Introduction
The Church as a whole debates many concepts that are in the Bible, in both theology and in practice. One of these debates surrounds the gifts that are spoken of in the Bible. In one corner are those who believe that charismatic gifts are alive and well in the church today. The Continuationist view believes that the gifts have continued on through Biblical times and are still relevant for today. In the other corner are those who believe that particular gifts have ceased to be used in the modern church and that they were only given for a particular reason in Biblical times. This view is called the Cessationist. Today each view, and other views in between, and the practice of the gifts in the current culture will be examined for truth, validity, and application by searching through each view and holding fast to the scripture as the final word of authority.
It would do well to understand what exactly is being debated before the journey is taken to explore who believes what. Charismatic gift are the central issue but that in itself does not say a lot. What exactly is a charismatic gift? Paul gives several lists of gifts in his epistles. There are two distinctive lists that come from First Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 among others. At the heart of the issue is not the all the gifts in general for they include preaching, teaching, and administration. There are not many that would disagree that there are those in the body who have these gifts. The gifts that are in question are more of the super natural gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophesying, interrupting tongues, and healings. Also within the argument one must also have to agree that the gifts are given for different purposes based on their presumptions.
Gifts in Current Culture
Body says that these gifts were given by the Holy Spirit to carry out ministry. However there are those who believe that speaking in tongues is a private communication with God, therefore there would have to be a slightly different position on why they were given. Continuationist with this view often use First Corinthians 13:1 to support this view in speaking of tongues of men and angels, however in context his view has no solid basis. Hodge says that Paul is speaking of a language defined as a known meaning of expression weather divine or human, the main point being that these are worth nothing without love.
Pentecostalism is considered one of the greatest universal movement that transformed immensely the history of Christianity. It emphasized a personal interaction with God facilitated by baptism of the individual by Holy Spirit (Alexander, 43). One of the proponents of Pentecostalism is William Seymour. He is regarded as the initiator of Pentecostal movement because of his fundamental teachings on the role of Holy Spirit in a Christian’s life (Heaton 35). Therefore, this research paper aims to describe the contributions of William Seymour to evolution of Pentecostalism. The guiding thesis is that Seymour orchestrated the Pentecostal movement that swept the nation all over the world, which later contributed to the creation of new religious denominations that shared common beliefs, practices, and customs.
In the first chapter of Psychology in Christian Perspective by Harold W. Faw the author talks about psychology as a subject, the different aspects of the subject and how psychology fits into the Christian world. Faw begins the chapter by describing what others think psychology and his views on psychology as well. He describes that “psychology can be described as a systematic attempt to understand human behavior and conscious experience” (Faw, 1995, p. 12). He then goes on to describe the many different types of specialties of psychology which include, neurobiological, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and psychoanalytic. These specialties are then integrated into the Christian worldview. They are all different so they all fit into
This Revival occurred as an expression of social and theological discontent among the nation’s lower and middle-class groups. Advocates for holiness disapproved of the impiety in forefront denominations and were alienated by the growing wealth and grandiosity of their churches. With dissatisfaction in these principal churches, they formed new religious communities devoted to the theological doctrine of perfectionism. These previous Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists believed they were experiencing a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit which bore a resemblance to the early church experience as described in the book of Acts in the Bible. The Holiness Revival produced zeal for "Baptism of the Holy Spirit" (a heavenly enablement for believers) and for other gifts of the Holy Spirit such as healing and prophecy (Dieter, 1996). Holiness leaders such as John Alexander Dowie, Charles Cullis, and Albert B. Simpson set up healing missions across the U.S. They, like other holiness advocates, believed a new, miraculous era of the spirit was taking place which would end in the second coming of Christ (Dieter,
of each other. Regardless, there are still Christian counselors or therapists that use (or in a
Paul declares in 1st Corinthians that to each of God’s children a spiritual gift has been given. Over the years of my walk with the Lord I have concluded that I possess the noticeable gift of speaking in tongues and perhaps the gift of discerning spirits. As we have been learning about our proclivities towards certain strengths, I have been thinking about different ways mine are useful in and for the Church. Analytical is in my top 5 and it greatly assists my ability to learn and discern during the teaching of the Word. As Gallup puts it on their website, I have a “prove it” mentality. Therefore, habitually, I scrutinize everything the speaker says and cross-reference it against my bank of theological knowledge. However, I realize that I
A true spiritual leader follows the example of God. In the allegory, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Elizabeth Proctor and Reverend Parris’ actions prove that ordination does not necessarily mean sound spiritual leadership. Miller uses the backdrop of the 1692 witch hunts to criticize the flawed society of Puritanism. The play is also a critique of McCarthyism in the United States of America which occurred in the 1950’s. Goody Proctor, a simple farmer’s wife, is the moral centre for John and becomes the voice of his salvation. Elizabeth’s honesty is compromised when she gives it up in an attempt to save her husband. Elizabeth’s
“Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity” (2010) is about the purposeful integration of psychology and Christianity. Entwistle, discusses the integration of scripture and nature, holding to historic orthodox Christianity that “Scripture and the natural world have their origins in God’s creativity and revelation” (Entwistle, 2010, p. 136). Theology clarifies the Word of God (Bible), and Psychology corresponds with the works of God. A working definition of integration is offered,
In the book, The Gifts and Ministry of the Holy Spirit, Sumrall states the meaning of spiritual gift comes from the Greek word called “charisma”. Charisma
When mentioned to the general public, the word “Pentecostalism” generates three diverse responses: confusion, mockery, and tolerance; some people never heard of the word, some people view it as being infamous, and the rest accept it. According to the Oxford dictionary, Pentecostalism “relates to any number of Christian sects emphasizing baptism in the Holy Spirit.” Misconceptions originated from the misunderstanding of the history of Pentecostalism, along with the notion that Pentecostalism is one sect when, in fact, there are many divisions. The largest of these is the teachings of Charismatic’s, which make up the most prevalent part of the denomination and have been the driving force for the assumptions and reputation that Pentecostalism has garnered. To truly understand Pentecostalism, one needs to learn the religions history, the standard beliefs of the various sects, and the contemporary changes that some followers have made in the recent years that have fueled the current fallacy about the belief system.
Following is the Evangelical theology which evolved from the Pietism and Revivalist movement (Olson 33). Charles Finney, a leader in Evangelism, emphasized the need and ability to evangelize the world while also maintaining the power of free will” thereby influencing all but not trying to control the mind of the masses (Lane 253, 254). As well as being a supreme authority Evangelist’s believe that because the Bible was written by man through God’s instruction the Bible is both fully man’s and God’s (256). Furthermore, because the words written by man come directly from God the Bible is God’s holy word and everything it contains is true (257). The Evangelicals believed that “the Bible is the supreme authority for faith and practice” and it is Christ who redeemed us through the cross (Bingham 162).
Jesus’ charismatic authority was succeeded by a combination of traditional and legal-rational authority after death. The routinization of charisma is instigated by social change, as his followers’ rekindled faith is unyielding in the fact that he will return (Taylor, 2012:201). Jesus’ followers’ began to claim to see him alive and even achieved the same miracles Jesus did (Taylor, 2012: 201). The process of routinization began, as his authority was conveyed to both the apostles and canon. Apostles also had powers of performing miracles such as healing believers and ostracizing the devil. Since their hope of Jesus returning was prolonged, his positive charisma became routinized with the founding of priesthood. Prior to his death, power was bestowed
It’s interesting studying Psychology from the perspective as Jesus Christ being the Chief of all psychology. It is already known by Christians that Christ is the Co-Creator of humankind. Genesis 1:26 (NKJV) states, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth”. However, the Christian’s outlook regarding this passage of Scripture is usually very limited only considering the exterior creation of mankind. When God made humanity, He also created the mind of man. Who can better give instructions to the people which walk this earth other than its Creator? Eric Johnson emphatically shares, “God created all things and continues to hold them together by the word of his power” (pg 46). Nothing was made without Him, including the mind which exists in man. It is crucially necessary for psychologists who profess a relationship with Jesus Christ to also consistently be in prayer to have the mind of Christ while being responsible for their areas of professions.
In the most widely quoted and discussed model of presidential power, Richard Neustadt states that the power of the president lies in the power to persuade. According to Neustadt, the key to presidential success and influence is persuasion. Although some may view the president as a powerful authority figure, the checks and balances established by the founders makes the president’s skills of persuasion crucial.
The word “charismatic” comes from the Greek charismata, which means gifts of grace. This is the word that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 12 when describing gifts like wisdom, healing, prophecy and speaking in tongues. A charismatic Christian believes that all of these gifts - including the miraculous ones - are for today, and many charismatics claim to operate in such gifts. “Charismatic” is often mixed up or confused with “Pentecostal”, and it’s not really surprising since the two words have very similar meanings. Pentecostals also believe that miraculous Spiritual gifts are available for all Jesus-followers today, they point to the day of Pentecost in the second chapter of the book of Acts where Jesus’ disciples were baptized in the Holy Spirit
Weber defined charismatic leadership as “resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism, or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patters or order revealed or ordained by him”. (QUOTE) Northouse defines charismatic leadership the same as transformational leadership. Many of history’s prominent leaders have been considered to be charismatic leaders. The question is often raised if charismatic leaders are formed by their surrounding environment or if the characteristics of a charismatic leader are innate and decided before birth. While the definitive opinion of Northouse on the debate is unknown, Weber believes the ability to be a charismatic leader is a divine right and of superhuman origin. While the origin of the ability to be charismatic is still looming, there is one thing that is for certain, charismatic leaders are extremely effective. Charismatic leaders are generally followed by those who unquestionably have faith in them. The followers relinquish all forms of independence from their follower and truly believe in them. These leaders have the ability to “run the room” so to speak, and they are able to captivate a room merely by their powerful and warming personality. Weber surrounds his theory around charisma being the idea that it is not a trait but rather a working and outstanding relationship between the leader and the followers.