A polarized debate goes on between different stripes of Christians over the place of experience in Christianity. One side asserts that experiential faith (what the Puritans used to call “experimental religion”) is fundamental to a living, supernaturally-empowered relationship with Christ. The other side asserts that experiential religion is of passing interest, for spiritual experiences range… Continue Reading
Last week, I noted that the most common expectation today of the Holy Spirit’s work in worship is that he will make God’s presence known in a tangible way, and I promised to discuss where this expectation arose. This expectation is certainly not new; theologians such as John Owen and Jonathan Edwards addressed the religious… Continue Reading
Over the past several weeks I have been showing that, while differences over worship theology and practice have been one of the most significant doctrinal dividers, traditional psalmody, hymnody, and liturgy provided a means by which distinct denominations were able to enjoy an appropriate unity while at the same time maintaining necessary theological and practical boundaries.… Continue Reading
During the summer of 2014, Pastor Matt Recker published a series of blog posts in which he argued that the New Calvinism is essentially a recapitulation of the New Evangelicalism. The New Evangelicalism was a movement that began during the 1940s, blossomed during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and broke apart during the 1970s… Continue Reading
Christians ought to desire everything that God has in store for them. It would be wrong to neglect any good and perfect gift that God has given. Consequently, if God has chosen to grant miraculous gifts to Christians today, then those gifts ought to be nurtured and prized. On the other hand, if God is… Continue Reading
W. Robert Godfrey provides1 a helpful look at how the Pentecostal movement impacted evangelicalism’s understanding of the nature of emotion (particularly physical expressiveness) in worship. He ties it directly to the revivalism of Charles G. Finney (out of which, along with the Holiness movement, Pentecostalism emerged), and this reveals an essential relationship between these movements… Continue Reading
In the most recent issue of In the Nick of Time, Kevin Bauder warns against the dangers of even the recent, more mild forms of charismaticism. He points out that such beliefs affect a number of important doctrinal and practical matters. One of those areas is worship. In fact, I would suggest that it is in… Continue Reading