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THE CHARISMATIC RENEWAL

Peter

Guest Editor

.

(Vol. 16,

no.

2)

and

sought

particularly

D. Hocken

This

Spring

1996 issue of PNEUMA is the second of two issues on the theme of the Charismatic movement. The first

appeared

in Fall 1994

to

present

articles on what has been happening

in the Charismatic movement in different

parts

of the

world,

North America and

Europe.

The intention was that the second issue should be more

reflective, bringing theological

and other disciplines

to bear on this

movement,

in the first issue.

thorough

way

especially

on the data

presented

active in the

pardon

was made

Phenomena

admirably important ground Roman Catholics.

As

intended,

the second issue is more

reflective,

even

though

it has not worked out as I

originally planned.

Two

theologians

Charismatic movement within mainline Protestant churches

begged

to be excused from their commitment. Editorial

relatively easy by the arrival of the text by German Catholic theologians with a rather cumbersome title

“Concerning Extraordinary

in the Context of

Spiritual Occurrences,”

but in fact

dealing

in a

very

with the “Toronto

blessing”

kinds of

phenomena.

The authors wished’ to have made their text made available in

English translation,

and offered it to PNEUMA. Needless to

say,

this

paper

fits

into the

subject-matter

of this

issue,

and

provides

an

for fruitful interaction between

Pentecostalism,

Pentecostals

and

of PNELIMA

already

Situation:

Classical Pentecostalism for the March 1996

meeting presentation

contribution

thought

of asking

In

preparing

this

issue,

I

thought

it would be

important

to include a reflection on the

impact

of the Charismatic movement on

given

the

strong

Pentecostal orientation

and the lack of

scholarly

reflection on this

topic up

to this

point.

I had

received Frank Macchia’s article “God Present in a Confused

The Mixed Influence of the Charismatic

in the United States” when I went to Toronto

Movement on

of the

Society. During

the

panel

Kydd

made a short

issue,

on the

opening night,

Ronald

on the same

topic

in relation to Canada. I

immediately

him to

expand

it into a full-length article. In

fact,

Ron had

already

written a

full-length article,

that which is included in this

and had

given

a precis of it orally at the conference.

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I was concerned to include contributors from other continents than North

America,

and to include an

appraisal

from a

non-theological academic field as well as

involving

both Charismatic and Pentecostal scholars

on the

theme. These aims have

perhaps only

been

partially met, though

it is difficult to

satisfy

them all within the

space

limits of one issue. The

paper by

Rosalind Hackett comes from an anthropologist;

it not

only

addresses Charismatic currents in the Third World,

but

opens up

an

important

and little studied

area,

the interaction and mutual influences between Asian and African leaders. The

paper

on the

theology

of deliverance

by Jacques

Theron comes from South Africa;

Dr. Theron is a

professor

at the

University

of South Africa in Pretoria,

an institution that has made notable contributions to Pentecostal and Charismatic studies. The

subject

of deliverance is one that remains

prominent

in Pentecostal-Charismatic

praxis

and

debate, and raises

key

issues about

anthropology

and salvation that are not

only important

within Pentecostal-Charismatic circles but have

something

to contribute to wider

theological

debates.

Finally,

there is a paper that I had intended to include in the Fall 1994 issue,

but which was

postponed largely

due to lack of

space.

This is a survey

of nine

independent

Charismatic churches in the United

States;

I had

hoped

that more churches would

cooperate

in this

venture,

but experience

shows a

very

low rate of

response

where the researcher is not known or does not have a

personal

introduction to the church. However,

I

present

the limited data in the

hope

that it will

encourage further research in an area of growing

importance,

where there are few hard facts but

many

unsubstantiated claims.

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