Old conversation, new direction?

I’ve taken some time out for reflection and study this week and have been very encouraged in the process. It is always true that the greatest learning happens in interaction, and I have been grateful this week for a series of thought-provoking interactions with a number of people. The holiness/mission question won’t go away in [...]

Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification (6 of 6)

E. Glenn Hinson explains The Contemplative View with a very helpful, albeit hardly surprising, emphasis on the inner life in which, “Our relationship with God transfuses and informs everything we are doing. Hinson’s definition of contemplation as “loving attentiveness to God” is also helpful but in contrast with the grace-centred Lutheran view, for example, perhaps [...]

Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification (5 of 6)

Russel P. Spittler provides a thoughtful summary of The Pentecostal View, whilst recognising that this covers a very wide spectrum of opinion. However, I have struggled with his analysis most of all as he insists that speaking in tongues is evidence for the believer’s baptism in the Holy Spirit. Spittler does recognise that not all [...]

Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification (4 of 6)

Commenting on The Wesleyan View, Laurence W. Wood observes that, “For Wesley, holiness is a process of becoming in reality what already is ours in Christ through the new birth… It is a continuous happening through the indwelling of the Spirit.” This is a helpful nod in the direction of process as well as crisis. [...]

Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification (3 of 6)

Sinclair B. Ferguson writes on The Reformed View, strongly influenced by the teachings of Calvin – again, hardly a surprise. Ferguson identifies two key emphases in reformed theology: ‘Jesus Christ himself is our sanctification or holiness (1 Cor 1:30); and it is through union with Christ that sanctification is accomlished in us.” The first part [...]

Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification (2 of 6)

“Sanctification… is perhaps best defined as the art of getting used to the unconditional justification wrought by grace for Jesus’ sake.” With this, Gerhard O. Forde begins his treatment of The Lutheran View. The Lutheran emphasis, not surprisingly, is on God’s grace. “Being made holy… is not our work.” Forde seems to suggest that sanctification [...]

Five Views of Sanctification (1 of 6)

I have just finished reading, “Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification,” edited by Donald L Alexander. This is one of the books on the summer reading list for a course I hope to be starting in the Autumn. It’s not the easiest of reads but worth persevering with. Five theologians write from different church traditions [...]