Transforming Renewal: Charismatic Renewal Meets Thomas Merton

Pentecostal and charismatic renewal movements have seen great growth over the last century and have engaged with many Christian traditions. Yet there are signs that all is not well and there is a need to develop theologies of renewal that engage with practice and across the traditions if the movements are to continue to grow. In particular this book seeks an ecumenical engagement between David Watson and Thomas Merton leaders in the charismatic and monastic renewal movements. The aim is to reflect on the theological roots of these renewal movements through a study of particular people who lived them in practice and sought to help others understand how the triune God was at work. This is done against the wider background of contemporary renewalist theology to develop constructive proposals for renewal theology in the future. Receptive ecumenism provides the method for bringing the different voices into conversation in ways that also point forward in approaches to ecumenical dialogue. It is thus a study relevant to those seeking new ways in theology those involved in renewal and ecumenical movements students of Thomas Merton and all who seek to better understand the Christian renewal movements that have swept the world. In this fascinating study Andy Lord takes a charismatic approach to receptive ecumenism and brings two representative figures (David Watson and Thomas Merton) into creative dialogue. It provides a model of engagement that sets an agenda for further enquiry. As such it is essential reading for students and scholars of contemporary Christian ecumenism as well as pentecostal and charismatic studies. --Mark J. Cartledge Regent University School of Divinity Virginia Beach VA Andy Lord has provided an exemplary contribution to the field of renewal theology that surprises and inspires with insights from monastic to charismatic movements of the Spirit. Transforming Renewal is a pneumatological charismatic pentecostal and ecumenical theology of renewal that engages with practices across traditions and thereby defines and redefines the ongoing character of Christian transformation. --Wolfgang Vondey Regent University School of Divinity Virginia Beach VA Andy Lords vision of transformation is almost cosmic nurtured indeed by sources from the biblical times and spaces to the twenty-first century; from evangelical to ecumenical traditions; from low-church Protestantism to liturgical Catholicism; from charismatic to contemplative communities; even from Western forms of Christian faith to Eastern philosophical cultural and religious ways of life! Do not open this book unless you are ready for a reorientation of thinking a renewal of the heart and a revitalization of Christian discipleship fit for the twenty-first-century global context. --Amos Yong Professor of Theology & Mission Fuller Theological Seminary Andy Lord is one of the most refreshing theologians of the Anglican renewal. In this deeply spiritual book dialogue between the thought of David Watson and Thomas Merton reflects Lords own spiritual journey. His study resonates with those who long for transformation in the charismatic renewal who are tired of superficiality and who are discovering rich resources in Catholic spirituality represented here by Merton. --Allan Heaton Anderson University of Birmingham Birmingham UK Revd Dr Andy Lord is a parish priest in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham. He holds a PhD in Pentecostal ecclesiology from the University of Birmingham and is the author of Spirit-Shaped Mission (2005) and Network Church (2012).