Since the Second Great Awakening, in the 19th century, modern evangelical theology, piety, and practice has come to be dominated by various species of what are really expressions of the original Anabaptist theology, piety, and practice in the sixteenth century. They were the charismatic and Pentecostal movements of the sixteenth century. There was an outbreak of neo-Pentecostalism at Cane Ridge, Kentucky in 1801 and again in Topkea and in Los Angeles at the turn of the 20th century. Globally, the number of adherents to neo-Pentecostalism dwarfs the number of adherents to confessional Reformed theology, piety, and practice. Thus, for many evangelicals some species of pentecostalism is the baseline by which Reformed piety is measured. Yet, it’s a paradigm that we largely reject. Here are some resources to help explain the differences and to help think through what happens when Reformed Christians try to merge the two paradigms.

1. Bible, Babel, Bubble: Sola Scriptura Contra Thomas Müntzer
2. The Author Of The Belgic Confession On 16th-Century Pentecostalism
3. Did Calvin’s Theology, Piety, and Practice Need To Be Rounded Out With Müntzer’s?
   (Audio) Office Hours with David VanDrunen on Sola Scripura and Continuing Revelation
4. Recovering The Reformed Confession
5. Heidelberg 53: We Believe In The Holy Spirit (1)
6. Heidelberg 53: We Believe In The Holy Spirit (2)
7. Heidelberg 53: We Believe In The Holy Spirit (3)
8. The Secret Of Knowing God’s Will
9. Reformed And Pentecostal?
10. “‘Magic and Noise:’ Reformed Christianity in Sister’s America,” in Always Reformed: Essays in Honor of W. Robert Godfrey.
11. Reformed And Charismatic? Philip Jenson Says No.
12. Once More: Reformed And Charismatic?
13. Must Reformed Christians Be Cessationist?
14. On Traveling From Münster To Geneva
15. A Fork In The Road For The “New Calvinists”
16. Calvin Against Continuing Extra-Biblical Revelation
17. The Problem With Paraphrases And Continuing Revelation
18. Distinguishing Reformed And Pentecostal Piety
19. Less A Problem Of What The Spirit Is Doing; More A Problem Of What We Say About The Spirit
20. Divine Winds And Gay Elders: Where The QIRE Leads
21. The Pornographer’s Dream Or The Problem With Contemporary Worship
22. Jonestown And The Reformed Movement
23. American Evangelicalism: From David Joris To David Koresh
24. You Mean There’s More Than “Shine, Jesus Shine”?
25. Did God Leave Me When I Went To Seminary?
26. The Addiction To Religious Euphoria
27. Everyone (Even Kuyper) Is Subject To The QIRE
28. How Keswick Theology Nearly Destroyed J I Packer
29. In Case You Aren’t Sure What QIRE Means
30. I Have Not Seen Miracles Here: Between Pentecost And The Parousia
31. Pietists And Romanists Together
32. (Audio) Heidelcast: Recovering Mother Kirk (with D. G. Hart)
33. Is Reformed Confessionalism Impious?
34. The Un-ringing Of The Bells (The Sultans Of The Spirit)
35. Why This Reformed Christian Will Not Be Charismatic In 2018
36. You Are Not A Canonical Actor Or How To Avoid Nightmare Alley
37. Mark Driscoll And The Danger Of “God Told Me”
38. Was Agabus Wrong? Or Why Sola Scriptura Is Still Right
39. Resources On The Reformation Solas
40. Heidelcast 200—What Must A Christian Believe? (17): The Holy Spirit
41. Office Hours Season 7—The Holy Spirit: The Lord And Giver Of Life
42. Mark Driscoll And The Danger Of “God Told Me”
43. Rome, Pentecostals, and Credulity

Bibliography

1. Alexander, Philip. “A Sixtieth Part of Prophecy’: The Problem of Continuing Revelation in Judaism in John F. A. Sawyer et al. ed. Words Remembered, Texts Renewed : Essays in Honour of John F. A. Sawyer. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. Supplement Series, 195. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995.
2. Blumhofer, Edith Waldvogel. The Assemblies of God: A Chapter in the Story of American Pentecostalism. Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Pub. House, 1989.
3. Budgen, Victor. The Charismatics and the Word of God: A Biblical and Historical Perspective on the Charismatic Movement. Welwyn: Evangelical, 1985.
4. Clark, R. Scott. “‘Magic and Noise:’ Reformed Christianity in Sister’s America,” in R. Scott Clark and Joel E. Kim, ed. Always Reformed: Essays in Honor of W. Robert Godfrey (Escondido: Westminster Seminary California, 2010), 74–91. (Apple Books version).
5. Dayton, Donald W. Theological Roots of Pentecostalism. Studies in Evangelicanism, No. 5. Grand Rapids, MI: Francis Asbury, 1987.
6. Duguid, Iain, “What Kind of Prophecy Continues? Defining the Differences Between Continuationism and Cessationism” in John M. Frame, ed. Redeeming the Life of the Mind: Essays in Honor of Vern Poythress. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2017.
7. Gaffin, Richard B, and Wayne A Grudem. Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?: Four Views. Counterpoints. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub, 1996.
8. Gaffin, Richard B. Perspectives on Pentecost: Studies in New Testament Teaching on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Pub, 1979.
9. Gaffin, Richard B. “Tongues Today?” in John R. Muether and and Danny E Olinger, ed. Confident of Better Things: Essays Commemorating Seventy-Five Years of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Willow Grove, Pa.: Committee for the Historian of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 2011.
10. Hamilton, Michael P. The Charismatic Movement. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975.
11. Martin, David. Pentecostalism: The World Their Parish. Religion and Modernity. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001.
12. Milne, Garnet Howard. The Westminster Confession of Faith and the Cessation of Special Revelation: The Majority Puritan Viewpoint on Whether Extra-Biblical Prophecy Is Still Possible. Studies in Christian History and Thought. Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2008.
13. Robeck Jr., Cecil M. “Canon, Regulae Fidei, and Continuing Revelation in the Early Church” in  James E Bradley and Richard A Muller. Church, ed. Word, and Spirit: Historical and Theological Essays in Honor of Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1987.
14. Robertson, O. Palmer. The Final Word: A Biblical Response to the Case for Tongues and Prophecy Today. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1993.
15. Sweeney, Douglas A. The American Evangelical Story: A History of the Movement. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2005.
16. Wacker, Grant. Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003.
17. Weaver, John. The New Apostolic Reformation: History of a Modern Charismatic Movement. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc, 2016.
18. White, R. Fowler, “Contrary to What You May Have Heard: On the Rhetoric and Reality of Claims of Continuing Revelation” in Gary L. W. Johnson and R. Fowler White, ed. Whatever Happened to the Reformation? Phillipsburg, N.J.: P & R, 2001.

Post authored by:

• R. Scott Clark

  

  R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

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