Germane to this study of the ecumenical nature of charismatic renewal, is the key issue of whether the Spirit is a 'revelator'. Is the Spirit a revealer of 'new truth' or does He merely illuminate 'old truths'. This is the pertinent central question to all theologians and thinkers who also claim to be experientially part of the charismatic renewal. JV Taylor (1981) sees the Spirit as the principle revelator and interpreter:
The Spirit is the great communicator, he is the maker of communion, the giver of awareness, the eye-opener. Almost any time someone says ‘I see it now’ I would say
there has been a momentary action of the Holy Spirit… It is the seeing which is not observation but encounter.
At this point it seems appropriate to mention St. Paul’s conversion. In his case what is often described as his ‘conversion’ tends to be limited to his initial dramatic encounter outside Damascus. But it is clearly the first stage of his longer spiritual turn around. He receives the Spirit (and his sight) through the hands of Ananias, (Acts 9v17) but it is some years later that the total recasting of his theology takes place. As he says in his Galatian epistle: ‘...the Gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. (1v11, 12 NIV). Smail stresses this point in his essay by referring to Paul’s ‘transforming of the mind’ (Romans 12v2). Paul refers also of course (Romans 8v27) to the spirit 'searching all things.’ There is also notably the Ephesians 3 v 3 reference to ‘the mystery made known to me by revelation.’ What is being described in Paul looks, even from a cursory reading, exactly the same spirit energised, mind transforming process that we see being described by Smail. In Paul’s case one has the theological re-casting par excellence of Israel and salvation history. Pawson and Smail both demonstrate how far the individual’s theological inheritance from his own denomination and tradition can be reshaped, or become modified by a deeper experience of the Spirit. In the same book as Smail, Andrew Walker describes his theological journey from an Elim church to Eastern Orthodoxy (1993: 46).
The ‘renewed theologian’ is free to restate his theology, but inevitably must do so within the stream of a tradition, which will judge and authenticate or not his new formulations. Given the need for all churches to re-visit their roots in the ecumenical quest, a position on revelation, experience and theology within a charismatic context would seem to be necessary if there is to be serious ecumenical convergence in the future. (cf.Tugwell on dialectic). It is interesting that Pawson's non-negotiable base
was his radical doctrine of the primacy of scripture, and charismatic renewal for him had to be understood without dislodging that framework.
For Smail it was his Barthian starting position and his commitment to Reformed Calvinism, which set the boundaries and reference assumptions in his re-thinking. It is a reasonable assumption that all thinking Christians will have a theological framework irrespective of whether they can articulate it or not. They may also be unaware of any inner inconsistencies until their framework is brought to dialogue. It is the duty and function of dialogue to bring assumptions to the surface and try them alongside others. Santer, whilst not using the term ‘revelation’, sees the development of doctrine in the church as the natural outcome of the Spirit inspired community living in continuity with its past. Alongside this Santer sees the need to develop or recover a deeper sense of Christ’s presence in the whole church and furthermore sees the sins of schism as a call to the ecumenical task. Santer's picture is of just such a dynamic, a 'pilgrimage' unity in which the Body is moving on together within the presence of Christ. In so many words he seems to be calling for a pentecostal/charismatic centred ecclesiology. (Lecture ‘Theology Today’, to clergy of Guildford Diocese 1976).
Hocken in his earlier work spells out this crucially important perception as he reflects upon the post 1960s development of Renewal (1986:177):
The co-existence of different visions grounded in conflicting ecclesiologies is at one and the same time a potential threat to the unity of the movement and an invitation to overcome and transcend the divisions inherited from the past. That which has made unity possible between Christians from such a wide range of backgrounds - namely the life and power of the Holy Spirit – must possess the potential to preserve and deepen this unity.
Hocken adds important comments on why he understands the renewal to have not delivered ecumenically after twenty-five years (:177):
The initial leaders of the Charismatic movement in Britain did see the hand of God in their new-found fellowship, though more amongst themselves than between
themselves and the Pentecostals. But they did not seem to have had a clear sense of the imperative to continue in that fellowship and to see that such continuance required common commitment to build on what united them.
He then points a finger by saying that there was no suggestion that they (the pioneers) were determined to seek in common prayer ways to find God's way, beyond the doctrinal and theological oppositions of the past. Hocken's expectation was that alongside the charismatic grace of spirit-baptism experienced across denominational boundaries, there ought also to be a common grace of understanding (emphasis mine). He states it thus (:178):
Whilst there was a genuine communion in the Spirit between the Spirit-baptised, there was not a common understanding of the movement and of its purpose in God's sight. The possibility of a common understanding was dependent on the participants being willing to allow their received theologies, especially their ecclesiologies, to be challenged and expanded in common fidelity to the grace of baptism in the Spirit and in parallel fidelity to the work of God at the heart of each tradition.
He sounds a note that is rarely heard in other authors. The assumption is, that given the grace of baptism in the Spirit, which is self-evidenced by the participants across several denominations, there should also be coupled to it a corresponding recognition that within each tradition there is a genuine work of God. It may have become overlaid and obscured over time but it is nevertheless remains within; and through prayer, reflection and heart searching should be recovered. The task for charismatic renewal is then seen as the recovery of that which was originally of God at the heart of a denomination. By contrast, Restorationism writes off any previous work of God within a denomination and begins with a clean sheet.
The process of rethinking personal theology as exemplified in e.g. Pawson, Smail and Abbott above needs to be commended and carried out on a vaster scale than hitherto. In the early days this was very much a personal exercise by the pioneers, but as numbers multiplied and a growing recognition of renewal took place it ought to have become a denominational exercise (emphasis mine).
It is still largely a matter of guess-work why the ecumenical motive for charismatic renewal has been lost from view, and my estimation is that it was not really grasped as a priority in the beginning, from among the more obvious attractions of empowerment for mission and evangelism. Hocken underlines the inevitability of the theological task to be undertaken if charismatic renewal is to bear lasting ecumenical fruit. In the 1960s he notes that renewal brought together older churches with revivalist currents, the historically conscious and the non-historical fundamentalists, liberals and conservatives.
Theologians and biblical scholars were among those baptised in the Spirit in the early years of charismatic renewal. This too gave rise to hope for significant breakthroughs in the areas of biblical exegesis, of theology, of Church history, of an ecumenical vision for the Church...In the 1990s it is impossible to be so optimistic as in the early 1970s. (1994:72).
He adds several examples of how the early ecumenical enthusiasm has abated particularly noting Ireland where in the early days it was the only country whose National Service Committee included both Catholics and Protestants; but this dimension has almost entirely disappeared.
In Riding the Storm (Kissell 2000), which is a reflection on his personal experience of leadership in the Charismatic renewal over three decades, Barry Kissell reflects historically on the ‘wave’ interpretation of charismatic history (2000:120). The ebb and flow of movements has given rise to labelling the Pentecostal revival as the first wave, the charismatic movement as the second and so on. Kissell’s prophetic ministry majors on interpretation of visions he has been given. In particular he sees the ‘harvest wave’ coming; what he calls the ‘big one’, which will greatly multiply the numbers gathered in to the church. He laments that the charismatic movement failed to deliver this harvest, and judges that this ‘harvest wave’ is still to come:
Nevertheless, it (the Charismatic wave) did not reach its full potential. God’s intended springtime was aborted primarily, I believe, through lack of spiritual leadership...The weaknesses in leadership were, with hindsight, evident early on. The
percentages of vicars and pastors involved were relatively small in comparison to the numbers of lay people involved. (2000:120)
Though he believes the early phases of the movement missed their intended goals, yet in his last chapter he concedes that inevitably some of God’s deeper purposes remain hidden. Ironically as part of his convalescence from a tragic surfing accident, he found the Grail community in Pinner; a lay Roman Catholic body based on prayer and service. Here he found poustinias, private devotional space, where he could wait upon God. Kissell offers some measure of theological reflection upon the route that charismatic renewal has taken. His reflection is very much the fruit of his gift of prophetic interpretation, but nowhere does he mention explicitly an ecumenical motive in renewal. In a recent Good News article, Jamus Smith says of waves: ‘It seems that the Holy Spirit comes in waves, and it is up to us to be simply faithful and available…somewhere in the 80s and 90s, there suddenly didn’t seem to be people coming in this wonderful force we experienced in the 70s and 80s’ (2007:10).