It has been rumoured that Pentecostal-charismatic theology is coming of age. What might be evidence that would either validate or falsify such a rumour? Perhaps the willingness to be self-critical toward constructive ends? Perhaps the retrieval of the Christian tradition in a manner that creatively addresses issues of concern? Perhaps an interdisciplinary methodology? Perhaps the capacity to dialogue with the philosophic tradition at a high level of abstraction without compromising distinctive Pentecostal-charismatic emphases on the affections and embodiment? Or perhaps simply illuminating topics that are important not only for Pentecostals and charismatics in particular but also for Christians in general? If in fact one were to measure the maturity of Pentecostal-charismatic theology by such criteria as these, then Evan Howard's Affirming the Touch of God is sure to contribute to the aforementioned hearsay.
The book under review was originally a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California. As an active member of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in San Francisco throughout most of the time of researching this project, Howard writes from the perspective of one steeped in the charismatic renewal movement in general and in the "Toronto Blessing" more specifically. It is not difficult to imagine how his participation in this environment raised normative theological questions about Christian discernment. As such, Howard not only provides a scholarly perspective on a phenomenon that continues to puzzle and divide many observers and commentators, but he also advances considerably the discussion of discernment as a whole. Let me make a few comments to substantiate the latter claim before concluding this review by returning to Howard's assessment of "The Blessing."
Howard's argument in a nutshell is that discernment is an affectively-rich act of knowing. But what is affectivity or the affections? Formally, Howard defines affectivity as "a system of somewhat interdependent operations, involving primary dimensions of human life (biological, psychological, social…, ecological and spiritual)" (205). In layman's terms-although Howard is clear that he does not want to be precise as to how the following should be delimited-affectivity includes "moods, sentiments, basic emotions, feelings, passions, reactions, desires, and enjoyments, aesthetic emotions, empathy, transcendental emotions and the like" (206). In short, discernment in general and Christian discernment in particular is a complex togetherness of cognitive, emotive, and affective processes.
Howard weaves a threefold cord-drawing from the history of Christian spirituality, contemporary experimental psychology, and the North American philosophic tradition-toward this conclusion in the main body of his book. The centrality of affectivity to Christian discernment in Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises and Jonathan Edwards' The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God and A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections is developed first. This is followed by a sustained engagement with cognitive, personality and social psychology in order to provide empirical grounding for understanding discernment as a process of categorization imbued with affectivity. The work of experimental psychologists like Eleanor Rosch, Douglas Medin, and others, provides entryway into the complex web of perception, inference, judgment, theory formation, language development and decision making vis-à-vis the development of categories in the accumulation of knowledge. Then the emotion researches of Nico Frijda, Richard Lazarus, Keith Oatley and James Averill are introduced to focus attention on the adaptive, cognitive, communicative and social functions of the affections. The cash value of this discussion is to show how affectivity and the affections influence the discerning subject (both the individual and the community as a whole) and their contexts, how they infuse the act of discernment, and how they may be also objects of discernment.
The inspiration behind Howard's project is then given explicit attention in the chapter devoted to the work of the Jesuit philosophical theologian at GTU, Donald Gelpi. As one who has benefited from Gelpi's work from a distance (both with regard to Pentecostal-charismatic self-understanding and with regard to the importance of the North American philosophic tradition from Peirce through James, Royce, Whitehead and Dewey for theological reflection), I am delighted to see students of Gelpi confirm my intuitions regarding the value of his work for Pentecostal-charismatic theology. Gelpi's corpus is consulted to clarify the philosophical and theological underpinnings of religious experience and religious epistemology. Further, his pneumatology is introduced to enable distinguishing "discernment as a virtue" from "discernment as a charismatic gift of the Holy Spirit".
This threefold cord leads Howard to spin out a tapestry of Christian experience and Christian discernment as an affectively-rich act of knowing in the penultimate chapter, and test this theory of discernment in Christian practice in the final chapter. There, Howard finds that spiritual direction provided by mature Christians confirms his theology of discernment. Further, he returns once again to discerning charismatic manifestations and phenomena such as the Toronto Blessing. The value of Howard's work is most clearly evidenced in the nuanced account of discernment processes which he suggests ought to be an ongoing aspect of renewal and revival movements. How does one decide whether or not one is experiencing revival as opposed to mere enthusiasm? How does one distinguish between a true or false work of God? How does one discern the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit? Howard's response is to focus on affective trends in experiences, movements, and the Church as a whole. This highlights his point that affections are not only what we attempt to discern, but that affectivity is itself an intrinsic part of human experience in general and human knowing in particular.
As should be evident from the foregoing, researchers, psychologists, philosophers, and theologians from within and without the Pentecostal-charismatic movement are given the opportunity to listen and learn from each other throughout this volume. More important, a set of overlapping conceptual frameworks has been brought to bear on the topic of Christian discernment, an important matter not only for Pentecostals and charismatics, but also for Christians as a whole. One could certainly quibble with various aspects of this work, as well as raise methodological and theological questions. However, for Pentecostals and charismatics eager to push the traditional (read "classical Pentecostal") boundaries and categories, this book is an important contribution to just that task. And for that, we can be grateful to Evan Howard.