Great article and very helpful. It's such a problem to talk of Baptism in the Spirit as though we don't receive the fullness in Baptism and Confirmation. Yes there can be a personal conversion that brings our Baptismal graces to the fore. But we need to be careful in the language we use.
The extended teaching on the filling of the Holy Spirit and the expectation of tongues, collapsing and healing. As one who has toured many of the evangelical options, does it not put the cart before the horse? The audience is folks who have little to no doctrinal knowledge nor does Alpha attempt this. In addition, said audience has not received the sacraments which proclaim the reception of the Spirit. How is one to experience the “fullness” when they have never been baptized or confirmed?
To say that the theology of the Holy Spirit baptism goes back to the Wesley‘s is at best non-academically true. Purchase and read the book Christian initiation and baptism in the Holy Spirit by MacDonnell and Montague and then let me know your thought.
Christian Initiation is a good book Father, It is a solid, scholarly work that spends a lot of time in the early Fathers. (The focus is 1/2 Biblical and 1/2 historical - through the 8th century). It was first published in 1991, before FIve-fold ideas started to flood into the evangelical and later Catholic worlds. I own it. have it read it through, and have quoted it in Fruitful Discipleship. I also worked for the charismatic renewal and created the Called & Gifted discernment process first for their Seattle office as a volunteer at their request.
In the C & G, we are very careful to use magisterial language and categories which is probably why it has moved so easily through the global Church. But I have been concerned with using the language of "Baptism in the Spirit" - because *in practice* what lay Catholics often hear is that somehow you really didn't receive the Holy Spirit at Baptism but only through a later charismatic style experience.
Of course, what is missing is a solid foundation in Trinitarian theology. There is a very wide spread (in both Protestant and Catholics circles) practice of speaking as though when we encounter each member of the Trinity alone and separate from the other members and that the members of the Trinity work independently of one another on earth. So you can actually hear people say things like "The Holy Spirit is God on earth." When in fact, whenever we encounter God in any way, we are encountering the whole Trinity even if we - as human beings trapped in time and space - don't experience it as such.
For instance, the fact that we receive the Holy Spirit every time we receive the Glorified Jesus Christ in Communion - (as JPII explicitly taught in Ecclesia de Eucharistia) - the humanity of Jesus having been saturated with the Holy Spirit from the first moment in his mother's womb) doesn't seem to be on anyone's horizon at the pastoral level. That's why I spent a whole chapter of my new book on intercessory prayer on the Trinity and Saving Presence of God. This is much more explicitly understood in eastern Catholicism than in the west (Coming out in March, I think)
Great article and very helpful. It's such a problem to talk of Baptism in the Spirit as though we don't receive the fullness in Baptism and Confirmation. Yes there can be a personal conversion that brings our Baptismal graces to the fore. But we need to be careful in the language we use.
FYI, generational sin is getting more publicity: https://tanbooks.com/products/books/sins-of-the-father-a-catholic-and-biblical-approach-to-generational-curses/
Thank you for the informative article, Father.
As a new candidate, I see much confusion in my parish over this esp. with OCIA mandatory attendance at Alpha classes.
What kind of confusion?
The extended teaching on the filling of the Holy Spirit and the expectation of tongues, collapsing and healing. As one who has toured many of the evangelical options, does it not put the cart before the horse? The audience is folks who have little to no doctrinal knowledge nor does Alpha attempt this. In addition, said audience has not received the sacraments which proclaim the reception of the Spirit. How is one to experience the “fullness” when they have never been baptized or confirmed?
To say that the theology of the Holy Spirit baptism goes back to the Wesley‘s is at best non-academically true. Purchase and read the book Christian initiation and baptism in the Holy Spirit by MacDonnell and Montague and then let me know your thought.
Rather than assigning me homework, perhaps you would like to give evidence to back up your assertions
Christian Initiation is a good book Father, It is a solid, scholarly work that spends a lot of time in the early Fathers. (The focus is 1/2 Biblical and 1/2 historical - through the 8th century). It was first published in 1991, before FIve-fold ideas started to flood into the evangelical and later Catholic worlds. I own it. have it read it through, and have quoted it in Fruitful Discipleship. I also worked for the charismatic renewal and created the Called & Gifted discernment process first for their Seattle office as a volunteer at their request.
In the C & G, we are very careful to use magisterial language and categories which is probably why it has moved so easily through the global Church. But I have been concerned with using the language of "Baptism in the Spirit" - because *in practice* what lay Catholics often hear is that somehow you really didn't receive the Holy Spirit at Baptism but only through a later charismatic style experience.
Of course, what is missing is a solid foundation in Trinitarian theology. There is a very wide spread (in both Protestant and Catholics circles) practice of speaking as though when we encounter each member of the Trinity alone and separate from the other members and that the members of the Trinity work independently of one another on earth. So you can actually hear people say things like "The Holy Spirit is God on earth." When in fact, whenever we encounter God in any way, we are encountering the whole Trinity even if we - as human beings trapped in time and space - don't experience it as such.
For instance, the fact that we receive the Holy Spirit every time we receive the Glorified Jesus Christ in Communion - (as JPII explicitly taught in Ecclesia de Eucharistia) - the humanity of Jesus having been saturated with the Holy Spirit from the first moment in his mother's womb) doesn't seem to be on anyone's horizon at the pastoral level. That's why I spent a whole chapter of my new book on intercessory prayer on the Trinity and Saving Presence of God. This is much more explicitly understood in eastern Catholicism than in the west (Coming out in March, I think)
Looking forward to publication of your new book
Acts chapter 8 verses 15 through 17
You'll find that passage discussed in this piece. https://fatherthomasbuffer.substack.com/p/pentecost-and-puzzles
Your context was the Wesley‘s as Ms. Waddell mentioned read a book that takes you back a few centuries
With that attitude, I wouldn’t bother