Book Review: The Holy Spirit as Person and Power: Charismatic Renewal and its Implications for Theology

ROB YULE EUGENE: WIPF & STOCK, 2020. 268 PP. ISBN 978-1725251595. $48.85.

The field of Pentecostal and Charismatic studies is well-established internationally, though not so well recognised in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It is therefore significant to have a comprehensive Charismatic theology of the Spirit, written from our context. Rob Yule covers the history of Pentecostal and Charismatic movements (chapters 1-2), a biblical survey of the Holy Spirit (chapters 3-8: the Old Testament, Jesus, the Spirit and Christian life, and a theology of spiritual gifts) and theological considerations reflecting Rob Yule’s engagement with orthodox theology (chapters 9-11: the Spirit in persons, Trinity and the Filioque, and the person, nature and the role of the Spirit). The book concludes with a summary chapter (chapter 12).

In particular it is valuable to have a specifically Charismatic theology. When I taught courses for Laidlaw College on Pentecostal and Charismatic Theology, a majority of students were much more comfortable with Third Wave understandings of the Spirit as opposed to classical Pentecostal theology. At the time I was struck in my own rereading of the voices of the Charismatic renewal that they seemed more closely aligned with classical Pentecostal theology. This is clear from Rob Yule’s book. He would affirm a second experience, call this being baptised in the Holy Spirit and even state that the initial evidence of this is speaking in tongues. Yule would maintain that he found a way through a source of unnecessary conflict between evangelicals and Pentecostals, by avoiding the language of “second blessing”, and with a clear distinction between being born of the Spirit (indwelling) and being baptised by the Spirit (empowering). However I imagine this theology will be challenging for the inheritors of Charismatic renewal and a new generation of leaders within those churches.

Before considering specific insights of the book, I have to say that as someone whose formative Christian experience was in the days of the Charismatic renewal, this book is pure delight. From the surprising reference to renewal at Hornby Presbyterian beginning with a visit of elders to Queen St Assembly of God in 1979, which I attended as a university student, through to Tom Smail and his book Reflected Glory which my Presbyterian youth leader was reading around 1979, this book recounts and evokes the world of Charismatic renewal. There are references to the John Wimber conferences, contemporary music, intentional community and commitment to the poor, Brian Hathaway at Te Atatu Bible Chapel, Murray Robertson at Spreydon Baptist, and some of the key visiting speakers like David Pawson who taught his “Normal Christian Birth” material at the Youth For Christ Summer Harvest Camp. I remember David Pawson excitedly explaining how he had noticed the presence or absence of the Greek article in relation to (the) Holy Spirit, implying a distinction between the person and power of the Spirit, how he wondered if anyone else had noticed that, and how he had found it referred to in Westcott’s Commentary on the Gospel of John – concepts all discussed in Rob Yule’s book. Yule really does convey the key events, leaders, writers, concepts and illustrations from that movement, even down to the metaphor of the fruit tree and the Christmas tree to illustrate the fruit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

It is not possible to comment on all the elements of the book. Let me mention three:

Firstly, one of the key claims of the movement was that Jesus ministered as a Spirit-empowered human being. In particular, his miracles are not seen as evidence of his divinity but as a replicable model of a spirit-filled ministry. Rob Yule quotes Tom Smail:

In both Christ and us the Spirit is working with the stuff of our common humanity; because he is man and we are men (sic), it becomes possible and credible that what the Spirit did first on him, he should be able to do again in us” (Reflected Glory, 63)

Secondly, Rob Yule has a particular understanding of spiritual gifts based on the trinitarian formulation of 1 Cor 12:3-6. Yule sees these as three categories of gifts, which he presents as a “new and more insightful classification” (168). In Pentecostal and Charismatic circles the analysis is common of 1 Corinthians 12 as manifestation gifts, Romans 12 as motivational gifts and Ephesians 4 as ministry gifts. Yule locates this framework in the language of charisma (manifestation gifts), service (ministry gifts) and providential working of the Father (motivational gifts).

Thirdly, in latter chapters, Rob Yule explores his more innovative theological thinking in regard to the Spirit and the Trinity, primarily in dialogue with orthodox theologians. He argues against the Filioque clause, (Zizioulas “pinned my last defences of the Filioque against the ropes” [141]). He proposes a solution that the Spirit “proceeds eternally from the Father and is sent in time by the Son” (141) and further extensions to the third article of the Creed. Yule seeks to balance the understanding of the church as the body of Christ with the church as the fellowship of the Spirit. He has some beautiful thoughts on the Spirit as creating diversity among persons, quoting Lossky, “the work of Christ unifies; the work of the Holy Spirit diversifies” (Mystical Theology, 166-67). The arguments of these latter chapters deserve their own critical engagement from someone like Myk Habets.

Finally, Yule indicates his next book is on the history of the Charismatic renewal in New Zealand. He mentions the oft-cited statement that the charismatic renewal impacted New Zealand more than any other nation (Johnstone, Operation World, 318), so this is an important part of the recent story of Christianity in New Zealand. It is good that both the theology and history are preserved so that they might inspire and challenge another generation.

Steve Graham is the Principal at Equippers College, Auckland.