015 issue of The Pentecostal Educator Newsletter (available as of Jan 18, 2015 at this address: http://wapte.org/the-pentecostal-educator-newsletter/)

A lifelong educator and leading scholar of Pauline pneumatology, Fee is the author of numerous books including:

Co-authored with Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Zondervan, 1981, 1993, 2003, 2014)

God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul (Baker, 1994, 2009)

Co-authored with Mark L. Strauss, How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth: A Guide to Understanding and Using Bible Versions (Zondervan, 2007) [Read the review by John Lathrop]

Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Eerdmans, 1995)

Philippians, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (IVP, 1999)

Listening to the Spirit in the Text (Eerdmans, 2000) [Read the review by Steven Brooks]

Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study (Hendrickson, 2007) [Read the review by Bradford McCall]

Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God (Hendrickson/Baker Academic, 1996)

To What End Exegesis?: Essays Textual, Exegetical, and Theological (Eerdmans, 2001)

Co-authored with Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour (Zondervan, 2009)

Codex Sinaiticus in the Gospel of John: A Contribution to Methodology in Establishing Textual Relationships, Studies in the Theory and Method of New Testament Textual Criticism (Eerdmans, 1993)

Because of the onset of Alzheimer’s, his final publication will be his revised and updated commentary The First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New International Commentary on the New Testament (Eerdmans, 1987, 2014).

Find numerous audio recordings (MP3s and CDs) of Gordon Fee, including entire lecture series, available from RegentAudio: http://www.regentaudio.com/collections/gordon-fee

Rick and his wife, Jenn, meeting Gordon Fee.

Videos from the SPS Session Honoring Gordon Fee

• Blaine Charette, Mark Fee, Russell Spittler, and Murray Dempster (Blaine Charette chaired the special session)
• Sven Soderlund
• Andrew Lincoln (shared by John Christopher Thomas)
• Rick Watts
• Marianne Meye Thompson
• Ron Herms
• Gordon Fee’s Response

It was, to be sure, a celebration that brought us to tears multiple times.

I first heard of Symeon the New Theologian from one of my professors in seminary, Steven J. Land. Dr. Land defended a dissertation on Pentecostal Spirituality, which has now become a standard text for students of Pentecostal theology. One of the prime examples of proto-Pentecostal mysticism used in the text is Symeon the New Theologian, a 10^th century mystic. Since my first encounter in seminary, I have desired to examine Symeon’s writings in person and being Slavic in background I have been partially able to do so because some are available through the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Therefore, I was thrilled when St. Vladimir’s Seminary published the trilogy in English. The point I would like get across is that if you are a Pentecostal scholar, reading Symeon’s writings is a must.

Do not be scared by the word mystical. Reading Symeon, one quickly finds out that the Pentecostalism experienced in any given holiness church is much more drastic, than any mystical example Symeon may have had.

Symeon’s writings do not fit a concrete type of literature. They explain theology in laymen’s terms, while taking the reader to the depth of the most intense theological discussions of the ages. Much like a Pentecostal testimony, the words have a way of bringing the experience of God close to the heart, while at the same time exalting His glory to the highest of all.

Therefore, a true Pentecostal commentary of the trilogy must begin with Symeon’s testimony of his experience. It is hardly an enigma to recognize that Symeon speaks about the same experience, which we Pentecostals testify of – the experience of the Holy Spirit. He describes the event as “seeing the light” that is felt emotionally and physically and which transforms the soul with its divine power.

The first volume, entitled The Church and the Last Thing, begins with the Genesis stories of the Creation, Adam and Eve in the Garden, the first sin and God’s pan for salvation. For the Western reader, this approach resembles Augustine’s De Civitate Dei. For the Eastern Pentecostal reader it is similar to the sermons we were accustomed to under the Communist Regime, where the pastor would begin a message with Genesis and finish with Revelation. And for any Pentecostal, Symeon’s approach reveals God’s plan for man and His divine provision through the ages in the ultimate goal of history beginning with the first creation and finishing with the already-not-yet eschatological reality.

Eschatology for Symeon is not just the last things, but the first things now made perfect by God. It is both near and immanent, much like the Pentecostal expectation of the Lord’s return. It includes Israel, the Heavens and the Judgment Day. Interestingly, Symeon brings in the experience of a personal new beginning based on a free human will. He sees the end as closely connected to the personal choice for eternity. The terms “foreordained” and “called” are examined in the saying “Those Whom He Foreknew, the Same He Also Predestined.” The claim that some are elected and others rejected is refused by Symeon with the simple, but strong words: “Did he ever say to some: ‘Do not repent for I will not accept you?’ … Of course not!”

The second volume, dedicated to the life of the Christian believer, comes as close to a Pentecostal experience as can be imagined. Symeon is quick to point out his own experience with God identifying it with the words of the apostle, “He appeared also to me” (1 Corinthians 15:8).

He speaks of the conscious possession of the Holy Spirit, claiming that one cannot “have” the Spirit and not know about it. For Symeon, the knowledge of the Spirit is the experience of the Sprit accompanied with feelings and emotions. For “only the dead feel nothing,” but when you possess the Spirit you know because you can feel. How close is this terminology to the Pentecostal, “I’ve got the Holy Ghost” and “I feel it. I feel it?” To the skeptic, Symeon further declares: “Do not say that it is impossible to receive the Spirit of God. … On the contrary, it is entirely possible when one desires it.”

Symeon continues with the statement, that the believer is “called to see God in this life.” The conscious possession of the Holy Spirit is not only a personal experience with God, it is a present eschatological foreseeing and a prophetic anticipation of what is yet to come. According to Symeon, “Hearsay is not enough. The saints describe what they have seen” (emphasis mine); therefore, “through the Holy Spirit the saints become eyewitnesses of the world to come.”

In the last volume, Symeon speaks of the Christian sacraments clearly differentiating between the sacramental and personal experience of God. His theological overview articulates the incarnation, but refuses to explain the Trinity with human terms. Instead, Symeon calls the Church to “participate in the life of the Trinity,” again juxtaposing theological reasoning against personal experience of God. This particular practice is accompanied with an interesting note from the author about church politics. In a typical mystical manner, Symeon urges the believer to follow the mandate of the Spirit rather than the mandate of the Church.

The trilogy presents the New Theologian as new in name, but old in religion and original in the personal experience of God. This fact proves that through the ages, there have always been people searching for God with an open heart and experiencing His presence in a Pentecostal manner. It further defines the Pentecostal experience of the Spirit as the true restoration of the Early Church praxis. And finally, it proves Land’s thesis that Pentecostalism is more Orthodox than Catholic and more Eastern than Western.

When I became Pentecostal, I did not know this would become the “new fad” of 21st century spirituality. What I knew was that I experienced God personally and He personally saved my soul. Symeon’s testimony is not much different and can be summed up in one statement: one can make the reality of heaven the reality of this life by having a real experience with God.

Reviewed by Dony K. Donev

Part 1 of 2

Introduction

In 1985 Dave Hunt, a lay cult watcher, published one of the most influential books of the 1980s, The Seduction of Christianity.¹ In that work he lambasted much of the leadership of the charismatic renewal for “seducing” the American Christianity with ideas and practices derived from occult sources. He attacked Mrs. Agnes Sanford and her writing with particular severity. Hunt claimed that her syncretistic theology was little more that witchcraft and shamanism, and should be totally rejected by the Christian community. Hunt was convinced that the ministry she pioneered, inner healing, was especially occultic and dangerous to Christians.²

In my work, Quenching the Spirit, I argued that such characterizations are destructive and untrue. Critics such as Hunt do not take into account the tragic situation within Nineteenth Century “orthodox” Christianity which labeled any form of healing prayer as cultic and heretical. The consensus orthodoxy of the era stressed the doctrine of cessationism, which also declared the gifts of the Spirit as unavailable in the current age. This theology combined with an unrecognized dependence on philosophical realism that came into both Catholicism and Protestantism from the late Middle Ages. The result was that the consensus orthodoxy of the era left no room for the role of the believer’s faith to move in healing prayer or in the gifts of the Spirit.³

An overview of the Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries shows a pattern in which the Holy Spirit moved the Church away from its cessationism-realism based theology. The Spirit simultaneously inspired different groups and individuals towards theologies that reincorporated the gifts of the Spirit. This allowed for a more active understanding of the role of mind, acting through faith in Christ, to activate the miraculous powers of the Kingdom of God. This was a move toward theologies based on moderate idealism, that is, that mind, with faith, can influence matter, as in healing and the miraculous, and away from theological systems based on radical realism where the Christian merely petitions that God act.⁴ A characteristic of faith-idealism is that physical evidence is of less immediate concern than the witness of the Word of God.

The restoration of the power of the Holy Spirit has come to fruition in the 21^st century. The charismatic renewal has touched nearly every segment of the Church around the world. It is exciting to be part of a spiritual movement that has affected literally hundreds of millions of people. Yet this restoration of Pentecostal power did not come about without a countless number of willing servants—pastors, evangelists, theologians and writers—who sacrificed much to proclaim the Word of God in its charismatic fullness. Many of their stories have been told; many have not. Pentecostal pioneers such as William Seymour, John G. Lake & Smith Wigglesworth have been celebrated in books, journal articles and publications. Pre-Pentecostal voices such as A. B. Simpson, R. A. Torrey, A. J. Gordon, Andrew Murray and others have been documented and many of their writings are still in circulation. But there is one story that still remains in the shadows. It is the story of Edward Irving. He lived a life of controversy and spiritual awakening. He was a pastor, leader, theologian and author. The noted British poet, Samuel Coleridge said of Irving, “I hold that Edward Irving possesses more of the spirit and purpose of the first Reformers, that he has more of the Head and Heart, the Life, the Unction, and the genial power of Martin Luther, than any man now alive…”¹ Edward Irving was a reformer. He called the Church to reclaim apostolic charismatic power, the power of the Holy Spirit.

Early Years

Edward Irving (1792-1834), circa 1823.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Edward Irving was born on August 4, 1792 in Annan, Scotland, the second son of Gavin and Mary Irving. Edward was baptized at the Annan Parish Church, a local Presbyterian congregation. As a child he attended a school led by Adam Hope, who often led Irving and others to the nearby village of Ecclefechan on Sunday morning. They attended a Seceder Church, which met in a thatched meeting-house with no roof.² At age ten or eleven, Irving walked with Hope and other men to the church and was intrigued by their conversations about philosophy and theology. As a child, Irving sensed a call to serve the Lord in full time ministry.

At age thirteen, Irving entered the University at Edinburgh to undertake a course of study in liberal arts. After four years of sacrifice, dedication and tireless study, Irving graduated with a Master of Arts degree at the age of seventeen. Within the next year, Irving received a teaching position in Haddington, which gave him financial support to pursue a part-time course of study in Divinity at the University in Edinburgh. By age twenty, Irving was promoted to schoolmaster of a new school in Kirkcaldy. Irving was extremely popular among the students there.³ Irving continued his theological studies and completed his Divinity degree in six years. His degree was accompanied by a license to preach. This was not ordination from the Church of Scotland, but a license that allowed him to speak from the pulpit when invited by a minister. Irving continually developed his preaching style during this time, which consisted of polished oratory and sophisticated sounding phrases. He preached with quite a flamboyant style that somewhat annoyed the people of Kirkcaldy and excited others.

Ministry in Glasgow

In 1819, Irving received the call to serve as the assistant of Dr. Thomas Chalmers at St. John’s Church in Glasgow. As an assistant to Chalmers, Irving was responsible for visiting the poor and sharing the preaching duties. The two men preached in completely different styles. Each appealed to different groups in the church. Some detested Irving’s flamboyant preaching to the degree that if they would find that he was preaching on a Sunday morning, they would walk out. Often Irving passed scores of people walking out of the church, while he was walking in to preach.⁴ He faithfully administered his duties, but never felt fully satisfied. In 1822, Irving was invited to fill the pulpit at The Caledonian Chapel in London for a few Sundays. The church officials were looking for a pastor and after hearing Irving preach, they unanimously called him to serve as their full time minister. He accepted. After receiving ordination from the Church of Scotland at his home church in Annan, he took on the pastorate of The Caledonian Chapel in London in July of 1822 at the age of thirty.