The Three Waves of Charismatic Christianity
Rev. Angus Stewart examines the rapid growth and theological distinctives of Pentecostal, Charismatic, and Neo-Charismatic movements, which now comprise over half a billion Christians worldwide. The article critiques their distinctive pneumatology—particularly their doctrine that supernatural gifts like tongues, miracles, and ongoing prophecy continue today—and addresses the concerning shift among Reformed Christians toward greater acceptance of these movements. This resource provides a Reformed perspective on evaluating charismatic theology and practice.
Rev. Angus Stewart (Slightly modified from an article published in the British Reformed Journal) Introduction Charismatic Christianity is a very significant religious movement in our day. One estimate of the number of renewalists, as Pentecostals, Charismatics and Neo-Charismatics are collectively called, in the world in the year 2000 was 523,767,400, over a half a billion people.1 In other words, about one-twelfth of the planet’s population in Y2K were Pentecostals or Charismatics or...