BOOK REVIEW SECTION

(All inquiries and correspondence pertaining to the reviewing of books

should be addressed to: Karen Robinson, PNEUMA Book Review
Editor, Library, Oral Roberts University, 7777 South Lewis, Tulsa,
Oklahoma, 74171).

Mitchell, Robert Bryant. Heritage and Horizons: The History of

Open Bible Standard Churches (Des Moines: Open Bible
Publishers, 1982). Reviewed by Wayne E. Warner.

When I was growing up in Oregon, my narrow view of Christianity led

me to believe there were but three Christian denominations: the
Methodist Church, because I knew of a congregation in town; the
Roman Catholic Church, because we often heard critical remarks about
this church at home, in Sunday school, and from the pulpit; and my own
Bible Standard Church, which belonged to the Open Bible Standard
Churches, Inc. (OBSC).
Later, of course, I learned that there were many other denomina-
tions making up the Christian faith. And I learned that my own OBSC
church, with fewer than 300 congregations, was very small, that
comparatively few people -- including students of church history --
outside our denomination knew anything about us.
Now with the publication of a well-researched and interesting
.official history of OBSC available, more people will be able to
intellingently discuss this small trinitarian Pentecostal fellowship which
is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa.
OBSC is comparatively young, originating with an amalgamation of
two smaller groups in 1935. However, these two merging groups trace
their roots to the early outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Los Angeles and
Chicago.
The oldest of the two groups, Bible Standard Churches (BSC), was
founded in 1919 by men and women who were formerly associated with
the dynamic and gifted Azusa Street Mission veteran, Florence
Crawford, in Portland, Oregon.
Coincidentally, the second group which made up the merger -- Open
Bible Evangelistic Association (OBEA) -- was also a splinter group from
a church founded by a woman, the International Church of Foursquare
Gospel, whose founder was the legendary Aimee Semple McPherson.
Robert Bryant Mitchell is a product of Aimee Semple McPherson's
dynamic organization of the 1920's. He was a part of the Midwest group

- 57-
which left Foursquare in 1932 and since that time has served OBSC in
education, missions, and as general superintendent. He has also been
active in the National Association of Evangelicals and the Pentecostal
Fellowship of North America.
Mitchell approached the task of telling the story of OBSC in three
major concentrations.
In Part 1 he deals with the origin of BSC in the Northwest. This
inspiring narrative of revivals, outpourings of the Holy Spirit, the
ministry of Charles Price and others, the founding of churches, and the
sending of missionaries during that early period is not available in any
other single volume. The ministry of BSC in the Northwest is a result of
Fred Homshuh's vision. This pioneer, who died in 1982 at the age of 98,
attended John Alexander Dowie's college in Zion, Illinois. But it was not
until Florence Crawford's Apostolic Faith. He became an enthusiastic
evangelist and church planter and challenged other young people to
follow his leadership.
Some readers might be tempted to turn to Part 2 first because this
section deals with the split involving the Foursquare in the Midwest.
Under the leadership of John and Louise Richey in the 1920's a strong
Pentecostal organization was created in the upper Midwest. Here are
the stories of revivals, pioneering in difficult communities, and the
establishing of thriving churches. Aimee was proud of this Foursqure
showing in the Midwest.
Of special interest in Part 2 is chapter 12, "Year of Decision (1932),"
when 32 ministers voted to withdraw from the Foursquare and form
OBEA. As the author points out, the two contributing factors for the
withdrawal were (1) unhappiness with the Foursquare episcopal plan
used in holding title to local church property, and (2) Mrs. McPherson's
marriage to David L. Hutton.
The varied ministries and organizational developments of OBSC
since 1935 is covered in Part 3. Mitchell details the outreach of home
and foreign missions, the Bible training schools, relationships to other
organizations, and evangelism--always conscious of what he believed to
be God's hand upon the destinies of this organization.
Despite its size, OBSC has contributed to the kingdom of God--
being in places and reaching people that perhaps nobody else could.
And despite the fact OBSC is not a powerful and well-known organiza-
tion, it has survived, rejecting the merger offers of larger denominations.
It has kept its own identity and takes pride in its heritage and in what is
being done today. And the organization seems to express bright hope
about the future.

- 58-
 This important volume is a slice of American church history and
should be on the shelf of everyone interested in evangelical and
pentecostal contributions in our century. _

Michael Scanlan and Randall Cirner, Deliverance From Evil

Spirits: A Weapon for Spiritual Warfare (Ann Arbor, MI:
Servant Books, 1980), 121 pp. Reviewed by Robert Stroud.

The morning I began reading this book a headline in the paper read,
"Murder plea may implicate the devil." Recently on television, the
nation was treated to the embellished story of the "The Amityville
Horror." In the world today, there is an abundance of material related to
the demonic. The problem is that much of it is quite bad, evidenced by
the examples cited above. How refreshing then, to come upon an
excellent resource such as Deliverance From Evil Spirits.
This new work will be of interest to all Christians who desire to know
more about deliverance ministry. It will be of special interest to
Catholics and Protestants from sacramental traditions, for the Roman
Catholic authors write from just such a perspective. Theirs is not merely
a tradition-bound historical inquiry, but rather a result of their involve-
ment in the charismatic renewal, where, as God became more real, "we
also realized that the spiritual realm included spiritual forces hostile to
God and hostile to us, his people" (13). The authors also consider prayer
for "release of the Holy Spirit" as one of the appropriate aspects of
deliverance ministry (88).
The authors stress throughout the book that the proper context for
this ministry is within an overall picture of pastoral care. This issue
is made clear at the outset of their discussion; "... our main purpose is to
set the exercise of this ministry in its proper context -- that of pastoral
care" (1). The actual deliverance ministry itself is only one dimension of
their concern. "Most importantly, the session is preceded by many
months of pastoral care in which there have been prayer sessions,
teaching, counseling, and guidance. Therefore, the deliverance ministry
should be considered as one element in a process of pastoral care" (77)..
Related to this is the importance placed on the supportive community of
faith. "Without this support, there is a high probability that a person
will fall back into the former state of bondage" (79).
Scanlan and Cirner anchor their approach to deliverance in the
doctrine of the Kingdom of God, which destroys "the foundations for the
bland Christianity so often preached today" (5). They spend a
considerable amount of energy discussing the present and future

59
dimensions of God's Kingdom, because "this fact -- that we live between
the intitial coming of the Kingdom of God and its full and final
establishment -- brings us to the heart of spiritual warfare" (9). "We live
in an interim period between the mortal blow dealt to Satan by the
cross and the final destruction of his kingdom when the Lord comes
again" (11).
In laying the groundwork for sharing their pastoral care model, the
authors consider the biblical and patristic testimony. But they do not
stop there. "The writings of the Protestant reformers maintain," they
say, "the scriptural and patristic teaching about evil spirits" (18). They
also cite contemporary Catholic statements, such as the following made
in 1973 by Pope Paul VI. "What are the greatest needs of the Church
today? Do not let our answer surprise you as being oversimple or even
superstitious and unreal: one of the greatest needs is defense from that
evil which is called the Devil... we know that this dark and disturbing
spirit really exists and that he still acts with treacherous cunning ..."
(19).
An important distinction is made midway through the book between
deliverance and exorcism proper. "Only priests specifically authorized
by the local ordinary may be involved in solemn exorcism; a discussion
of such situations is beyond the scope of this book ... It is not our
intention ... to deal with exorcism. This book concentrates on pastoral
approach to deliverance ... in the normal situations of Christian living"
(66-8). This distinction may be somewhat confusing to non-sacramental
Christians, but the reference is to the actual "rite" of exorcism, which is
intended to be used in cases of actual "possession ... where Satan is
able to take over the personality of the affected person and is able to
frustrate the person's exercise of free will" (69).
Within the scope of deliverance, they list four types: personal or self-
deliverance, fraternal deliverance, pastoral deliverance and "the special
ministry." In the first area, they note that "significant growth in personal
holiness is sufficient in itself to create a spiritual climate which drives
away evil spirits" (63).
In the presentation of their own pastoral care model, the authors
employ a number of brief case studies. Interestingly (and somewhat
refreshingly), none of the cases is particularly spectacular. They are
nevertheless, excellent examples of the way the Enemy daily attempts
to bind God's children. The description of the sessions reveals a
balanced, biblical, sensitive and patient approach to this important
ministry. It includes a number of specific suggestions or rubrics,
including the point that "the time and place should be our choosing, not

-60-
 that of evil spirits" (82). Over-eagerness can easily override such a self-
evident matter.
Crucial to the model presented is the follow-up ministry. "It is
exceedingly important," they contend, "that there be: (1) a plan for
follow-up care; (2) a specific person or persons responsible for the plan;
and (3) a clear explanation of the plan and its importance" (89). They
state that there is often a period of "convalescence" following
deliverance, where the "person may experience a few days of dis-
concerting turmoil which can cause confusion about the effectiveness of
the deliverance" (103). They regard this as a crucial part of the ministry
itself.
The book reveals a rather cosmic interpretation of the work of Satan
in which "many of the problems and difficulties in people's lives can be
the work of evil spirits" (2). This "Satanic activity toward men can be
categorized under three main headings: temptation, opposition and
bondage" (27). In terms reminiscent of C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters,
they say "if we look only for the extreme, drastic, or the bizarre, we will
miss the ways evil spirits can act upon Christians' lives every day in
an unobtrusive and quiet manner. Perhaps the key rule of evil spirits is
to camouflage themselves" (37).
Despite their broad understanding of the way Satan is at work in the
world, Scanlan and Cirner recognize also human responsibility. "We
want to state firmly and clearly that evil spirits are not always, nor even
primarily, the source of people's difficulties. Man's fallen nature (the
flesh), and that system of things in the material order opposed to God
(the world), are ready sources of sin and disorder for the Christian" (2).
While some evangelicals and fundamentalists may be a bit uncom-
fortable with some of the authors' more sacramental or Catholic
approaches, they will still find the book well worth reading. In their brief
discussion of sacraments and sacramentals they state that "the
sacramental is not a magical device which can operate on its own.
Rather, it is an extension of the prayer of the Body of Christ." (108).
They readily admit the possibility of abusing these "instruments of
grace," and at the same time warn of the possibility of abusing the word
of command" (in Jesus' name) which also is more than a simple formula.
"There is nothing magical or automatic about it ... It is intended to be a
statement of faithful and authority" (61).
Deliverance From Evil Spirits offers a well-balanced and thoroughly
to deliverance ministry. I, for one, welcome its .
pastoral approach
contribution to the Community of Faith.

- 61-
Metz, Johannes B. Followers of Christ (New York and London:
Paulist Press and Burns & Oates, 1978), pp. 96, $3.50. Reviewed
by Sister Mary Grace Swift, O.S.U., editor of a collection of
readings on the Holy Spirit, With Bright Wings, and a professor
of history, Loyola University, New Orleans.

After a weary day of correcting term papers, I picked up this volume

for relaxation and edification. After reading only a few pages, however, I
concluded the term papers were less bewildering: this book needs
radical editorial surgery. Perhaps in its original German it reads well,
but not in translation. An attempt to extract meaning from some of its
involved sentences is as frustrating as trying to extract a continuous
filament from a ball of steel wooL
Now for the content. Metz does have some pointed questions for
vowed members of religious orders to consider. Religious communities,
he affirms, should return to their original charism of providing "shock
therapy" for lukewarm Christianity. The vow of poverty should be an
evangelical protest against "the tyranny of having, possessing, and pure
self assertion," impelling the religious toward practical solidarity with
those whose poverty is exacted by society. The vow of celibacy should
express that one has been "radically seized by the day of the Lord" and
should bring solidarity with those who have been cast by fate into a state
of involuntary aloneness and consequent loneliness. Obedience should
be the "uncalculated surrender of one's life to God the Father," bringing
solidarity with the oppressed of the world who have no choice but to live
under a harsh obediential yoke.
Some other points of the book are less clearly articulated. He accuses s
German religious orders of giving insufficient attention to fringe groups
experimenting with alternative ways of life and radical existence "in
which a latent, searching religious awareness is not seldom involved."
Precisely to whom does Metz refer -- to charismatic communities, to
followers of Hare Krishna? The reader has no way of knowing. He
accuses religious orders of having moved too far into "that middle
ground where everything is nicely balanced and moderate," and urges
"necessary and fruitful tension," indeed "living antagonism" between the
religious orders and the institutional Church. He even suggests that
there has been something like a "cunning strategy on the part of the
institutional Church to adept the religious orders and to reduce the
tension of the antagonism between them and it." Plainly, Metz has never
attended any meetings of the American National Association of Women
Religious!

62
 He proposes that if Benedict of Nursia, who once gathered a
community of prayer around him in inaccessible regions, were alive
today, he might call the faithful together "in the concrete deserts of our
conurbations," -- meaning he would in this day call them together for
prayer in the city. He asks, "where today are such initiatives to be
found?" Actually, such a group does exist in the heart of Paris, leading
the life Metz is urging: The Fraternite de Saint Gervase et Protase,
whose apostolate is to provide a setting of beautiful, Spirited monastic
worship in the midst of the city. There, flocks of busy working people
join the white cowled "monks in the city" for two and a half hours prayer
and liturgy in the evening.
Metz also proposes that some attention be given to "the charismatic
art of dying." Since religious orders came into existence at the
prompting of the Spirit, he asks, "must they not take the possibility into
account ... that they may die and become extinct?" It seems somewhat
unclear whether Metz is actually proposing that at some point various
orders should simply die to their old forms and habits to rise renewed.
In short, Metz does propose some universal principles which all
religious communities should consider, and this book really is geared
only to them. Many of the statements he makes were aimed at the
German church. Perhaps they apply there, but some of his assertions do
not completely apply to the United States.

Kinghorn, Kenneth Cain, ed. A Celebration of Ministry: Essays in

Honor of Frank Bateman Stanger. Wilmore, Kentucky: Francis
Asbury Publishing Company, 1982, 148 pp., cloth, $15.00.
Reviewed by William W. Menzies.

Twenty years president of Asbury Theological Seminary (1962-82),

Frank Bateman Stanger upon his retirement was honored by the
presentation of this Festschrift, prepared by his faculty. Twelve of the
essays cover a broad spectrum of Christian ministries, exhibiting by
their diversity something of the versatility of President Stanger himself.
An annotation of the more than 400 titles of his publications comprise
the thirteenth essay. Included in the series are essays on the nature of
Christian scholarship, the Wesleyan view of the inspiration of Scripture,
a study of Polanyi's epistemology, the ministry of prayer, preaching, how
to mobilize lay persons, dynamics of biblical leadership, the church as a
sacrament, and the ministry of healing -- a favorite topic of Stanger's.
The editor serves as professor of Church History and Historical
Theology at Asbury Theological Seminary. He has compiled here the

- 63-
fruits of evangelical scholarship, not only from the ranks of the
Asbury Seminary faculty, but he has ranged broadly, including the
contributions of those in diverse ministries, far beyond the classroom.
The results, of course, in any symposium of this nature, are uneven.
Some of the essays are near brilliance; others are more pedestrian.
However, the avid reader will find something of edification and stimulus
in nearly all the contributions collected in this volume.

ERRATA:
Please note the following corrections in "The Indwelling, Baptism and
Infilling with the Holy Spirit: A Differentiation of Terms," by French
Arrington (PNEUMA, Vol. 3, No. 2, Fall, 1981).
(1) Page 6, footnote to 7TEL8apxovuLV
1: change 7TEL8a7TxoxuLV
and ( v7TalCov71
to urroKOr?.
(2) Page 7, paragraph 4, line 5: change 7TLJ.L7TÀ71JJ.lto 7rX77pow.
The sentence on line 9 should read: "The use of 7TÀ71PoCJJ here in
contrast to the use of rtIL7rX?Iut implies spiritual deficiency."
(3) Page 8, paragraph 1, line 3: change 7TÀ71P71S and
to 7TLJ.L7TÀ71J.LL
line 4 "stage" to "state." . I

64