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580
Book Reviews
Graham R. Smith,The Church Militant: Spiritual Warfare in the Anglican Charismatic
Renewal (Eugene,OR: Pickwick Publications, 2016). vii + 278 pp. $28.00 paperback.
In recent times there has been a small renaissance of biblical-theological works that look at the nature, scope, and reality of spiritual warfare in the life of the Christian believer and the world-at-large. After a decade of silence, following the highly influential Peretti novels and the significant corpus of work by Wag- ner on territorial spirits, comes a new generation of academic work on spiritual warfare that was catalysed by Gregory Boyd’s God at War. Graham R. Smith’s The Church Militant, which is his published doctoral thesis, is one of the latest offerings in this renaissance.
The scope of the research is deliberately narrow as Smith is primarily con- cerned with what impact, if any, a theology of spiritual warfare has had on the charismatic Anglican church in England. As a practicing local Anglican parish priest, he decides that a historical-theological synopsis alone will not suffice to answer this question. Instead there needs to be an interdisciplinary approach taken which includes a practical-theological account through an in-depth sociological study of one congregation (it is this ordinary theology approach that makes this study unique and very insightful), and a systematic- theological critique of more recent academic work on spiritual warfare. Jux- taposing these three approaches Smith then offers an original constructive- theological account of a charismatic theology of spiritual warfare.
Smith’s historical-theological narrative of early spiritual warfare teaching in the Anglican charismatic renewal in England is very illuminating and helps set the historical context to what is happening today in some Anglican churches. Following the ministry of the first Pentecostal Anglican, the Reverend Alexan- der and Mary Boddy, there has been a development of charismatic spiritual warfare teaching and theology from twelve Anglican-charismatic pioneers, including especially the writing and teaching of Michael Harper, David Watson and Michael Green. Their influence has lead to the establishment of centres of renewal, trained exorcists among clergy in each diocese, partnering with others such as John Wimber and Neil Anderson, all of which has established spiritual warfare as part of the warp and woof of charismatic Anglican theology. This is reflected in the fact that the Alpha course, which originated in the charismatic Anglican Holy Trinity Brompton church, has a whole teaching session on “how can I resist evil?” Theologically, in what will become very pertinent to later dis- cussion, Smith’s historical analysis reveals that the theology and praxis of these pioneers within the Anglican charismatic renewal movement fully accepts the biblical imagery of the devil as a separate spiritual entity with his own ontology, personality and consciousness but over whom God is fully sovereign.
PNEUMA
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi:10.1163/15700747-04004011
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As Smith changes his approach to a contextual-theological model, his case study reveals similar theology and praxis to what historically has gone before. The local congregation with whom Smith conducts his case study holds a firm belief in the personality, rebellion, and autonomy of Satan and demons. They also believe strongly in the sovereignty of God and this is demonstrated by the centrality of prayer, both freedom prayer and proclamatory prayer, to bring about positive outcomes of spiritual warfare ministry in areas of marriage, min- istry, relationships, self-worth issues, and mental health disorders. There is no “demonic worldview” as coined by Andrew Walker, but rather a focus on God and the authority and freedom he brings.
After this, and before developing an original constructive-theological account of a charismatic theology of spiritual warfare, Smith moves into theol- ogy proper by critiquing the systematic theological work of three key thinkers in this area, namely Nigel Wright, Amos Yong, and Gregory Boyd. He rightly interprets the work of these writers and correctly notes some of the key influ- ences on these writers such as process theologian C.S. Pierce, Karl Barth,Walter Wink, and Jurgen Moltmann. Centrally, Smith distinguishes between Boyd and the other two since Boyd defends and maintains an ontological Satan and his origin as a fallen angel, whereasWright andYong both reject the personal ontol- ogy of Satan in favour of evil originating from human sin (Wright) and a triadic multi-dimensional metaphysic of evil that relies heavily on process theology (Yong).
At this point, it should be noted that Smith’s choice of thinkers is con- testable. It can be strongly argued that Wright relies heavily upon the biblical studies work of Walter Wink which itself developed the biblical scholarship of Berkhof, Caird and Schlier. Drawing from Wink’s “Powers trilogy” could have gleaned greater understanding of the prevalent scholarly view of the demonic in western theology. Moreover, his use of three authors who are all heavily influ- enced by process theology and its open theism relation means that Smith does not theologically engage with spiritual warfare academic work which assumes, like the charismatic pioneers and the case-study church, a strong sovereignty of God position. As such, only Boyd’s defence of Satan’s personalist ontology is incorporated into Smith’s constructive-theological account. Perhaps some deeper engagement with thinkers such as Arnold, Powlison or Gross would have offered a corrective and theologically reinforced what Smith discovers both historically and contextually.
Finally, Smith constructs a charismatic theology of spiritual warfare from all his research. Methodologically, he uses charismatic practical theology in which the Holy Spirit brings biblical texts and contextual experience together. Overall, Smith argues for a positive ontology of the demonic, that the best argument for
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Satan’s origin lies in the fallen angel theory, the extent of evil is far and wide, the defeat of evil lies in the cross and aChristus Victor understanding of the atone- ment, and theological foundations for spiritual warfare which are thoroughly trinitarian. He concludes that spiritual warfare theology has been integral to the growth in the Anglican charismatic renewal and if applied to the ministry and mission of a local Anglican church, then this could lead to a fruitful out- come.
Smith’s text shows erudite theology, a close reading of past scholarship and original constructive theology which should act as a springboard for further research. It would be very beneficial to widen this research approach to the Anglican global church communion, especially in parts of the world where belief in the demonic is more explicit. Also some comparative research of spir- itual warfare in other traditions which have been impacted by the charismatic renewal (e.g. Post-VaticanIIRoman Catholic exorcists) would, I’m sure, further our understanding of the demonic and show how best the church should offen- sively charge against the gates of hell.
Alistair J. Cuthbert
University of St Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom [email protected]
PNEUMA 40 (2018) 563–624
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Troy Day
this is a good one John Mushenhouse Terry Wiles but it is NOT by William DeArteaga
Troy Day
Desiring to avoid what he sees as contemporary misunderstandings of “Spirit,” John A. Studebaker, Jr., Adjunct Professor at Cornerstone University and Spring Arbor University and Executive Director of Bridge Ministries in Michigan, raises the question of the Holy Spirit’s authority. Studebaker contends that among the proliferation of recent scholarship on pneumatology, the Spirit’s authority — not to be confused with the Spirit’s power — remains largely unarticulated. He states that this is detrimental to both systematic and practical theology and that evangelicals need to recognize the fundamental importance of a theology of the Spirit’s authority, even to the extent of giving it place within theological prolegomena. Studebaker’s inquiry leads to considerations of the Spirit’s role within the larger pattern of divine authority, various aspects of the Spirit’s authority (e.g., “executo- rial,” “veracious,” and “governing”) and their relationship to the authority of Christ, as well as their implications for hermeneutics, church structure and guidance, and Christian spiri- tuality. He proceeds by examining relevant pneumatological debates in the history of theol- ogy, assessing some tendencies in current systematic theology in light of select scriptures, and addressing the import of the Spirit’s authority for church practices. Studebaker’s most consistent argument is that the Spirit is a “person” that cannot be reduced to human sub- jectivity or to an inanimate force or process within the world. In fact, this is a primary reason that he goes to such lengths to demonstrate from scripture that the Spirit acts authoritatively, usually in contrast to fi gures like Jürgen Moltmann and Peter Hodgson, whom he curiously and with little elaboration labels “postmodern.” Decrying the overem- phasis on the Spirit’s immanence in their “panentheism,” Studebaker reasserts the Spirit’s transcendence — wishing to balance the two — by enlisting Colin Gunton, Paul Molnar, and T omas F. Torrance. While this engagement with the Spirit’s personhood is not prob- lematic in itself, it receives inordinate attention in a book devoted to the conceptual rela- tionship between “Spirit” and “authority.” Too frequently arguments return to the rather banal conclusion that the Spirit is a divine person who acts.