In the most recent post in this series celebrating the strengths of different Christian traditions, I talked about how I appreciate the room that the ancient Christian mystical tradition has for manifestations such as visions and dreams. In some ways, today’s post, about why I am charismatic, is part two of that post. At the most basic level, I’m both mystical and charismatic because I believe God works in many ways in the world, including ways that bypass our ‘normal’ physical, sensory experiences, and touch our hearts directly. But the contemporary charismatic movement has a different enough sensibility from mysticism to warrant a separate post.
To provide an overly simple summary, the charismatic movement refers to the ways some of the themes of Pentecostalism — especially dramatic manifestations of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues, visions, and individual appropriation of the Scriptures — seeped into more established churches during the second half of the twentieth century. This wasn’t a movement I was ever heavily involved with, but I definitely waded into its waters in my late teens and early twenties, and it’s left an important mark on how I think, believe, and ‘do’ faith.
First, I am charismatic because some of the richest, most important and transformative experiences of my life are things that only make sense within a perspective that allows for and celebrates manifestations of the Spirit. Once again, we never seek experiences like this for the sake of experiencing them, but rather, they are given to us as grace for the sake of transforming our hearts, minds, and lives. I’ve had these experience and been blessed and changed by them, so I simply cannot promote a version of Christianity which has no room for them.
Connected to this, second, I identify as charismatic because this movement centres the active presence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. This is a solidly biblical perspective and is simply ‘as it should be’, but it has not been the focus of Christian theology, thought, or ecclesiology through much of the West’s history. By virtue of working within more traditional church structures (as opposed to Pentecostalism, which created new denominations), the charismatic movement has the advantages both of bringing new life, energy, and a sense of the unexpected into rather staid environments and having this established context and weight of tradition to act as a ballast and safeguard against excess. But the point is this: Charismatics correctly understand that we today are empowered by the same Holy Spirit that empowered the Apostles, and the power of God in us can and should do great things.
Third, I identify as charismatic because I appreciate this movement’s openness to subjectivity. As important as reason and ‘objective’ theology and Bible reading may be, we are people of spirit and so there has to be room for our experiences of God to inform our faith. (They will anyway, whether we want them to our not.) As one Pentecostal theologian put it, “There is a vital place for emotions well as reason, for imagination as well as logic, for mystery as well as certainty, and for that which is narrative and dramatic as well as that which is propositional and systematic;” and “Experience is vital to knowing the truth” (Rickie D. Moore, “A Pentecostal Approach to Scripture,” in Pentecostal Hermeneutics, edited by Lee Roy Martin (2013), 11f).
Connected to this openness to subjectivity is an appreciation of difference and ambiguity. So much of Western Christianity, especially since the Reformation, has made an idol of certainty. This is dangerous in life — beware anyone who is certain they are right! — but disastrous for faith, which is at its heart about trust.
Finally, I am charismatic because this newer tradition offers a helpful counterbalance to mysticism’s focus on sacred practices. What I mean by this is that mysticism offers us wonderful tools and approaches we can use consistently in order to transform our our hearts and minds. But, we cannot do this by our own strength. No amount of meditation on its own can ‘achieve’ union with God. It is all grace. And this focus on experiences of God as being something outside of our control is a helpful contribution of charismatic Christianity. Our effort is helpful and necessary in the life of faith, but manifestations and gifts are instances of God’s grace, not our effort. Both sides of this equation are true. I love and appreciate mysticism’s practices and tools, but I also love and appreciate charismatic Christianity’s recognition that no practice or tool can force God’s hand. As the Scriptures say, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3.8).
So then, in conclusion, I am charismatic because I believe that the Holy Spirit is at work today, in my life and yours. End of story.
Matthew Root 