THE PAGES of this book were first prepared for oral delivery as the Moore College Lectures of September 1985. I am very grateful to the former principal, Dr. Broughton Knox, for issuing the invitation, and to the current principal, Dr. Peter Jensen, and his faculty for the warm welcome they accorded me. I cannot speak too highly of the many kindnesses shown me, far beyond more courtesy. The two happy weeks I spent “down under” brought renewed friendships with Rev. Allan and Pamela Blanch, Rev. Phillip and Helen Jensen, and Dr. Peter and Mary O’Brien, and a host of new friends and acquaintances too numerous to mention. But one very special friend was a three-year-old charmer, Anne Woodhouse.
The invitation to give the lectures became the spur to put into print some material I had been thinking about and teaching for some years. Without that incentive, it would still be formless. Because the issues are so complex and widely disputed both in academic circles and in the church at large, I have included fairly extensive notes and bibliography for the more advanced student, while retaining the style of the lectures in the body of the text.
One does not reach conclusions like those put forth in these pages without extensive interaction with many people. I am reluctant to begin a list of names; but in addition to the help I received from the largely technical sources mentioned in the notes, I am particularly indebted to three people: Dr. Max Turner of Aberdeen University, whose long conversations with me more than ten years ago helped to sharpen my thinking; Dr. Roy Clements, pastor of Eden Baptist Church in Cambridge, England, whose expository series on this epistle was a great and stimulating delight; and Dr. Kenneth S. Kantzer, who kindly provided me with extensive class notes from a course he has been teaching for years. I am sure I have borrowed from these men without always realizing it. None of them will agree with everything I have written; but that probably means I have much more to learn.
Because the debate over the “charismatic movement” is far from being of merely academic interest, I have included in the bibliography and notes, as well as in the topics discussed, a representative number of more popular treatments along with the technical studies. Otherwise, I fear these lectures would have scratched where only a few fellow academics itch. My graduate assistant, Mr. Mark Reasoner, was indefatigable in tracking down obscure articles and books; and the staff of Rolfing Library, invariably helpful and courteous, must nevertheless be grateful the project has come to an end. One or two works in the bibliography, in particular the book by P. Benoit et al., arrived too late to be used—except for one essay by James D. G. Dunn, an offprint of which was kindly loaned me by Dr. Scot McKnight. I am grateful as well for the work of Rev. Dan Estes and Rev. Bruce Winter, who compiled the indexes for me at an extraordinarily busy juncture of my life.
The series was delivered in slightly abbreviated form at Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in Fresno, California, and at Canadian Theological Seminary in Regina, Saskatchewan, in the autumn of 1985, providing me with further opportunities for reflection and revision. I am grateful for the many kindnesses shown me on these occasions.
Soli Deo gloria.
D. A. Carson
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School