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Book Reviews
Peter Hocken
Pentecost and Parousia: Charismatic Renewal, Christian Unity, and the Coming Glory
(Eugene,OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014). xvii + 161 pp. $22.00 paperback.
With the passing of former SPS Executive Secretary and one-time President Msgr. Peter Hocken last year in June, it is fitting to ponder and give thanks for his leadership and scholarship in the service of the church catholic (in all senses). He possessed a distinct vision and sense of faith regarding charismatic renewal as an energy for reconciliation.Pentecost and Parousia, Msgr. Hocken’s penultimate book, argues for a “second reception” of this understanding of the charismatic movement and grace (xv). Though Pentecost and Parousia is not a dense theological text, those attentive to Hocken’s sense of the faith will find it rich, provocative and moving no matter their affiliation.
Pentecost and Parousia is divided into three sections. Part One argues from the ecumenical origins and fruits of the charismatic renewal that it is inher- ently ecumenical (16). The gifts of Pentecostalism entered Catholicism through ecumenical encounter, and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) quickly adopted practices and structures to promote ecumenical sharing, such as ecu- menical covenant communities (41–42). The most prominent example was the Wordof GodcommunityinAnnArbor,whichhad35%Protestantmembership in the late 1980s (46). Through this, Hocken reminds Catholic Charismatics in particular that the CCR was not merely an unexpected grace (4) for its actu- alization of the Second Vatican Council’s vision of an active laity infused with charisms and devoted to scripture, but also for its ecumenical fruitfulness in the wake of VaticanII’s declaration on ecumenismUnitatis Redintegratio(18–19).
The second part of Pentecost and Parousia examines what charismatic renewal offers to ecumenism now. Here, Hocken devotes significant attention to John Paul II’s 1995 landmark encyclical Ut Unum Sint. The insights of this encyclical “rejoiced the heart of charismatic Catholics” (63), especially in its emphasis on a dialogue of two churches together and with the Lord (65), and inconfessingecclesialsin(102–103).Thishelpsframewhatcharismaticrenewal can offer to ecumenism: because of their “expectation of hearing the Lord” and openness to the initiative of the Holy Spirit (89), charismatics can contribute to a healing of ecclesial identities and memories.
Part Three offers the most constructive theological reflections on the escha- tological graces of Pentecostalism and charismatic renewal. This eschatolog- ical framework is crucial for the whole argument of Pentecost and Parousia. For Hocken, the grace of baptism in the Spirit must be understood as an eschatological grace. As is well known, the New Testament only contains the verb form (“baptize with Holy Spirit”), and Hocken observes that this appears
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi: 10.1163/15700747-04001010
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in prophetic, and therefore eschatological contexts—above all at Pentecost, where Peter refers to the prophet Joel (Acts 2:14–21) to explain that the Spirit is now falling upon all flesh (129–130). Historically, the Pentecostal understanding of baptism in the Spirit is tied to eschatological expectation of Christ’s immi- nent return in glory (126). Theologically and pastorally, the manifestation of baptism in the Spirit in the various churches and movements (upon all flesh!) “is recognizably the same” (90). Moreover, the result of baptism in the Spirit is “vibrant faith in the crucified and risen Lord, who is always exercising his lordship, so that he acts now, he speaks now, he heals now, he protects now” (92), which suggests that those baptized in the Spirit seem more prepared to respond with freedomnowto the sovereign prompting of Christ’s Spirit toward reconciliation.
To exemplify this, Hocken recounts several moments of spontaneous Spirit- inspired confession of either personal or ecclesial sins that have brought about division. In one instance in 2005, Hocken had confessed the evils of the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions. In response, a female Baptist minister “addressed [Hocken] as brother, hugged [him], and said, ‘I have never called a Catholic priest brother before’” (4). From breakthroughs like this, one can agree that baptism in the Spirit does loosen tongues and free bodies (cf. 92), but we are above all freed in such a way that we can engage in an ecumenism of the Spirit, one that is “in conscious dependence on the living lordship of Jesus Christ in and through the Holy Spirit” (93).
By maintaining an eschatological framework for baptism in the Spirit and ecumenism, Hocken is retrieving the basic biblical message of acting now in the “last days” (cf. Acts 2:17). For the Catholic reader, Hocken further demon- strates that this “living eschatology” (cf. 135) is in accord with official Catholic teaching in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. All Christian living is framed by expectation of the Lord’s return, even though it is “suspended” (CCC 674). Additionally, eschatological hope establishes a safeguard to prevent a sort of Pentecostal/charismatic “insider baseball” which ultimately frustrates the Holy Spirit’s purpose. For Hocken, both Pentecostals and Catholic Charismatics are guilty of this, either due to the influence of fundamentalist dispensationalism (131–132), disproportionate attention to initial evidence (132–133), individualis- tic interpretation of Spirit-baptism (134), and most of all by the distancing of the church from its Jewish roots, as well as complacency due to the marriage of church and empire (134–135). Hocken argues that our horizon should be the day of the Lord above all (145). It is this blessed hope that “de-absolutizes and places everything else in relation to the final goal of the kingdom of God” (145).
Pentecost and Parousiais an important book. Hocken reminds us of remark- able and unexpected grace that continues today, that “The Lord has been pour-
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ing out the same grace, the same life, the same gifts on Christians from all churches and traditions” (144). But Hocken also soberly reminds us of our divi- sions, which demonstrate that “we have not fully received the message we want to preach to others,” and “how unready the Christian churches are for the Lord’s coming” (140). How might we show our readiness? For Hocken, the answer is in purification and reconciliation, so that all may be one (John 17:21). Catholics will find Hocken’s work both edifying and challenging. Pentecostal scholars will find inPentecost and Parousiaa reliable Catholic exposition on the significance of charismatic renewal for Christian unity, and they may also find illuminating the sections on Mary, on the interplay of charism with word and sacrament, and Hocken’s effective exposition of official Catholic teaching. Above all, every reader will come away moved by the profound love of the Lord and the desire for unity that filled the heart of this priest and theologian who now contem- plates the Lord face to face.
David de la Fuente
Fordham University, Bronx, New York
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