On the Cessation of the Charismata: The Protestant Polemic on Post-biblical Miracles

by Jon Mark Ruthven

The Definitive Study--Now Updated & Expanded! (This Kindle edition is identical in content to the print edition, except that the author has transliterated Hebrew and Greek characters in the print edition to English characters for this electronic edition; and page formatting may differ in minor ways between the two editions.)Protestant theology has usually tended toward cessationism, the belief that the miraculous, including various spiritual gifts, ceased early in Christian history. The Princeton theologian Benjamin B. Warfield strongly advocated this view, especially in his influential work Counterfeit Miracles.The present study, On the Cessation of the Charismata, thoroughly critiques cessationism generally and Warfield specifically. It shows that cessationism arises from sources other than-some even contrary to-Scripture namely, cessationists' experience of history and their embrace of philosophies that distort their interpretation of Scripture. Instead, as On the Cessation shows, Scripture expects the miraculous, including all gifts of the Holy Spirit, to continue until the Second Coming; and that far from being signs merely accrediting the gospel only during its earliest proclamation, such manifestations of the Spirit are part and parcel of the good news of God's saving reign. Recognized already by many scholars as the definitive study, this updated and expanded edition of On the Cessation of the Charismata offers these valuable, new • Summary of the cessationist debate since its first publication • Updated documentation of key sources • Outlining of all contents, visualizing the argument more clearly • Groundbreaking discussion of the Holy Spirit's centrality in the New Covenant. His coming in Acts 2 is shown to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 59:19-21; his functioning as the prophetic Spirit, to fulfill God's desire to commune intimately and missionally with all of his Covenant people. This updated and expanded edition keeps On the Cessation of the Charismata the definitive study of the biblical underpinnings of Spirit-empowered Christianity globally. More now than before, it is a work every student and scholar of biblical hermeneutics and of biblical, historical, and constructive pneumatology must engage. Thomas Burke, Dean of Humanities, Hillsdale "The most forcefully and cogently argued work for the continued supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit throughout the Christian era, including the present." Gene Green, Professor of New Testament, Wheaton "The rise of global Pentecostalism calls for a renewed and wide hearing of [these] biblical and theological arguments in favor of the contemporary charismata within the church." L. Philip Barnes, The Evangelical "Eirenic . . . and pastoral . . . yet . . . unambiguous in its 'Spiritual gifts are granted for the advance of God's kingdom and the maturity of the church until the end of this present age' . . . a strong and convincing case." Larry W. Hurtado, Professor of New Testament, Edinburgh "A remarkably well informed and penetrating analysis I find persuasive. The definitive study."

340 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 9, 2012