Love, Prayer, and Charismatic Spirituality
Picture a smallish young woman, head bowed, sitting on a
wooden chair near the back of a small wooden church. As the semiformal service
blended into an after service of prayer, she began to quiver. She shook, the
chair began to rock on two legs, and she began to speak in tongues. It was her
first time. She never forgot that experience of warmth and God’s presence. God’s
love had been experienced.
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| Soaking Prayer Photo |
The story of the young woman is from the 1930s but
charismatic spirituality is going strong and together with Pentecostalism,
represents one of the fastest growing movements in Christianity. Although scholars argue over fine points of
defining religion and spirituality, a common finding is that religious people
pray. But they pray in different ways.
This week I finished reading Catch the Fire: Soaking Prayer and Charismatic Renewal by Canadian Sociologist,Michael Wilkinson and Religious Studies scholar, Peter Althouse. They
tell the story of a movement (Catch The Fire;
CTF) that began in Toronto Canada in 1994 with roots in the Pentecostal resurgence that broke out in the early 1900s.
The revival that began January 20, 1994 came to known as the Toronto Blessing. Of particular interest
is the current practice of soaking prayer, which bears some resemblance to
being slain in the Spirit- an old
Pentecostalism.
Here’s what the authors say--
Soaking prayer is claimed by charismatics to facilitate and expand the
reception of divine love in order to give it away in acts of forgiveness,
reconciliation, compassion, and benevolence. Soaking is a metaphor that
supports charismatic spirituality and practices like resting in the Spirit,
prayer for spiritual gifts, healing, prophecy, and impartation, which we
describe and explain in this book (p. 4).
People travel to conferences to learn the practice of
soaking prayer. Take a pillow and a blanket and plan to spend time in the
presence of God. You’ll see people lying on the floor, looking peaceful with hands
outstretched. They’re waiting for God.
An interview explains soaking prayer.
The book summarizes the results of their research. They
conducted field studies by observing at conferences and interviewing
participants. They look at research findings that might explain the phenomenon.
And they include the results of a survey. I’ll take a look at some of the data
next.
Survey Findings
I like data so I turned to the appendix to find out some
of the numbers behind the movement. Here are some gleanings. (It starts on page
165.)
How many responded
to the survey?
I don’t know how
many started but the analysis is based on 258 people.
How old were they?
Mostly middle aged and seniors—60% were in the age groups
46 to 64.
Where did they
live? Mostly in the USA—71.9%
What about
relationships?
Most were married—73.9%
How ethnically
diverse were they?
Not very—mostly of
European stock—86.5%
How educated were
they?
Pretty well: High
School 40.9? College or University 40.9%.
Were they clergy
or what?
Most were not
73.9%
How often do they
pray?
59% said they pray
throughout the day and about half had a set time for prayer (49%)
How do they pray?
They pray in many ways- I appreciated the creativity of
the researchers to ask detailed questions. Most spoke to God in their own words
(95.9%). Most prayer for the needs of others (90%) and themselves (77.1%). They
used the Bible during prayer and listened to Christian music when praying.
Prayer on the go.
Most prayed whilst driving (89.6%). And a substantial
number prayed whilst doing chores (72.1%) or doing errands/shopping (61.7%).
What did they
experience?
The spiritual experiences were many and varied. They
experienced the presence of God, reported visions, and experienced bodily and
emotional healing. Speaking in tongues was common. They reported protection from
evil and some said they were delivered from the demonic.
What were the
outcomes?
Many reported increased capacity to handle adversity and increased
compassion, hope and forgiveness.
They were busily engaged in helping others and reported
feeling motivated to make the world a better place.
They reported giving time and money to help both
religious and nonreligious charities.
THOUGHTS and NOTES
The authors of the book are Christians. They approach the
subject in a scholarly manner and attempt to account for the prayer in terms of
sociological theories. They are neither critical nor skeptical in their
approach.
If you watch the videos on YouTube you might notice the
advertising of soaking prayer kits and conferences. This could be taken as
crass-TV product placement or it could be viewed as telling people more about
an experience that many find meaningful. You will also find hours of soaking prayer music and instruction. so, in fairness, the information is freely available.
I’ve seen far too many charlatans—clergy fleecing the
flock and worse. But now I see people finding different spiritual experiences
meaningful to them. I’m still skeptical in an inquiring sense but rarely
cynical.
It’s good to keep in mind that what people say in surveys
does not represent what they actually do. People are not necessarily lying.
There’s a tendency to over-report good deeds and socially desirable attitudes.
Unless you conduct controlled experiments and ask questions to get at socially
desirable attitudes, you can’t be overly confident in survey results.
The data on altruism are confusing because many Christians
give money to their churches. Anyone with a bit of business experience knows
salaries are the largest part of most organizational budgets. Some may consider
this church-giving as charitable giving. But others do not. For them, charitable
giving is that which helps those less fortunate or projects (e.g., cancer
research) likely to help millions. How do you define altruism and generosity?
I learned about the woman at the beginning of the post
from my mother—it was her experience.
RELATED POSTS
REFERENCE
Wilkinson, M.
& Althouse, P. (2014). Catch the fire:
Soaking prayer and charismatic renewal.
DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press.
Related references
Mittelstadt,
M. & G. W. Sutton (eds.) (2010) Forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration:
Multidisciplinary studies from a Pentecostal perspective. Eugene, OR: Pickwick
Publications. http://wipfandstock.com/pickwick_publications
Sutton,
G. W. (2010). The Psychology of Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Restoration:
Integrating Traditional and Pentecostal Theological Perspectives with
Psychology. In M. Mittelstadt & G. W. Sutton (eds). Forgiveness,
reconciliation, and restoration: Multidisciplinary studies from a Pentecostal
perspective. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications. http://wipfandstock.com/pickwick_publications
Sutton,
G. W., Jordan, K., & Worthington, E.L., Jr. (2014). Spirituality, hope,
compassion, and forgiveness: Contributions of Pentecostal spirituality to godly
love. Journal of Psychology and
Christianity, 33, 212-226.
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