{"id":23409,"date":"2022-03-18T18:30:04","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T18:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/robert-menzies-christ-centered\/"},"modified":"2022-03-18T18:30:04","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T18:30:04","slug":"robert-menzies-christ-centered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/robert-menzies-christ-centered\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Menzies: Christ-Centered"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Robert P. Menzies, Christ-Centered: The Evangelical Nature of Pentecostal Theology<\/a> <\/em>(Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2020), 166 pages, ISBN 9781725267824.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A few years ago, I was having lunch with a good friend, the editor-in-chief of a flagship evangelical magazine. I knew him well enough to raise a question: \u201cTell me something: Why do your articles regularly refer to \u2018evangelicals and Pentecostals,\u2019 as if they were two separate breeds? You wouldn\u2019t print \u2018evangelicals and Baptists\u2019 or \u2018evangelicals and Arminians.\u2019 I\u2019m a Pentecostal\u2014and I wholeheartedly uphold the authority of Scripture, the divinity of Jesus Christ, the necessity of personal salvation, the call to spread the gospel \u2026 what else do I have to do to be considered a legitimate \u2018evangelical\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

He smiled as he granted that I had half a point. He made no commitment, however, to change his publication\u2019s verbiage.<\/p>\n

This notion\u2014that a great gulf of different worldviews separates Evangelicals and Pentecostals\u2014rests on a caricature of both movements.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>I wish Robert P. Menzies had been present at the lunch table that day. He could have helped me build an even stronger case for \u201cThe Evangelical Nature of Pentecostal Theology\u201d (subtitle of his new book). He could have told about highly respected R. A. Torrey, who like his mentor D. L. Moody, unwaveringly preached that \u201cthe baptism with the Holy Spirit is a definite experience which one may know whether he has received or not.\u201d Torrey openly told about his own empowerment.<\/p>\n

Granted, he had no time for speaking in tongues, which began blossoming at the Azusa Street Mission just few years before Torrey headed west in 1912 to lead the nearby Bible Institute of Los Angeles (B.I.O.L.A.). The first chapter of Menzies\u2019 book explains why. But Torrey consistently resisted all efforts to submerge Spirit baptism into something purely internal or transactional. Three years after Torrey\u2019s death, when Moody Bible Institute wanted to alter a section of his correspondence course on the baptism with the Holy Spirit, Menzies reports that his daughter Edith was \u201chorrified\u201d and said absolutely not.<\/p>\n

In subsequent chapters Menzies draws heavily on the witness of Luke\u2019s writings to establish Pentecostalism\u2019s bona fides as Evangelicals (the author capitalizes the term throughout his book). He affirms that in Luke-Acts, \u201cwe find the central and distinctive message of the Pentecostal movement\u2026. For far too long Protestant theology has highlighted Paul\u2019s important insights into the work of the Spirit, but largely ignored Luke\u2019s contribution.\u201d From Jesus\u2019 promise that his Father would \u201cgive the Holy Spirit to those who ask him\u201d (Lk. 11:13) to his final instruction to \u201cstay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high (Lk. 24:49) \u2026 to the abundant fulfillments throughout Acts over at least a 20-year span, Luke\u2019s works are not to be sidelined. (Most Christians don\u2019t realize that Luke actually wrote more of the New Testament\u201437,932 words in Greek\u2014than did Paul, who gave us just 32,408).<\/p>\n

Menzies draws heavily on the witness of Luke\u2019s writings to establish Pentecostalism\u2019s bona fides as Evangelicals.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>In this, Menzies aligns with the work of Canadian scholar Roger Stronstad, whose 2010 book The Prophethood of All Believers\u2014a Study in Luke\u2019s Charismatic Theology<\/a> <\/em>(CPT Press) is a worthy companion [Editor\u2019s note: Read Amos Yong\u2019s review<\/a> of the 1999 first issue].<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s counsel in 1 Corinthians 12-14 (and elsewhere), however, is not ignored. Menzies spends a whole chapter on the Pauline perspective, unpacking the value and place of inspired speech in the gathered assembly. His treatments of what it means to \u201cpray in the Spirit\u201d and even \u201csing in the Spirit\u201d are thorough and clarifying.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to find any bone to pick with this book. Perhaps, with hindsight, the author\u2019s chapter on \u201cSigns and Wonders\u201d might not have criticized some translations (particularly the NIV 1984) for their renderings of Luke 17:21 (\u201cthe kingdom of God is within you,\u201d as if to imply that the kingdom is solely inside the believer, out of sight). He apparently did not notice the NIV 2011\u2019s update, which says instead, \u201cthe kingdom of God is in your midst\u201d\u2014something widely visible in the praxis of the early church.<\/p>\n

Pentecostals have a unique contribution to make to the larger Evangelical family; but, if we abandon our Evangelical values, we will lose our way and God will raise up others to make this contribution.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>Menzies deftly brushes aside the contention of some scholars and pastors that Acts (though inspired) is little more than ancient history, and not to be taken as a paradigm. Yet his tone is never combative; he is too educated for that (Ph.D., University of Aberdeen), and deeply cross-cultural, thanks to more than a quarter century of ministry in East Asia, where he taught in the Philippines and founded the Asia Center for Pentecostal Theology. If you get the chance to have lunch with this author, take it. You will come away enriched.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile (to extrapolate from 1 Corinthians 14:39), let us \u201cforbid not\u201d to include tongues-speaking Pentecostals as legitimate participants in the Evangelical community of faith. The book\u2019s conclusion says it well: \u201cThis notion\u2014that a great gulf of different worldviews separates Evangelicals and Pentecostals\u2014rests on a caricature of both movements\u2026. Pentecostals have a unique contribution to make to the larger Evangelical family; but, if we abandon our Evangelical values, we will lose our way and God will raise up others to make this contribution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Dean Merrill<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Publisher\u2019s page: https:\/\/wipfandstock.com\/9781725267824\/christ-centered\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert P. Menzies, Christ-Centered: The Evangelical Nature of Pentecostal Theology (Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2020), 166 pages, ISBN 9781725267824. A few years ago, I was having lunch with a good friend, the editor-in-chief of a flagship evangelical magazine. I knew him well enough to raise a question: \u201cTell me something: Why do your articles regularly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3119,"featured_media":23410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,6728],"tags":[3220,2748,2818,4346,6349],"ppma_author":[4512],"class_list":["post-23409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biblical-studies","category-summer-2021","tag-evangelical","tag-featured","tag-pentecostal","tag-pentecostal-theology","tag-robert-menzies","author-deanmerrill"],"authors":[{"term_id":4512,"user_id":3119,"is_guest":0,"slug":"deanmerrill","display_name":"Dean Merrill","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/DeanMerrill201802-235x235-150x150.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/DeanMerrill201802-235x235-150x150.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23409"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=23409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}