Eduqas Alevel RS Christianity 4E The Charismatic Movement

outline the key features of the first wave of pentecostalism

healing tongues began here, miracles and conversions and outpouring of the holy spirit should nit just be seen as something that happened in the Bible of Jesus but also today. Charles Fox Parham set up a Bible school and believed that the HS would descend onto the school. he told the students to read the book of acts, one did and began to speak in tongues, soon many others did and they believed thatch HS had descended.

What are the key features of the second wave of pentecostalism

Father Dennis Bennet, shared with his church the charismatic worship he has previously started. Some members raised concept and that lead to a split. The bishop then banned speaking in tongues and the Father had to move to a dying church instead where it became the latest diocese and the forefront of the charismatic movement

what is the charismatic movement

People who believe in being filled with the spirit" but choose to either remain unaffiliated or remain with another denomination. It means the gifts from God through Grace.

what is charismatic worship

Informal worship with music, emphasis on God as spirit. Some may use a prayer language called tongues, it has influences many different denominations not just the small ones, together pentecostal and charismatic worshippers make up 27% of christianity, and almost half of them live in the americas

how is the charismatic worship seen in the Roman Catholic and church of England worship style

In the RC and CE both are very liturgical and strict, more people by the mid 20th century who spoke tongues had spread. The first CofE congregation declared itself charismatic in the 1963. The foundation Trust was founded in response to this and encourages the form of worship across denominations.

the catholic church: vatical II trued to bring about renewal many changes were introduced to modernise and to show the need for spiritual expression.

what are the main features of charismatic worship

1. Tongues - there are examples of this in the Bible where the apostles were speaking languages that was not known to them (xeneglossy) The language was known by tiers in the Jewish community but not known by the apostles themselves (xenolalia) They were said to be speaking a heavenly language but Gd was interpreting it is rat the Jewish community could understand. Tongues is a form of private prayer rather than a language to be understood.

2. Prophecy - prophet is someone who communicates the word of God such as Moses. It ca be about foretelling the future but it could also be a message bayou God’s loyalty. The charismatic movement focuses on the message directly from God. False prophecy can be dangerous and that they should bet tested but it is really hard to be able to verify them. The prophecy must not contradict the Bible , It must recognise that Jesus.s God, it also has t be confirmed by church leaders and inspired the fruits of the Holy Spirit by aligning with previous knowledge

3. Healing - Jesus told the apostles to spread the word of the Gospel and part of this ment healing. Such as Jesus healing the blind man or raising Lazarus from the dead. Charismatic believers feel that healing is possible in their worship through prayers from elders and those with the gift of healing. This can be physical healing, emotional of psychological. It though however means that it becomes much harder to verify them

4. Inspiration in worship - worship should be joyful, lively and spontaneous. dancing, shooting out and singing are normal and music is used in inspire people. Sings often transition into speaking tongues which is driven by the holy spirit.

what is the response from the RC to the charismatic worship

10-15% of charismatic believers are catholic

1. 1975 Pope Paul VI welcomes 10,00 charismatic Christians to a conference

- 1980 Pope John Paul II appointed a charismatic priest as a preacher to papal household, he is still in post under pope Francis

- in 1993 the RC church recognise the international charismatic renewal services as an organisation that promotes charismatic worship

what scripture highlights the importance of the Holy Spirit and talking in tongues

1. The Holy Spirit arriving at pentecost; "all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Holy Spirit enabled them"

2. concerning spiritual gifts: " To one there is given through the spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge, to another faith, to another the gift of healing"

what are other expressions of charismatic worship

- there is a house church, worship is often based more often at someones house rather than a large church

- The house church movement is the fastest growing movement and has rapidly increased in the late 1900's. This is known as restorianism because they believe that God us restoring His kingdom

- Strong belief that the early church and acts should be upheld . the idea of community and breaking the bread, sharing all that they have and being in a supportive nature of eachother.

- big focus on the eschatological emphasis, living the end of times and restoring the kingdom for the end of the days

- saw themselves as apostles and met in houses and in larger groups. Focused on the coming of the HS that they pushed dogma and doctrine to the side

what are the challenges to the charismatic movement:

1. claims of healing

2. claims of charismatic experience but they may not have always been truthful. these experiences see people say they have seen the Holy Spirit

3. claims of tongues in a heavily language

what is the challenge of claims of healing

- some illnesses have symptoms which come and go over time, this is not healing when they go but just part of the illness itself. - people claimed to heal but our science is still developing - loss of symptoms could be part of the disease

- sometimes healing claims are made when perhaps the illness was never formally diagnosed such as not testing for cancer through a biopsy but rather through medial hypothesis

- spontaneous and unexpected remission is rare but can happen

- science has never found a correlation between praying and healing

what is the way to over come the claims of healing argument

- healing must be verifiable - observable change in someone's illness

what is the challenge of claims of charismatic experience

- this could simply be a cultural phenomenon such as people how are born Christian will see Jesus and not Krishna

- as humans we are known to be needy and seek companionship. We could be open to such experiences in our lives when we are in crisis so we are less alone and feel like we have support

- Freud supported this view by arguing that religion is an illusion based on our primal need for a father figure

- Humans also need rules and we thrive off boundaries. Religion offers these rules and informs us that you will rewarded for following them

what is a way to overcome the claims of charismatic experience argument

- John Hick believed that there is one divine transcendent being who is refracted by different cultures

- insulting to say that humans are needy and we use religion to fill this, those who are religious are then seen as more needly and less human than others

- churches have tried to verify these experiences through the idea that conforms the Bible teachings and it is a supportive message to the church.

what is the challenge of claims of tongues in a heavenly language

Tongues can be seen as nonsense syllables. No one is able to determine whether what is being said has any truth or connection to the divine as it is personal and subjective. Despite physical signs of speech it could just be someone making sounds

what is a way to overcome the challenge of tongues being a heavenly language

- Principle of credulity and testimony - natural and relive that it is valid unless there is a reason not

- sense experience

- divine meaning that it os out of our understanding

what does AJ Ayer say about the charismatic movement

anything that is outside something that is formally true needs to be verified through sense experience. We could therefore argue that in this case there is evidence of sense experience in Acts because apostles speak to eachother in tongues that those could understand. Critics will then say that this cannot be verified due to the time frame. Sitz im Leben.

what does Anthony Flew say about the charismatic movement

to make any claim meaningful it needs to be falsifiable, such as saying all swans are white because we know that there are black swans - if you cannot falsify it then science cannot proceed. Flew says that if someone has been healed but the healing is emotional then it is not falsifiable and healing is therefore void.

what are the benefits to the charismatic movement

- grounded in New Testament and the early church

- lost of people say that charismatic movement is not based in dogma it is based on experience and the experience around the religion such as the trinity, it is more powerful than just believe it because you should, you should believe it because you have experienced it

- never know of a bad experience they have always had positive effects

- cumulative experience, sheer number makes it more convincing

- charismatic movement gives power to the people not the evident less doctrine

- allows community focus because there is no leader or power

- focus on holy sprint

what are they weaknesses of the charismatic movement

- lacks formality, power usually sits with the pope., there is no hierarchy meaning it can lead to chaos and power greed

- non liturgical meaning it is harder for new comers to understand the way of the service

- implication that if you haven't had a religious experience your christian life experience is less than those around you such as you never have spoken in tongues

- shaking prophetess - how do you know if it is true or not, can never be verified

- group mentality, takes over and becomes rather daunting to others such as the Toronto blessing

- inaccurate and unfair to put all the light on the charismatic emphasis only

what is dogma

A central truth of Revelation that Catholics are obliged to believe

what is an example of a charismatic worship experiences

- Toronto blessing - 1994, a set of experiences that was set of other experiences that happened near the Airport in Toronto and was believed to have transformed millions of lives

- They became overwhelmed with the holy spirit that it lead to people talking in tongues, spontaneous worship, rolling on the floor and stories of tooth fillings turning to Gold

- shaking prophetess - she becomes so overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit when she is talking to the congregation that her body violently shakes

what is pentecostalism

A Protestant movement that puts special emphasis on a direct and personal relationship with God through the Holy Spirit, similar but still different to charismatic worship

what are the 4 qualities of evangelicalism

1. scripture is the ultimate authority, there is no inference needed it is literal interpretation

2. Jesus on the cross is the only source of redemption

3. conversion experience is necessary such as Saul to Paul

4. Christian faith must be shared through evangelism - the great command

what is the difference between pentecostalism and evangelical denominations

(both branches of protestant)

pentecostalism emphasises the importance of the Holy Spirit at work within the community. Evangelism is a gospel focused movement. Most pentecostals are evangelicals but not all evangelical Christians are pentecostals

1. pentecostalism believes that there is a second baptism after conversion

2. pentecostalism believe speaking in tongues is confirmation of the second baptism

3. focus on spontaneous worship and healing

4. pentecostal churches were anti ecumenical and did not mix with other denominations

5. Pentecostal attitudes towards the RC church can be fairly negative because of the hierarchy and formalism

To what extent does a natural explanation for charismatic experiences conflict with the religious value of the experience (30) - Agree it does have a natural explanation

- scientific explanations of such events like healings and prophecy can reduce and explain why there is a need for God in these experiences. Such as helping experiences which are a necessity in charismatic worship may be actually explained by our advancements in science. This is not evidence for miracles just simply there is more likely to be an explanation through medical terms. The early churches claims of miracles can mostly be debunked due to our advancements in knowledge

- Although an experience might have value for the individual given that it cannot be empirically proven, such experiences may have a negative impact for the religious community which can lead to doubt between the community, good for the individual not for the group

- such experiences will always lack value in a world where we need evidence as we cannot verify its truth, speaking in tongues is an example where it means everything to the individual but nothing to the community and cannot be verified on any grounds

- cultural explanations, that charismatic experiences are no more than manifestations of social or cultural experiences and they are not religious. If they are religious then why are they not confined to one religion, it is a product of culture and where you were born rather than your religion itself.

- element of Freud and wish fulfilment, you want there to be a father figure that can provide help and support so we make one, the experiences are made essentially by ourselves

To what extent does a natural explanation for charismatic experiences conflict with the religious value of the experience (30) - No there are no natural explanations

- charismatic experiences are by their nature personal, just because it doesn't happen on a larger scale or in a way that can be empirically verified does not mean it didn't happen or that there is no value, if someone believes they had an experiences then it had value to them

- value is a subjective term that each individual will measure differently such as the shaking prophetess

- Toronto blessing had huge value for its community, even of there were some skeptics, it had an impact on millions with restoring faith and giving the congregation and new outlook on life, there was religious value

- There is a tendency in the modern mind to dismiss peoples charismatic experiences because of science but the very nature of God is transcendent and beyond our understanding, God could be a natural explanation , He is the end point.

- Biblical - these experiences have been happening for years and have not changed in nature such as during pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down the apostles spoke in tongues similar to the Toronto blessing. Swinburne uses the cumulative argument saying the sheer number of people that have had an experience with constant testimonies should be given value

- James says that there is still psychological value even if there is a natural explanation, value for who, you cannot take away value for someone else when it is personal to them