Edward Irving Reconsidered The Man, His Controversies, And The Pentecostal Movement, Written By David Malcolm Bennett

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David Malcolm Bennett

Edward Irving Reconsidered: The Man, His Controversies, and the Pentecostal

Movement (Eugene,or: Wipf & Stock, 2014). xiv + 344 pp. $32.80 paperback.

Edward Irving Reconsidered is further fruit of the recent revival of interest in early nineteenth-century proto-Pentecostal Edward Irving, his distinctive the- ological contributions, rapid rise to prominence, and tragic death. Irving (1792– 1834) began life as a Scottish Presbyterian, trained in ministry under Thomas Chalmers in Glasgow and eventually moved to London to lead a struggling congregation. Shortly afterwards, the congregation grew exponentially as Irv- ing became London’s most popular preacher, attracting the nobility and literati (Thomas Carlyle and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were both close acquaintances) while maintaining a pastor’s heart for the poor.

In the years that followed, Irving was dogged by theological controversy. Christologically, he taught that Christ assumed fallen human nature but re- mained sinless through the power of the Holy Spirit, arguing forcefully for this from scripture and patristics. He also adopted a premillennial eschatol- ogy, eventually coming to believe in the contemporary reality of the charis- mata and accept them into his congregation. The controversies surrounding these issues eventually led to mutual rejection between Irving and the Pres- byterian Church. Several hundred people followed Irving to begin a new con- gregation in which the charismata were warmly welcomed. This precipitated the final crisis of Irving’s life as, not demonstrating charismata personally, he was relegated to a level below those who did. His avoidable death was a tragic result of his dogged pursuit of a romantic and transcendent vision of the Church.

Bennett’s work is the second full-length biography of Irving to appear in the last few years, following Tim Grass’s The Lord’s Watchman: Edward Irving (Paternoster, 2011). Bennett is well aware of Grass’s work, quoting him a number of times, and presumably his work would have been in preparation prior to the Grass publication. As such, there is the natural expectation that in the preface,Bennettwouldpositionhis workrelativetoGrass’s,butthispositioning is absent. With both works being biographies, there is, of course, a significant similarity of material.

Bennett’s work has several strengths. His own doctoral work was in escha- tology and this shows in his treatment of Irving’s association withThe Morning Watch publication along with the fascinating intersection of the Irving and J.N. Darby circles. He makes good use of contemporary reviews of Irving’s early publications. The sequencing and detail of the development of the charismata within Irving’s Regent Square congregation is particularly lucid. Bennett also

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takes full advantage of Barbara Waddington’s 2012 publication of Irving’s diary and correspondence.

Bennett concludes that some of Irving’s comments at his London trial indi- cate he was veering towards congregationalism—most unlikely unless he could have the office of “bishop” within it! Nevertheless, this indicates something of the ecclesiological hybrid that Irving was developing before his death: an empowered laity under the authority of a pastor/angel/bishop who, in turn, was embedded in a complex authority/submission relationship with an over- arching, charismatically-gifted apostolate.

Bennett’s consideration of the relationship between Irving and the later Pentecostal movement is left to an appendix, which is rather odd, considering its place in the title. However, this appendix contains some very suggestive lines for further research, especially the links between the CatholicApostolicChurch (the body that developed after Irving’s death from amongst his followers) and John Alexander Dowie (1847–1907), widely regarded as an important precursor to Pentecostalism. The possibility of this link has been noticed by others, but Bennett’s material increases its likelihood. David Bennett has provided a clear examination of Irving’s life and thought that will prove accessible to those new to Irving, while simultaneously providing Irving scholars with fruitful lines of inquiry about his ongoing legacy.

Peter Elliott

Perth Bible College, Perth, Western Australia

[email protected]

PNEUMA 39 (2017) 241–257

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