Description
Are apostles amongst us today? According to a growing section of the church, the answer is yes. This book investigates and appraises the idea, seeking answers to the following questions in the context of the church in Britain and the USA. Is there a robust scriptural justification for the charismatic apostolate (CA) that most charismatic groups are proclaiming? How widespread is this belief and why has it become more commonplace? What kind of apostles are being advocated by influential popular teachers? What does church history and tradition have to offer to this idea? Is there a way to ecumenically endorse and embrace the CA? Does the CA have a future in the universal church? These are important questions to answer for the sake of the church’s mission and health.
About the Author
Benjamin G. McNair Scott, PhD, is an ordained Anglican priest and the chaplain at St Catherine’s School, Bramley.
Contents
Foreword by William K. Kay
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: Where We Are
1. Apostles Today: USA
2. Apostles Today: Britain
3. Popular Charismatic Teachers on Apostles
Part Two: How We Got Here
4. Post-biblical History of Charismatic Apostles
5. Shifting Perspectives: How a Minority Viewpoint Became Widespread
Part Three: What We Should Make of It
6. Biblical Counter-arguments and Legitimations for an Ongoing Charismatic Apostolate
7. Theological/Ecclesiological Critique of Popular Evangelical Conceptions of the Charismatic Apostolate
Part Four: Where it Might Go
Summary and Conclusion
Glossary
Bibliography
Index of Names
Index of Churches and Church Networks
Index of Scripture
Endorsements and Reviews
This is a thoroughly well-researched book on the role of apostles in the contemporary Charismatic Movement that will be a benchmark for years to come. The subject is topical and relevant and equally engaging of both sides of the argument in Evangelical and Pentecostal scholarship. A mustread!
Allan Anderson, University of Birmingham
I take this to be an important book because it brings together ideas that, if they reach their final fruition, will alter the shape and state of the worldwide church in the twenty-first century. I cannot, of course, be sure of this, and none of us can with any certainty predict what adventures and adversities will reveal themselves. If the theological examination to which apostolicity has been subjected by McNair Scott is fair, and if apostolicity is indeed valid, then the twenty-first-century church is going to incorporate a reality that will eventually have an impact on its normative functioning and effectiveness.
William K. Kay, University of Chester and University of Glyndwr
…this is an informative and instructive volume with plenty to interest the reader. Pentecostal and Charismatic leaders in particular would do well to read it both carefully and prayerfully.
Barry Chant, in Australasian Pentecostal Studies, Vol 18, 2016
