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Kilian McDonnell
and Initiation and Baptism First
Eight
Centuries Press/A Michael Glazier 8146-5009-0,
gue,
eds.
Fanning
the Flame: Holy Spirit
Have
ville,
MN: The
Liturgical 1991),
30
pp.
ISBN
George
in the
Holy Spirit:
(Collegeville,
Book, and Kilian McDonnell
to Do with Christian
Press/A Michael
0-8146-5013-9.
209
T.
Montague.
Christian
Evidence
from
the
MN: The
Liturgical
1991),
354
pp.
ISBN 0-
and
George
T. Monta- What Does
Baptism
in the
Initiation
(College-
Glazier
Book,
Reviewed
by
Cecil M.
Robeck,
Jr.
ers alike. As the
Wesleyan-Holiness
cal world with the
interpretation
their
Wesleyan-Holiness
Question. itself,
articulating Pentecostalism.
enjoying among
and Pentecostal
preach-
with the
that in 1947 Carl Brumback
For
nearly
half a
century Baptism
in the
Holy Spirit
was a
subject equally
dear to the hearts of
Wesleyan-Holiness
Pentecostal Movement
grew,
it
competed
Movement for dominance in providing the
theologi-
of this
experience.
So sure were Pentecostals that
they
had wrested this theme from the reluctant hands of
counterparts,
authored a pentecostal apologetic for it titled What Meaneth This? Confi- dently
he subtitled the book A Pentecostal Answer to the Pentecostal
For over two
decades,
Brumback’s work stood in a field
by
the
arguments traditionally
embraced
by
Classical
Then came the Charismatic Renewal.
With a fresh awareness of the
presence
and
power
of the
Holy Spirit
a resurgence in the historic Protestant churches from
1959, and
Roman Catholics from
1969,
a new set of questions on the sub- ject began
to
emerge.
Was it
necessary,
for
instance, for these new charismatics to accept the Pentecostal answer to their
experience,
or was it
possible
for them to find another
explanation
which
supported
the basic
meaning
and
reality
of their
experience
in a way which was more consistent with their own
theological
tradition. American
Baptist
theolo- gian
Howard M. Ervin, without
straying
far from a classical Pentecostal position,
tried to meet this
challenge
in These Are Not Drunken as Ye
1968). Others, however,
Ervin’s
attempt any
more than
they
were with Brumback’s.
didn’t -seem to fit the New Testament
Suppose
(Logos,
costal
answer, evidence.
they argued,
Frederick
offered
by
the Reformed
were not satisfied with
The Pente-
what repeatedly
Among
those who criticized the Pentecostal
position
were
Presbyterian
Dale Bruner in A
Theology of
the
Holy Spirit (Eerdmans, 1970)
and the more irenic but
perhaps
more
devastating
re-examination
turned Methodist with charismatic
sympathies, James D. G.
Dunn,
under the title
Baptism in
the
Holy Spirit (Allenson/ Westminster, 1970).
Dunn
clearly
linked
baptism
in the
Holy Spirit
with
he called
“Christian-Initiation,”
a
phrase
which has been used
in the
ensuing
discussions.
1
210
Howard Ervin
attempted
(Hendrickson, Spirit Baptism: A
attempt native
interpretations
of Dunn’s
work in a
(Hendrickson,
1987).
Mean- made a fresh
Alter-
a
major critique
response
titled Conversion-Initiation and the
Baptism
in the
Holy Spirit
1984),
then
proceeded
to
lay out
further
arguments
in
Biblical
Investigation
while Harold D. Hunter
(Church
of God of
Prophecy)
to address the
subject
in
Spirit-Baptism: A
Pentecostal
(University
Press of
America, 1983). Finally,
the Reformed charismatic
Henry
1. Lederle
provided
an overview of
“Spirit-Baptism”
which had
emerged among
the various constituents of the Charismatic Renewal in Treasures Old and New
(Hendrickson, 1988). Much more than those who
preceded
him,
Lederle interacted substan-
with
emerging
Roman Catholic articulations on the
subject, including
the works of such
persons
as Donald L.
Gelpi,
S.J., Francis A.
Sullivan, S.J., Edward O’Connor, C.S.C., Simon Tugwell, O.P.,
M.
Sp.
S., Heribert
Peter
Hocken,
tively
Salvador Carillo
Alday, Dorothy Ranaghan,
J.
Massingberd McDonnell,
O.S.B.
reasons.
First, they
are
life-long
Muhlen,
Ford,
Kevin and and Kilian
Roman Catholics
It is Kilian
McDonnell, O.S.B.,
who has teamed
up
with
George
T. Montague, S.M.,
to provide the most recent assessment of the
subject
in Christian Initiation and
Baptism
ill the
Holy Spirit.
It is a team well- paired,
and this volume inserts an
important
new element into the dis- cussion. The
pairing
of these two authors is a
good
one for several
with a
deep
and abiding
commitment to the church. Second, both are recognized scholars in the field of
pneumatology.
former editor of the Catholic Biblical
Montague,
Quarterly,
is author of the
important
and
thought-provoking volume titled The
Holy Spirit:
Growth
of a
Biblical Tradition
(Paulist,
who is currently
completing
a major volume on the
author of a multitude of books and articles on Pente- costalism and Charismatic Renewal. Third, both scholars
personally
and
1976). McDonnell, Holy Spirit,
is
publicly identify
with the renewal Montague
describes
Riding
the Wind:
Learning
Pentecostal
in the Roman Catholic in the
autobiographical
Church. account
His
Power,
Praise
(Liturgical abiding
commitment to the
subject.
his
experience
the
Ways of the Spirit (Word
of Life,
1974), while McDonnell has focused on the International Roman Catholic-
Dialogue, serving
as its co-chair since its
beginning. massive collection of statements on charismatic renewal in Presence,
Press, 1980)
is an
impressive
Baptism Charismatic
communities to
ponder.
tribute to his
volume on Christian Initiation and
much for the Pentecostal and
rience for the life of
This
important jointly-authored
in the
Holy Spirit promises
It is a
unique attempt
to demon- strate that the
experience
of
baptism
in the
Holy Spirit
is
integral
to Christian initiation, a theme consistent with Dunn’s concern, but unlike Dunn, these authors
emphasize
its role in the sacramental life of the church
and, therefore,
the
public,
communal
consequences
the church. “If the
baptism
in the
Holy Spirit
is
of this
expe-
2
211
integral
to Christian initiation, to the constitutive sacraments,”
they
con- clude,
“then it
belongs
not to
private piety
but to public liturgy, to the official
worship
of the church”
(p. 334).
Like the Classical
Pentecostals, then, baptism
in the
Spirit
must be viewed as normative in the Christian life,
a “common
grace
for
all,”
and not
something
which deserves mere toleration or suspicion as an act of private piety.
In a sense, then, this volume
challenges,
in one
way
or another,
nearly all the
previous
treatments of the
subject. Montague
re-examines the New Testament materials,
beginning
with the normative nature of the life, baptism, reception
of the
Spirit
and
ensuing ministry
of Jesus in the power
of the
Spirit,
and
emphasizes
two
major
conclusions. The
first, of course, is the
integration
of
baptism
in the
Holy Spirit
with Christian
initiation, specifically
with
baptism
as entry into the Christian life. While this
approach supports
the Classical Pentecostal claim of
normativity,
it criticizes the
necessity
for
any
doctrine of
subsequence
for this
experi- ence
just
as it raises
questions
about the nature of
baptism
in pentecostal theology.
The second conclusion is that this
baptism
in the
Holy Spirit
is clearly
related to the bestowal of charisms and that the
“prophetic” dimension of the
Spirit
is a dominant one. This conclusion
supports
to some extent the
long-held
view of Pentecostals of the
relationship between the
baptism
and
gifts
of the
Spirit,
but it
challenges
them to broaden their view of the
appropriate
evidence of
baptism
in the
Holy Spirit
to a position held
by
most members of the Charismatic Renewal and
many
Pentecostals from the so-called “two-thirds world.”
Kilian McDonnell
begins
his
analysis by turning
to a range of
patristic texts. Classical Pentecostals have
traditionally
had an ambivalent
appre- ciation for such an
approach.
On the one hand
they
have denied the validity
of
history,
and hence tradition,
through
their embrace of a restorationist
historiography.
On the other hand
they
have often scanned the
pages
of church
history
in search of some
precedent setting
events. They
have often
rejoiced
at the
presence
of charismata
throughout
the centuries but
they
have been
equally
frustrated to find
virtually
no histor- ical evidence which
supports
their doctrines of subsequence of of initial evidence in these same
passages.
What has
resulted,
all too
often,
is the celebration of what
might
be described as an uncritical
reading
of
history which embraced
many pneumatological
heretics and sectarians who claimed to be gifted or empowered by the
Holy Spirit.
McDonnell turns this
approach
in a different direction. He looks to history
for precedent, but he avoids
embracing
the heretical and sectarian texts. His treatment of Tertullian focuses, not
simply
on Tertullian’s years
of association with the Montanists, but also and
perhaps preemi- nently
on his
pre-Montanist work,
On
Baptism.
It is in this work where Tertullian’s
greatest
articulation of a charismatic
theology may
be
pre- sent. McDonnell’s choice of church fathers is
widely representative
of early
orthodox
Christianity,
western and
eastern,
mainline and
ascetic, Latin, Greek, and Syriac.
And the
concepts expressed
in these
works,
.
3
212
as demonstrated
by
McDonnell,
are
remarkably
consistent. The ecclesi- ology
is often a communion or koinonia
ecclesiology,
heart of
many contemporary
ecumenical discussions.
of charismatic life in the
liturgy
of
public worship
which lies at the The
normativity is also
strongly
supported.
Montague
and
McDonnell, modern
“Pentecostal,” “Charismatic,”
then,
have
provided
a powerful critique of
and “non-Charismatic” Christian
(and
Mothers). They are,
after all, experiences
tively
through
the use of an
historiography
life. Pentecostals can learn from the
early
Christian “Fathers”
their fathers and
mothers, too.
But the
of these
patriarchs
and matriarchs need to be viewed
objec-
and embraced for what
they are,
not
simply
dismissed or abused
addressed,
understood
of
questionable
value. “Charis-
ecclesiology
which is
Christians will benefit
anti-elitist,
and
truly
communitarian NtcDonnell.
Upon completion
of Christian
matics” can learn much from the koinonia
while so-called “non-Charismatic”
from the realization that
ultimately
the
baptism
of the
Holy Spirit
is mis-
if it is
regarded
as less than normative in character. Indeed, to avoid the
problems experienced by
the Corinthian
congregation ( I Corinthians I and
12-14),
all Christians
might
benefit from
reading
the
conclusions of
Montague
and
Illinois,
Flame,
released under the
auspices
of the Charismatic
Roman Catholic
Christians, McDonnell’s
larger
Noting
and
Baptism
in the
Holy
were invited to share
to
‘
of
baptism
in the
Holy Spirit.
Initiation
Spirit, George Montague
and Kilian McDonnell
their
findings
with the American
bishops through
an ad hoc committee for the Charismatic Renewal.
They
met also with a select
group
in what was termed the Heart of the Church Consultation held in
Techny,
in May, 1990. The result was a small booklet titled
Fanning
the
the National Service Committee of
Renewal. This small booklet, addressed
specifically
takes the
findings
of
Montague
and
work and
presents
them in a form
designed
to draw Catholics into a fuller
understanding
that
baptism
in the
Holy Spirit
is not the sole
possession
of
any theological camp,
this document draws
upon
the work
begun by
Vatican II and
especially
the new Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults to show that
many
Christians are in need of
genuine conversion,
a deeper life in the
Spirit,
and a consistent walk led
by
the
Spirit.
“…
Accepting
the
baptism
in the
Spirit …
is embracing the fullness of Christian
initiation,
which
belongs
to the
[whole]
church”
(p. 21)
is the plea
of this booklet.
Any
admission that this claim is true must result in action that is consistent with this truth claim, action which views the Christian life as one “marked both
by
an
experience
with God and
by
an
experience
of charisms
given by
the
Spirit” (p. 22).
will
surely
result in renewed
congregations
in worship,
community,
and service.
and
George
T.
Montague
are to be thanked for raising
the nature of the discussion on Christian Initiation and
Baptism
Moves in this direction which will be more effective Kilian McDonnell
.
of
dynamic
union
4
213
in the Holy Spirit to a universal and normative level.
Fanning
the Flame which has
already
been translated and
published
in nearly a dozen lan- guages
is
quickly becoming
an effective vehicle
translating
the
theory into a plea for action. Pentecostals and Charismatics alike would do well to read and reflect
upon
these
important
contributions to the
subject, especially
in view of the fact that
they
hold a
key
to the
potential
for Christian
spiritual health
as well as Christian
unity.
Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., is Associate Professor of Church
History
and Ecumenics at Fuller
Theological Seminary, Pasadena,
CA 91182.
5
