Tag: Charismatic Christianity

Bookshelf Challenge: Week 4-5

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I failed to post the update last week, but I read two books for weeks 4-5 of the Bookshelf Challenge. One is on the shelf, the other is only a digital copy so it could not be added to the shelf for the picture. 🙂

  • Sam Storms, Convergence: Spiritual Journeys of a Charismatic Calvinist (Kansas City, MO: Enjoying God Ministries, 2005). paperback (see my post about receiving it HERE)
  • Tremper Longman, III, Old Testament Commentary Survey (5th Ed.; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013). Logos digital edition. (see my review of this volume HERE)

Storms offers a fine testimony of his journey as a Calvinist theologian to understanding, appreciating and participating the continuation of the charismata of the Spirit. In the second half (after his story is told), he offers a number of theological issues worth consideration by both those self-describing as Calvinists and those self-describing as Charismatics (with the understanding that most often each group may in fact look with disdain upon the other). Overall this is a decent volume worth reading to begin the conversation toward a greater appreciation of the catholicity of the Church. Thanks again to my sister, Holly, for sending this volume to me for my birthday last year. I have been slowly reading it in a somewhat devotional manner (as opposed to many of the books I read).
Longman’s latest update to his review of Old Testament commentaries is always welcome. He offers his own rankings of various commentary series, specific volumes and authors. It is an incredibly helpful tool for pastors, Bible college, and seminary students as they work to build up a reference library of commentaries on various books of the OT. It was with great appreciation that Logos sent me a complimentary copy to review.
 

The Gift of the Charismatic Calvinist

ConvergenceIt was my birthday this last week and one of my sisters, Holly (may her name be blessed forever for buying me books for my birthday 😉 ), purchased a book for me which was on my Amazon wishlist (apparently she didn’t want to buy the other nearly 200 volumes on said list…). She called to tell me as much, but did not mention just which book it was. I was elated this afternoon to open the mail and discover she had purchased Sam Storms Convergence: Spiritual Journeys of a Charismatic Calvinist (Kansas City, MO: Enjoying God Ministries, 2005).
Now some of you are already thinking, “You can’t be BOTH a Charismatic and a Calvinist…aren’t those an oxymoron like jumbo shrimp, found missing, or pretty ugly?” Sam Storms recognizes this tension (even proposed contradiction) and addresses it in his forward. He writes about those in each “camp” who cannot fathom their being any mixing of the two:

“Many of my friends and colleagues over the years have questioned my wisdom, if not my sanity, in seeking to live and minister in both worlds. Some of those from “Orlando” [representing Calvinists] have insisted, often zealously, that people who speak in tongues rarely engage in serious theological reflection. They’ve tried to convince me that people who pray expectantly for miraculous healings are inclined to minimize the importance of Greek exegesis. Quite a few have suggested that my being a Calvinist is inconsistent with belief in the spiritual gift of prophecy.
Those from “Anaheim” [representing the Charismatics] have also voiced their concerns. Some fear that my unflinching affirmation of the sovereignty of God will either kill my evangelistic zeal or undermine any sense of urgency in prayer, or perhaps both. They are often suspicious of my emphasis on the mind and the critical importance of history and tradition. Although few have said it openly, I can sense their uneasiness with my persistent and meticulous habit of subjecting all claims of supernatural phenomena to the test of Scripture. Beneath it is the worry that excessive devotion to biblical precision will either breed dogmatic arrogance or quench the Spirit or, again, both.
I didn’t buy into such false dichotomies then, and I don’t buy into them now. (pp.7-8)

While I am neither a self-confessed “Charismatic” or “Calvinist,”* I do find great strength in the contributions of these (professedly) divergent streams of the Faith. I’ve been looking forward to reading this volume for some time now and I personally believe it can only strengthen the church to be more “catholic” (with a little ‘c’) in its self-understanding and embrace of the wider potential for enriching ourselves and our communities of faith.
What are your thoughts? If you are Calvinistic, is their room for being Charismatic? If you are Charismatic, is there room for being Calvinistic?
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* While I do not profess to being a “Charismatic Calvinist” I do profess to being “Reformed and Pentecostal” (the distinctions are not unimportant to my thinking).