3 of 3

First, Pentecostals believe in healing—and they don't mean only "spiritual" healing. They think physical healing is part of what the Cross accomplished. God doesn't want to just save your soul; God also cares about your body. The Pentecostal emphasis on the healing of the body is an affirmation of the goodness of embodiment.

Second, Pentecostals use their whole bodies in worship. Pentecostal worship can get a little messy; indeed, sometimes there are bodies everywhere! I can still remember the first time I ever raised my hands in worship—there in that Pentecostal church in Stratford. Tentatively and awkwardly raising your arms, hands trembling, you feel like an idiot—and, of course, that's precisely the point. To be in a position with hands outstretched, or prostrate on the floor, is to be in a position of vulnerability and humility. And that can be an especially powerful spiritual discipline for Reformed Christians, who are probably prone to a certain staid confidence in our intellectual prowess and doctrinal precision. I thank God for those practices of embodied humiliation that are part and parcel of Pentecostal worship; they were exactly the counterweight I needed as a young Reformed philosopher. But they were also fleshing out the theories I was absorbing.

There is a third sense in which Pentecostals enact the Reformed affirmation of embodiment: It's in touch. When Pentecostals pray for one another, we touch one another. We lay hands on our sister or brother. Pentecostal worship always involves dedicated periods of prayer—"altar time"—that bring together the people of God with hands clasped, embraced in prayer, laying hands in hope. Faith, hope, and love are channeled and charged when the community expresses itself in that kind of touch.

Because Pentecostals live out the Reformed affirmation of both the sovereignty of God and the goodness of embodiment, I don't experience much tension between these core aspects of Reformed identity and Pentecostal spirituality.

The explosion of the Spirit's work in world Christianity reminds us that the church's DNA is Pentecostal. It is important for Reformed Christians to not be scared of that, and in fact, to see in it an invitation of the Spirit to live out the Reformed intuitions we talk about all the time.

James K. A. Smith teaches philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His book Thinking in Tongues: Elements of a Pentecostal Worldview will be published next year by Eerdmans.

Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Smith blogs at Fors Clavigera, What I'm Reading, and at group blogs like Generous Orthodoxy Think Tank and The Church and Postmodern Culture. Many of his writings, speaking schedule, and other information are at JamesKASmith.com.

Smith preached "On Being Pentecostal and Reformed" (mp3) at Calvin College's chapel service in October 2007. He also preached "God's Surprise: Elements of a Pentecostal Worldview" (mp3) at the Northwest University chapel in February 2006. Smith also appeared on a 2005 edition of public radio's Speaking of Faith.

Smith wrote "Thinking in Tongues" for the April 2008 issue of First Things, but that article is available online only for subscribers. He will publish Thinking in Tongues: Elements of a Pentecostal Worldview with Eerdmans later this year.

In the Journal of Pentecostal Theology, Amos Yong and Smith have been discussing Smith's attempts to synthesize not just Pentecostalism and the Dutch Reformed tradition, but also those two movements with the Radical Orthodoxy movements. Unfortunately, only the abstracts of the discussion are available for free online.

Earlier articles by Smith include:

Replacing Rallies with Revivals | In criticizing the Religious Right, Greg Boyd resurrects pietistic withdrawal. A review of The Myth of a Christian Nation. (Oct. 5, 2006)

Books & Culture Corner: In Memoriam: Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) | Remembering a philosopher who never forgot about death. (Oct. 2004)

first page |  3 of 3

share this page

May 2008, Vol. 52, No. 5