“Born Again” a Portrait and Analysis of the Doctrine of Regeneration Within Evangelical Protestantism © 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Gmbh & Co

Stephen James Hamilton

“Born Again” A Portrait and Analysis of the Doctrine of Regeneration within Evangelical Protestantism © 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525604571 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647604572 Research in ContemporaryReligion

Edited by Hans-Günter Heimbrock, Stefanie Knauss, Jens Kreinath Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati, Hans-Joachim Sander und Trygve Wyller

In co-operation with Hanan Alexander (Haifa), Carla Danani (Macerata), Wanda Deifelt (Decorah), Siebren Miedema (Amsterdam), Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore(Nashville), Garbi Schmidt(Roskilde), Claire Wolfteich (Boston)

Volume 23

Vandenhoeck &Ruprecht

“BornAgain”: APortrait and Analysis of the Doctrine of Regeneration within Evangelical Protestantism

Vandenhoeck &Ruprecht

© 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525604571 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647604572 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data available online: http://dnb.d-nb.de.

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Preface ...... 13

1Introduction ...... 15 1.1 FieldofInquiry...... 15 1.1.1Cultural overview ...... 16 1.1.2New birth, theologically understood ...... 19 1.1.2.1 Being “bornagain” as an experience of presence ...... 19 1.1.2.2 The tension between doctrine and experience ...... 20 1.1.2.3 The threefold structure of the theological grammar of being “bornagain” ...... 21 1.1.3The state of research ...... 22 1.1.4The purpose of this study...... 26 1.1.4.1 Regeneration as a“theological phenomenon” ...... 26 1.1.4.2 Presence and tacit knowledge ...... 27 1.2 Method...... 30 1.3 Subjecs and Structure of this Study ...... 33

Part I: The Theological Traditionof“Born-Again” Christianity

2ACultural, Exegetical, and Historical-Theological Overview of the Doctrine of Regeneration ...... 39 2.1 Introduction ...... 39 2.2 “Bornagain”, “newbirth” and “rebirth”: ashort clarification and background ...... 39 2.2.1New Testamentsources ...... 39 2.2.2Old Testamentsources ...... 44 2.3 Newbirth and sacramental presence ...... 46 2.3.1Catholicism and Orthodoxy ...... 46 2.3.2Luther: Baptismal regeneration in Protestant theology...... 48 2.4 Theseparation of regeneration from baptism in Protestant theology...... 51 2.4.1Anabaptist theology...... 51 2.4.2Reformed Theology...... 56

2.4.3The Dawn of Puritanism and Pietism ...... 60 2.4.3.1 Puritanism:The doctrine of preparatory graceand the conversionnarrative..... 60 2.4.3.2 German Pietism and proto-Pietism:the legacyofJohann Arndt ...... 65

3Baptismal Regeneration or Transformationofthe Soul?The Tensions in Philipp JakobSpener’s TheologyofRegeneration ... 70 3.1 Historical and Cultural Context:the PiaDesideria ...... 70 3.2 Spener’s TheologyofNew Birth:AnIntroduction and Short Summary...... 74 3.2.1The three-fold eventofregeneration ...... 74 3.2.2Spener’s rejection of Predestination and espousal of baptismal regeneration ...... 76 3.3 Spener’s Threefold-division of NewBirth:AnAnalysis... 77 3.3.1The “new being” ...... 78 3.3.2The “igniting” of faith ...... 80 3.3.3Justification ...... 82 3.3.4Being born again:“renewal” as the continuation of regeneration ...... 83 3.4 Spener on Sacraments and Faith...... 85 3.4.1The sacramentsand the presence of faith...... 85 3.4.2The presence of faith as the unityofbaptismal and non-baptismal regeneration ...... 87 3.4.3Spener and Luther:baptism, new birth, and faith .. 89 3.5 Conclusion ...... 93 3.5.1Being born again as an experience of presence ... 93 3.5.2Contrast to Puritanism and Anabaptism ...... 95 3.5.3Scripture and Ecclesiology...... 97 3.5.4The tension between doctrine and experience .... 99

4Jonathan Edwards:The BornAgain Experience Underthe AuthorityofScripture ...... 100 4.1 Edwards’ Theological Background and Cultural Context ... 100 4.1.1Introduction...... 100 4.1.2Edwards’ youth, conversion, and subsequentcareer .102 4.2 TheBornAgainExperience:Conversion...... 104 4.2.1Introduction...... 104 4.2.2“BornAgain” ...... 105 4.2.3“ADivine and Supernatural Light”:regeneration as spiritual illumination ...... 108 4.3 Guiding Theological Concepts in Edwards’ Theology of Regeneration ...... 112 4.3.1Introduction...... 112

4.3.2Light ...... 112 4.3.3“Sense” ...... 116 4.3.4Infusion ...... 118 4.4 Experiences from the Revival Front...... 120 4.4.1The beginnings of the GreatAwakening ...... 120 4.4.2“Distinguishing marks” ...... 124 4.4.2.1 “Negativesigns” ...... 125 4.4.2.2 “Positiveevidences” ...... 126 4.5 Conclusion ...... 127 4.5.1Phenomenologyofreligious experience and the certaintyofregeneration ...... 127 4.5.2Free will andpredestination ...... 128 4.5.3Preparationism andthe importance of narrative..130 4.5.4Church, community, and the sacraments...... 130 4.5.5Revivalism ...... 131

5Schleiermacher on NewBirth ...... 133 5.1 Introduction ...... 133 5.1.1Modernity and subjectivity...... 133 5.1.2Schleiermacher’s early life and theology...... 135 5.2 Theological Background to Schleiermacher’s Theologyof Regeneration ...... 137 5.2.1Zinzendorfand Moravian theology...... 137 5.2.2Schleiermacher’s “God-consciousness” ...... 140 5.3 NewBirth ...... 142 5.3.1Introduction...... 142 5.3.2Conversion...... 144 5.3.3Justification ...... 146 5.3.4Sanctification: the continuance of regeneration ... 148 5.3.5The Church as fellowship of the regenerate and locus of the Holy Spirit...... 150 5.4 Conclusion ...... 151 5.4.1Regeneration as an experience of presence ..... 151 5.4.2The universalityofreligion and the specificityof Christian regeneration ...... 153 5.4.3The importanceofcertainty ...... 153 5.4.4Scripture and doctrine ...... 155

6Charles Finney:New Birth as Decision ...... 158 6.1 Introduction ...... 158 6.1.1Finney’s conversionexperience ...... 158 6.1.2Finney’s theology...... 163

6.2 Finney on Regeneration ...... 166 6.2.1Introduction: activityvs. passivity, “moral” vs. “physical” ...... 166 6.2.2Whatregeneration is not ...... 168 6.2.2.1 Afeeling ...... 168 6.2.2.2 A“taste” ...... 169 6.2.2.3 The result of anecessarymorphologyof conversion...... 170 6.2.3Regeneration as moral sensibility...... 171 6.2.4Regeneration and sanctification as presence of the Holy Spirit ...... 173 6.2.5Holiness and social reform...... 174 6.2.6Evangelism ...... 175 6.3 Conclusion ...... 177 6.3.1Freedom of the will ...... 177 6.3.2“Moral” vs. “physical” change ...... 178 6.3.3The reformationofthe role of narrative...... 179 6.3.4The authorityofscripture ...... 181 6.3.5Ecstasyand transcendence ...... 182 6.4 Postscript:Finneyism and American Evangelicalism ..... 182

Part II:Regeneration in ContemporaryEvangelical Discourse in NorthAmerica

7New Birth as an Experience of Presence ...... 189 7.1 TheThree-fold Structure of NewBirth ...... 189 7.1.1Presence of changed internal faculties...... 189 7.1.2Presence of God...... 190 7.1.3Change in divine status ...... 191 7.2 Theological Criteria ...... 192 7.2.1Importance of the momentofregeneration ..... 193 7.2.2The role of free will ...... 195 7.2.3The conversionprocess ...... 197 7.2.4Relation to scripture and doctrine ...... 198 7.2.5Friendship and the church community...... 199

8Charles Colson’s “BornAgain” ...... 201 8.1 Introduction ...... 201 8.2 TheStoryofCharlesColson ...... 201 8.2.1Early life and political involvement...... 201 8.2.2Colson’s conversion...... 203 8.3 Post-conversion...... 204 8.3.1Brotherhood ...... 204 8.3.2Politics and the press ...... 205

8.3.3Trial and imprisonment...... 206 8.4 Theological Analysis of Colson’s Conversion...... 209 8.4.1Introduction...... 209 8.4.2New birth as “decision for Christ”: amomentoffree will ...... 210 8.4.3Mystical presence ...... 211 8.4.4New being ...... 212 8.4.5Community...... 213 8.4.6Importance of narrative...... 213

9Brian “Head”Welch ...... 215 9.1 Introduction ...... 215 9.2 TheStoryofBrian “Head” Welch ...... 216 9.2.1Early life ...... 216 9.2.2Kornand conversion...... 217 9.3 ConversionExperience ...... 218 9.3.1Conversionand aftermath ...... 218 9.3.2Additional experiences of divine presence ...... 221 9.3.2.1 Baptism ...... 221 9.3.2.2 Speaking in tongues ...... 222 9.3.2.3 Forces of darkness ...... 222 9.4 Theological Analysis of Welch’s Testimony...... 223 9.4.1Introduction...... 223 9.4.2Presence of God...... 224 9.4.2.1 God’s presence as the overcoming of false presence ...... 224 9.4.2.2 Hearing God’s voice ...... 225 9.4.2.3 Prayer and ecstatic experience ...... 226 9.4.3Anew “self”: awork in progress ...... 227 9.4.4Justification and Adoption ...... 228 9.4.5Decision...... 230 9.4.6Scripture and doctrine ...... 231 9.4.7Friendship and ecclesiology...... 232

10 ChristianityToday Testimonies ...... 234 10.1 Introduction ...... 234 10.2 “MyTrain WreckConversion,” by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield ...... 236 10.2.1 Butterfield’s narrative...... 236 10.2.2 Analysis of Butterfield’s conversion...... 238 10.3 “TheAtheist’s Dilemma,” by Jordan Monge ...... 241 10.3.1 Monge’s narrative...... 241 10.3.2 Analysis of Monge’s narrative...... 242

10.4 “Antidote Poison,” by Ravi Zacharias ...... 245 10.4.1 Zacharias’narrative...... 245 10.4.2 Analysis of Zacharias’narrative...... 246 10.5 “Forgiving Iran,” by John Majid (as told by Kate Harris) .. 248 10.5.1 Majid’s narrative...... 248 10.5.2 Analysis of John Majid’s narrative...... 250 10.6 “TheGolden Fish,” by Erich Metaxas ...... 253 10.6.1 Metaxas’narrative...... 253 10.6.2 Analysis of Metaxas’narrative...... 255 10.7 “MyCrash Course on Jesus,” by Casey Cease ...... 257 10.7.1 Cease’s narrative...... 257 10.7.2 Analysis of Cease’s narrative...... 258 10.8 “Forgiving the Man Who Murdered Mom,”byEverett L. Worthington, Jr...... 261 10.8.1 Worthington’s narrative...... 261 10.8.2 Analysis of Worthington’snarrative...... 263 10.9 “Saved by U2 and an Audible Voice,” by Travis Reed ..... 266 10.9.1 Reed’s narrative...... 266 10.9.2 Analysis of Reed’s narrative...... 267 10.10 “FoxNews’ Highly ReluctantJesus Follower,” by Kirsten Powers ...... 270 10.10.1 Powers’ narrative...... 270 10.10.2 Analysis of Powers’ narrative...... 272 10.11 “How IEscapedthe Mormon Temple,” by Lynn Wilder ... 275 10.11.1 Wilder’s narrative...... 275 10.11.2 Analysis of Wilder’s narrative...... 277 10.12 “ChristCalled Me Off the Minaret,” by Nabeel Qureshi ... 281 10.12.1 Qureshi’s narrative...... 281 10.12.2 Analysis of Qureshi’s narrative...... 283 10.13 “Pro Football WasMyGod,” by DerwinGray...... 286 10.13.1 Gray’s narrative...... 286 10.13.2 Analysis of Gray’s narrative...... 288

11 SummaryAnalysis of ChristianityToday “Testimonies” ...... 291 11.1 Presence of God...... 291 11.1.1 Metaphorand descriptivelanguage...... 291 11.1.2 Illuminiation ...... 292 11.1.3 Visionsand dreams ...... 293 11.1.4 Gifts of the Spirit and ecstaticexperience ...... 293 11.1.5 The rationalist exception ...... 294 11.2 Presence of Changed State ...... 295 11.2.1 Language of the new being ...... 295 11.2.2 Overcoming substance abuse ...... 295 11.2.3 From negative to positive attitude ...... 295

11.2.4 Freedom to moral obedience ...... 296 11.2.5 The exception ...... 296 11.3 Change in Divine Status ...... 297 11.3.1 Atonementand forgiveness of sins throughChrist’s crucifixion...... 297 11.3.2 Eternal life ...... 298 11.3.3 Adoption ...... 298 11.3.4 The exception ...... 298 11.4 Importance of MomentofRegeneration ...... 299 11.4.1 Momentasdramatic and/or central eventin narrative...... 299 11.4.2 Identification of extended period...... 299 11.4.3 Exceptions ...... 300 11.5 TheRole of Free Will ...... 300 11.5.1 “Decision” ...... 300 11.5.2 Rejection of languageof“decision” ...... 301 11.5.3 Ambiguity...... 301 11.6 Patterns of Conversion...... 302 11.6.1 Journey ...... 302 11.6.2 Crisis ...... 303 11.6.3 Other,mixed forms ...... 303 11.6.4 False conversions ...... 303 11.7 TheBibleand Doctrine ...... 304 11.7.1 The Bible as book...... 304 11.7.2 Biblical passages ...... 305 11.7.3 Implicit biblicaland doctrinal literacy...... 306 11.8 Friendship and the Church Community...... 306 11.8.1 Friendship ...... 306 11.8.2 Worship attendance ...... 307 11.8.3 Bible study groups ...... 307 11.8.4 Criticism of the church as institution ...... 308

Part III:Concluding Analysis

12 Summaryand Final Theological Reflections ...... 311 12.1 Overview ...... 311 12.2 Presence and Tacit Knowledge ...... 313 12.2.1 Mediationand the sacraments ...... 313 12.2.2 Christianityas“knowing how” fostered in community...... 315 12.2.3 Mysticism and metaphor ...... 316 12.3 Theological Reflections ...... 317

13 Concluding Reflections on the PresentCultural and Political Situation in the USA ...... 320 13.1 Introduction ...... 320 13.2 PreliminaryObservations ...... 321 13.3 Regeneration as Personal Conversion: Trust in the Sanctified Self ...... 323 13.3.1 Solidarity throughthe shared theological experience of transformation...... 323 13.3.2 Regeneration and sanctification as catalysts for moral purity: two views ...... 325 13.4 TheBibleasAuthority...... 328 13.5 Conclusion ...... 331

Works Cited ...... 332

IndexofSubjects ...... 343

IndexofNames ...... 347

The following bookwas originally written as adissertation under the title The Theological GrammarofBeing “BornAgain”: APortrait and Analysis for the graduate research group(German: Graduiertenkolleg)“Presence and Tacit Knowledge” at the Friedrich-Alexander UniversityofErlangen-Nuremberg, sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft(DFG), of which Iwas a participant from April2012 untilMarch 2015. The dissertation was submitted immediately following the end of my three-year stipendand defended on the 20th of July of the same year.Certain minor changes have been made to the manuscript (mostimportantly,afinal small chapter),but the documentis largely as it was when it wassubmittedinApril 2015. There are quite afew individuals whodeserve thanks for their role in helping makethisbookpossible. Iamgrateful to the Deutsche Forschungs- gemeinschaft(DFG) for making my research possiblewith agenerous stipend as well as contributing to the publication fees of this book. Moreover,without participation in the Graduiertenkolleg,the existence of this bookisbarely imaginable. IamthankfultoProfessors Dr.HeikePaul, Dr.Clemens Kauffmann,and Dr.Antje Kley fortheir leadership of the Graduiertenkolleg; to Dr.Katharina Gerund, Dr.Christoph Ernst, and Dr.Juliane Engel for their efforts as mediators between the professorial circle and the doctoral students; and to all the others whose organizationand participation helped make the grouppossible. Iamespecially thankfultomyfellowdoctoral students for the stimulatingconversation and companionship.ParticularlyChristine Lehr, MonikaSauter, and Florian Tatschner were the sources of manyhelpful conversationsonmyresearch project. My Doktorvater,Prof. Dr.Wolfgang Schoberth, deserves particular thanks. He was the quintessential supervisor, knowing exactly when it was necessary to give me guidance, andwhenitwas necessarytolet me grapple with my ideas on my own. Without his encouragement andguidance, Iwould have never undertaken this research projectinthe first place. In addition, Iamgreatly thankfultomysecond advisor, Prof. Dr.Andreas Nehring,for his assistance, and also for the pleasure of being able to teach on English-language theology together with him. Other professors were also of invaluable help along the way: Prof. Dr.Jan Stievermann at the UniversityofHeidelberg,for helping me bettergrasp the theologyofJonathan Edwards and of Puritanism in general;Prof. Dr.Alasdair Heron (†) at the UniversityofErlangen for the conversationsonCalvin and Calvinism;Professors Dr.Glenn Jonas, Dr.Adam English, and Dr.Dean Martin, all of whom had previously mentored me at my proud alma mater,

Campbell University,for taking the time to reconnectand discuss my research;and Professors Dr.Edsell Burge and Dr.Jeff Bach and at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College, for their wonderful hospitalityand fascinating conversations. Iwish my staycould have been longer. Iwould also liketothank those at Vandenhoeck &Ruprechtwho made this publication possible: Prof. Dr.Hans-Günter Heimbrockfor allowing thisbook the greathonor of being published in what is an intellectually stimulating and importantseries, ResearchinContemporaryReligion (RCR), and Moritz Reissing for all the legwork he put into helping see the final product published. StephanMikuschdeserves his ownparagraph. He helped with the formatting andcorrection of the manuscript, and just as importantly, patiently explaineditall to me along the way. Iwould liketothank the Staedtler Foundation for their decision to award this dissertation the Promotionspreis in 2016. Iwould also liketothank the Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands (VELKD)and the ArbeitsgemeinschaftChristlicherKirchen in Deutschland (ACK), for their stipend to assist with the publication costs of thisbook. My parents, John and MelanyHamilton, playedaspecial role in the emergence and developmentofthis research project. Notonly did they discuss my research and reflectionsonanearly weekly basis:they plantedthe seedsfor my loveoftheologyinthe first place. Moreover,theyhaveprovided the example for one of the fundamental insightsofthisbook: that theologyis never separablefrom howone’s life is lived. And finally,itisworth mentioning that Iamnot even the best theologian under my ownroof: my wife, Dr.Nadine Hamilton, has been aconstantsource of supportand encouragement–intellectually,emotionally, and spiritually.I thereforededicate this monographtoher and to ourfirst child, whois expectedtobebornaround the same time as this book’s printing.

1.1 Field of Inquiry

The objectofthis study,asits title indicates, is aparticular theological grammar:that of being “bornagain” in evangelical1 Christianity, which has been formativefor NorthAmerican culturefor over 300 years and continues to be influential today. Still, it is asubject which despite its cultural importance has been largely neglectedbymainstream theological scholarship.This is doubtless at least partially due to the factthat the term “born-again Christianity” has connotations which cause the majorityofacademia unease: imagesofdramaticconversionexperiences, of abold religiousfervor,of evangelists pleading for listeners to “accept Jesus into their hearts,” and, of course, of certain forms of conservative political activism which on many university campuses subsist only in the shadows. Ye titisnot merely cultural bias which has contributed to such paucityofinterest in Christian new birth: at amore basiclevel, the phenomenon of being “bornagain” is one which appears to have its locus in the private confines of the individual subjectasa formofimmediate presence, which would appear to at least partially shield it from scholarly scrutiny. If we are to takeseriously the languageofthose who countthemselves within this tradition, then newbirth is something that is consciously experienced,frequently throughamemorable conversionand followed by the convictionthat oneisnow adifferent person, embraced by the presence of aGod with whom the born-againChristian has a“personal relationship.” Butwhat can systematic theologypossibly sayabout such aseemingly privatereligiousexperience?Manywould assume that it cannot sayanything directly:instead, it can only watch from the sideline, offeringreligious individuals advice on questions of doctrine,orperhaps giving an opinion as to whether such a“born-again” experience is necessaryatall. However,itisthe argumentofthispresentstudy that the roleofsystematic theologyis, as a matter of fact, essential to understanding the phenomenon of being “born

1The term “evangelicalism”isanotoriouslybroad concept which has taken on differentmeanings in its history. Perhaps oneofthe clearest, and best, definitionsofwhatthe term impliestoday (and began to imply 300 years ago) is found in DavidBebbington’s Evangelicalism in ModernBritain: AHistory from the 1730s to the 1980s,2–3:“Therehave been four qualities,” writesBebbington, “that have been specialmarks of Evangelical religion: conversionism,the belief thatlives need to be changed; activism,the expression of the gospelineffort; biblicism,aparticular regard for the Bible;and what maybecalled crucicentrism,astress on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Together they formaquadrilateral of priorities thatisthe basis of Evangelicalism.”

© 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525604571 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647604572 16 Introduction again” as awhole, due to its abilitytoprovide an exploration of the theological structure and implications –or, in other words, the “theo-logic” –ofthe languageofthose whothemselves claim to have had such an experience. This is the intellectual task which this bookwill undertakeinthe following pages, by presenting a“portrait” of acomplex phenomenon in which personal experience and theological conviction are inextricably tied together.

1.1.1 Cultural overview

Althoughthe theological concept itself has been essential to evangelical Christianitysince its inception, the term“born again” began to sink into modern mainstream American culture’s vocabularyinthe second half of the 20th century, due in large parttothe success of revivalist preacher Billy Graham’s evangelistic “crusades,”which consisted of large Christian worship services held for mass audiences, often numbering in the thousands, in non- traditional venuessuch as concerthalls and sports stadiums. Some of these were even broadcast on livetelevision, for instance in 1957 when the American Broadcasting Company(ABC) televised his crusades livefrom Madison Square Garden in NewYorkCityfor 17 consecutiveSaturdayevenings,2 which played asignificantroleinintroducing innumerable NorthAmericansto evangelical Christianity. At the center-pointofeach service was Graham’s sermon, which generally ended with an “altar call,”orinvitation to members of the audience come forward and makeapublic spiritual commitmentto Jesus Christ in order to becometruly “bornagain” –atermwhich implied that the Christian faith would no longer be located on the peripheries of their daily lives, but instead that they would have a“personal relationship” with Jesus Christ. It was the year 1976, nearly twentyyears later,which Newsweek magazine declared to be the “year of the evangelical,” based on the continuing influence of Graham, alongwith two prominentfigures from the contemporarypolitical landscape:CharlesColson,author of the autobiography BornAgain,whose involvementinthe scandal-ridden and ultimately incriminated administra- tion of PresidentRichard Nixon was followed by adramatic conversion experience;and the then-presidential candidate (and soon to become president) JimmyCarter,whose ownreference to himself as a“born-again Christian” had apparently caught alarge contingentofthe secular American press offguard.3 Althoughevangelical Christianity, particularlyinits fundamentalist forms, had always been associatedwith cultural conservatism,

2For ashortand informative history of evangelical Christianityonradio and television, including Graham’s rise to prominence,cf. William Martin, “Giving the Winds aMightyVoice.” 3For ashortand helpful summaryofthis development, cf. Martin Marty, “The Ye ars of the Evangelicals.”

© 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525604571 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647604572 Field of Inquiry 17 it is worth noting that at this time the termhad fewer connotations of right- wing politics than it would soon receive4:despite his stringentanti- Communism and general cultural conservatism, Graham typically shied away from political controversy and developed close friendships with American presidents from both parties5;moreover,Carter was aDemocrat, and often quite left-leaning in many of views. Even Colson, alife-long Republican whonever lost his appreciation for Nixon (and wholater on in his life became ever more the culturewarrior), emphasized continually in his spiritual autobiographythat his conversionexperience enabled him to transcend the bitterness of partisan politics, which included having arival Democratic politician as one of his closest spiritual mentors. As politically opinionated as he was, Colson did not envision aformof“born-again” Christianitywhich would be associated with anarrowpolitical platform; indeed, afundamental hope of his conversionnarrative(to be examined later in thisstudy) wasthat “born-again” Christianitycould contribute to future political healing. However,bythe early 1980s the term“born again” had alreadyfor many shifted into amoniker for areligiously motivated political interest group, the so-called Religious Right (or “Moral Majority,”asthey referred to themselves), which wascharacterized by its staunch supportfor socially conservative policies,free-market economics, emphasis on patriotic zeal, and an often hawkish attitude towards foreignmilitaryintervention;also not to be overlooked is the factthat its adherentswere overwhelmingly Caucasian.6 The popularity of “televangelism”throughout the 1980s, characterized by controversial figures such as JimBakker,Jerry Falwell, and PatRobertson (who would runfor presidentasaRepublican in 1988), only furthered the impression that being a“born-again” Christian meantbeing a de facto member of the Republican Right.7 As aresult, for many onlookers “bornagain” Christianitybegan to be seen not only as describing apersonal religious experience but also asocial entity –a“movementwhich has discernable historical roots and which is held together by arelentless quest for membership in the ‘kingdom of God’” –tocite the theologian Eric Gritsch,

4For an extended reflectiononthe question of whether “born-again” types of Christianityare more conducivetoacertain type of political ideology, cf. the final chapter of this book. 5Cf. GrantWacker, America’s Pastor: “The evangelist’s close relationship with American presidents was probably unique in U.S. history,”writes Wacker.“Grahamknew all elevenfromTruman to George W. Bush, enjoyedfriendshipswith all except Truman, and veryclose friendshipswith Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, and George H.W.Bush.” Graham’s slide into American partisan politics, accordingtoWacker,began and endedwith Nixon, whose fall fromgrace led to Graham’s conscious “decisiontoavoid partisanship of anykind, Republican or Democrat,” which included even distancing himself from the rhetoric of the “Christian Right”aswell as, lateron, his ownson Franklin’s critical comments towards Islam. (Ibid.: 22;18–19) Cf. also DavidAikman: Billy Graham: His Life and Influence,particularly chapters 8–10. 6Cf. GaryR.Pettey, “Bibles, Ballots, and Beatific Vision.” 7Cf. Ibid.: 201–204.

© 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525604571 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647604572 18 Introduction whocoined the term“born-againism” to drawattention to the factthat, at least in NorthAmerican culture, the phrase “bornagain” had begun to refer more to this specific groupofpeople than to anygeneral theological doctrine.8 Perceptions to the contrary, however,the religiousexperience of being “bornagain” has neverbeen acultural phenomenon limited to politically conservative whites. TheAfrican-American Christian tradition, for instance, has along history of cooperation with the wider evangelical culture, including conversionnarratives, dating back to the time of the RevolutionaryWar,9 and the languageofnew birth continues to be frequently found in African- American gospel music and devotion.10 Furthermore, Pentecostalism, which is known to oftenhavethe mostdramatic conversions, is also oneofthe most(if not the most) ethnically diverse forms of Christianityboth in NorthAmerica and abroad.11 And althoughacorrelation between white“born-again” Christians and political conservatism in the United States is indisputable, it is hardly absolute.12 Theabilityofthis phenomenon to transcend ethnic and class boundaries can be easily observedinthe virtually limitless quantity of internet conversionnarratives, forexample arecentseries entitled“Iam Second,” whose representatives range from the ranks of televisionstars, professional athletes, and supermodels to former prostitutes, drug-addicts, and orphans.13 Hence, it would be amistakefor theologians –particularly theologians in Europe, wherethis bookisbeing written –totreat being “born

8EricW.Gritsch, Born-Againism: 9. Gritsch’s close associationof“born-again” Christianitywith acertain form of conservativepolitics in taken up in the final chapter of this book. 9Cf. Noll, This Rise of Evangelicalism: 172–77, 222–23, 228;Hindmarsh, The Evangelical Con- version Narrative: 329–33. 10 Cf. Glenn Hinson’s recentstudy, Fire in My Bones: Transcendence and the Holy Spirit in African AmericanGospel. In his chapter “Experiencingthe Holy,” Hinson characterizes the perspective of acontemporary African-American congretion he was studying:“The awesome experience of the holy clearly grounds reality for sanctified believers. In likemanner, talk about this experience –whether conveyed throughsong, sermon, testimony,orsimple conversion– grounds sanctified discourse. References to ‘feeling the Spirit,’ to being ‘bornagain’ …suffuse all talk of faith, tacitly testifying to the lived centrality of holy encounter…. For oncethe saints have feltthe holy touch,they know it. With this knowing comes the awareness thatall other born-again believers have shared the experience” (Ibid.: 16, 18). 11 Cf. David D. Daniels, III, “North American Pentecostalism”: 73–74. Daniels sees the anti-den- ominational and anti-hierarchical impulses within much of Pentecostalism as contributing to this strong racialand ethnic diversity.For an overview of the manifoldforms of Pentecostalism which arepresently flourishing on the South American, African,and Asian continents, cf. Robeck, Yo ng (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Pentecostalism: 112–173. 12 According to astudybythe PewResearch Center (“Election2012 Post Mortem:White Evan- gelicals and Supportfor Romney”), 73 %of“which evangelical Protestants” voted for Repu- blican John McCain in 2008, which 26 %voted for Obama. In 2012, according to the survey,79% voted for the Republican Romney while only 20 %voted for Obama. 94 %ofall those catego- rized under “Black Protestant/Other Christian” voted for Obamain2008, and 95 %in2012. Cf. also Luhrmann, When God Talks Back: 13–15. 13 Summaries of some (but not all) of these autobiographical conversion narrativescan be found in DougBender and Dave Sterret, IamSecond:Real Stories, Changing Lives.

© 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525604571 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647604572 Field of Inquiry 19 again” as aphenomenon relegated to the fringe of American culture. On the contrary, it is at its verycenter,and can be found in the testimonies of the sports stars on television as well as the co-worker in one’s office.

1.1.2 Newbirth, theologically understood

1.1.2.1 Being “bornagain” as an experienceofpresence

As aresult of these developments, the Christian concept of new birth, whether referredtoasbeing “bornagain,” “reborn,” “saved,” or with the more traditional theological terminologyofregeneration (and ensuing sanctification), has solidified its place in the NorthAmerican cultural consciousness.14 However,totruly understand the logic of this phenomenon it is necessaryto go beyond Graham, Carter, and the arrayofconversionstories in popular media –aswell as, thankfully,the petulant political landscape of the United States –and to beginnings of German Pietism and Anglo-American Puritan- ism in the 17th century, as well as the Radical Reformation of the 16th century. It is amongthese traditions that onefinds the theological beginnings of what Susan Durden O’Brien has referred to as a“transatlanticevangelical consciousness”that came to fruitionduring the awakening movements of the 18th century.15 It is also among such traditions that onefinds the theological uncoupling of the doctrine of regeneration from the sacramentofbaptism, which had previously been assumed to be the locus of Christian new birth throughout the majorityofChristian history, in favor of an understanding of the eventofbeing born again as primarily an inward experience of the soul. Theologically,this disassociation represents acritical forkinthe road, as now the attention of the Christian is no longer primarily directed towards an outward event(i.e. baptism), but instead the self:one’s behaviors, disposi- tions, thoughts, feelings, as well as mystical encounters with the divine.In short, amongthis broad evangelical tradition, reflection on new birth becomes alargely phenomenological undertaking.Itisthis conception of regeneration which will be considered in the presentstudy:aconceptionwhich is the legacy of awide-ranging collection of theological traditions, generally included under the umbrella-term “evangelicalism,”16 which have flourished in the centuries following the Reformation and which shownosigns of diminishing. The question which this presentstudyattempts to answeristhe following: Whatismeant, theologically,when evangelical Christians claim to have been

14 The language of being “bornagain” can be said to describe not only what in traditionaltheo- logical terminology has been called regeneration –from the Latin regeneratio,which literally meanstobereborn–but also the ensuing sanctification,aterm used by theologians to describe the life of the convert, seen as aprocess of becoming holy,after the momentofregeneration. 15 Cf. Susan Durden O’Brien, “A TransatlanticCommunity of Saints.” 16 Cf. footnote 1.

“bornagain”? As astartingpoint,itisimportanttonote that thosefrom within this broadtradition generally understandthe doctrine of regener- ationprimarily as the experience of having been regenerated.17 Beingborn againistherefore an experience of presence: as adivinely initiatedpersonal experience, marked by aradical changeofheart–frequently inaugurated by adramaticconversion experience, but notnecessarily so –which continuesthroughout thelifeofthe believer. This experience of profound personal changeand connectednesstoGod (ofa“personalrelationship” as manydescribe it) is typically viewed by such evangelicals as essential to what it means to be aChristian, as theboundarymarker between true faith andthe mereexternal repetitionofreligious practices. Thus Jesus’words to NicodemusinJohn 3:7, “You must be born again,”18 areinterpreted within this traditionasaninjunction, warningthatonly those whohavethis experience will “seethe kingdom of God” (3:3),while those wholack such an experienceare nottobeviewedascompletely within the Christianfold.

1.1.2.2 The tension betweendoctrine and experience

Because Christian newbirth describes not only an experience but also something which Godrequires and acknowledges,this entails that it is simultaneously asubjective experience of presence as well as afixed objective doctrine, achange of heartaswell as achange in divine status initiated by God. It is, writes Wolfgang Schoberth, “onthe onehand the subjective experience of faith,” and “on the other God’s act[Handeln],19 which antecedes all subjective piety.”20 Following thisinsight,the goal of thisstudy is to displayhow the tension between the experience of presence, on the one hand, and the exposition of doctrine on the other results in akindofcreativetheological reciprocity. Indeed, it is exactly this reciprocitybetween doctrine and

17 The language of being “bornagain” can thus be said to describenot onlywhatintraditional theological terminologyhas been called regeneration –from the Latin regeneratio,which literally meansrebirth –but also the ensuing sanctification,aterm used by theologianstodescribe the ensuing lifelong process of becoming holy after the momentofregeneration. 18 Here Icite the translation givenbyNew International Version, which echoes the King James Version(“Yemust be born again”). As the nowantiquated “Ye” of the KJV makes clear,the “you” is in plural in the Greek. The NewRevised StandardVersion, which is the translation used in this book unless otherwise noted, translates the passage slightly differently,which will be discussed in the first chapter. 19 All translations of German texts, unless otherwise noted, aremyown. 20 Wolfgang Schoberth, “Zur neuen Welt kommen: Überlegungen zur theologischenLogik der Metaphor ‘Wiedergeburt’”: 149–50. As Schoberthobserves,this interdependence between the languageofsubjectiveexperience and traditional dogmatic language about Godcreates adeep tension,therefore it is an importantfunction of the metaphor “new birth” [Wiedergeburt]to remind modern theologians thatasmuch as they would liketoseparate and “isolate” thesetwo elements, they cannot.

© 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525604571 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647604572 Field of Inquiry 21 experience which makes the subject of regeneration so intellectually interesting as well as challenging,for it implies that the languageused to depictthis experience will inevitably be acomplex, inseparablemix of both phenomenological description and theological interpretation. Moreover,among laitythis negotiation between the experience of presence and the interpretation of doctrine generally takes place on atacit level, thus those whoengage in reflection on their ownexperience of being “bornagain” maynot necessarily be conscious of howmuchtheologizing there are actually doing.One prominentexample of such implicit theology, which will be discussed laterinmore detail, is the frequentreference by American evangelicals to having made a“decision for Christ.” The assumptionthat such adecision inaugurates one’slife as aChristian –indeed, the assumption that onecan truly makesuch adecision at all –would have been fervently denounced by the earliest Puritansettlers as agrave heresy,sinceitexplicitly contradicts traditional Calvinist conceptions of divine sovereigntyand human free will. Other theological traditions would later come to the defense of such “decisionist” language, but it is ultimately atheological debate that cannot be completely settled throughanalyses of personal religious experience (although, interestingly,the debate is rarely waged without referenceto experience).

1.1.2.3 The threefold structure of the theological grammar of being “bornagain”

Despite such importanttheological divergences, however,itisthe argumentof this bookthat there is widespread implicit agreementamong “born-again” Christians as to the general theological structure of the experience of regeneration, which can be summarized in three points. Firstly,asthe metaphor of new birth suggests, it is the experience of radical change of one’s ownperson, achange which the subject could not have brought about through his or her owneffort. Secondly,not only does asubjectivechange takeeffect, but also achange of one’s status before God, which results in afundamental change in identity:one is justified, “saved,”and now, in the fullest sense of the word, a Christian. And finally,asabridge between these tworealms of immanence and transcendence, of subjective experience and God’s act, the born-again believer experiencesanadditional kind of presence:the immediate, mystical, and ultimately indescribable presence of Godhimself (which is typically identified as the Holy Spirit). In theological terms, therefore, being “bornagain” referstoconversion, to justification (in the sense of “forensic justification,” i.e. of being declared righteous by God), and finallytothe indwelling –orunio mystica –ofGod in the heartofthe believer.All three of these phenomena are typically viewed as happening at more or less the same instantand continuing into the future (in the state of “sanctification”).

Obviously,itisnot my argumentthat this basic structure can be found in every evangelical conversionnarrativeortheological explication of new birth, but instead that this basic three-fold theological conception of regeneration provides ahelpful template –atheoretical starting point, so to speak –for understanding the evangelical Christian doctrine of being “bornagain,” which includes countless conversionnarratives (or “personal testimonies”) as well as evangelistic callsfor conversion,and spans awiderange of confessional and cultural traditions.

1.1.3 The state of research

As stated previously,the insight that “new birth” and “bornagain” are terms that refer not only to an immediate experience of the individual but also to a transcendentact of God, and hence to normativetheological claims, brings attention to the factthat the discourse on Christian newbirth, whether in a theological text or an autobiographical narrative, will inevitably be amix of personal experience and interpretation of theological doctrine. Scholarship, however,has traditionally avoided this reciprocitybyseparating the elements of theologyand experience, and instead compartmentalized the two,assigning to non-theological disciplines the task of investigating “religiousexperience,” while assuming that the subtleties of doctrine are largely irrelevantto understanding this experience and instead belong to the domainofdogmatic theology. Such theoretical divisionhas resulted not only in blatantly reductionist efforts to explain religiousconversionexperiences as the results of psychological neuroses, or social hysteria, or religiousbrainwashing,but has also placed limitations on studiesofthe highest quality.21 Recently, however,non-theological scholarship on religious experience, including Christian conversion, has increasingly recognized that theologycannot be bracketed offfrom arobust scholarly understanding of religiousphenomena. It is not acoincidence, for instance, that Buddhist monks generally do not have visions of the Virgin Mary,22 or that American evangelicals do not report

21 Take the example of William James, whose classic study Varieties of Religious Experience is often complementarytowards conversionexperiences,yet deficientinits understanding of the theological convictions of those whohavethem, resulting in evaluationsoften marked by a surprising shallowness. Concerning the propensity for conversion experiencesamong Me- thodists, for instance, James writes thatthis practice “follows, if not the healthier-minded, yeton the whole the profounder spiritual instinct” (Varieties of Religious Experience: 203). The psychological categoryof“spiritual instinct” is clearly not helpful here, for the term “instinct” ignores the factthatsuch experiences have aspecific theological content. Moreover,they arenot merely the result of psychologicaldesiresbut clearly have been (perhaps only tacitly) learned and practiced within aspecific community.Thustruly understanding the Methodist conversion experience entails understanding the logic of the Methodist theologyofconversion;onlyin conjunctionwith this can such a“spiritual instinct”beunderstood. 22 Iamindebted to Wolfgang Schoberth for this memorableillustration.

© 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525604571 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647604572 Field of Inquiry 23 having experienced Nirvana. And neither is it the case,asnon-theological scholarsofconversionhaveincreasingly been forced to confront, that those Christians whodescribehavingundergonearadical conversionfirst had an amorphous, non-theological “religious” experience, which was only afterwards interpreted as having been an encounter with the GodofJesus Christ. On the contrary, it is nearly always the case that deeply held theological convictions areinterwoven into the veryfabric of religious experience.23 This draws attentiontothe necessity of understanding the “born-again” experienceasone whichisclearly perceived theologically,and notmerely interpreted afterthe fact (althoughretroactive theological reflection does indeed playasignificantrole). Thus LewisRambo, perhaps the most well-known anthropologistofreligious conversion, emphasizes the indispensability of theological knowledge foranthropology, psychology, andsociology of religion: “Theologyoccupies acentral place in understanding conversionprocesses. Whatever one’s opinionsconcerning the validity and value of theology, theologyoften plays a pivotal role in shaping experience and expectations regardingconversion. Moreover, theologyconstitutes partofthe ‘DNA’ of the conversion process for people existing within aparticular religioustradition. Notall conversions are seen in the same way because the theologythat informs the psyche and culture of the persongoing through conversionisdeeply embedded in the structures that serve as the foundation, infrastructure,and motivation of the conversionexperience itself.”24 Rambofollows these “holistic” guidelines in his classic study Understanding Religious Conversion,inanattempt to understand, from the perspective of cultural anthropology, the differenttypes of religiousconversionand what makes them so attractive to so manypeople. Rambo’s work is thus not primarily an exercise in causal explanation, but in thick description, since “conversionisacomplex, multifaceted process involving personal, cultural, social, and religious dimensions.”25

23 T.M. Luhrmann, writing from anon-theological perspective, refers to this as “perceptual bias”: “Buddhists have visions of Buddha, and Hindus have visionsofKrishna” (When God Talks Back: 221). 24 LewisR.Rambo,“Anthropologyand the Study of Conversion,” in Buckser and Glazier,ed., The AnthropologyofReligious Conversion: 214–15. Cf. Rambo, Understanding Religious Conversion, in which he lays out his “holistic” approach to understandingconversionexperiences, which includes the “cultural, social, personal, and religious components,” which he views as aspecific advantage of anthropologyincomparison to other disciplines:“In the past, scholars have tended to give undueweighttotheir owndiscipline’s pointofview,evenwhen open to the influence of other factors. Thus, the psychologist tends to focus primarily on the isolated individualwho is converting;the sociologist tendstosee conversionasthe result of forces shaped and mobilized by social institutions and mechanisms;and the religious personemphasizes the dominant influence of God and minimizesthe impactofother factors. Anthropologists have been the least likely to be limited by onenarrowperspective. As aholistic human science, anthropologymay serve as amodel to those of us immersed in our more parochial disciplines, which demand loyaltytoone pointofview of emphasizeonly aparticular dimension” (Ibid.: 8). 25 Ibid.: 165.

This methodologically holistic perspective has been recently demonstrated in T.M. Luhrmann’sgroundbreaking study When GodTalks Back,abookof both extraordinaryempathyaswell as theoretical acumen, which focuses in particular on the Vineyard Church and its members’ frequentclaimstohear God“talk” to them. Luhrmann’sstudy operates under the assumption “God- concepts and spirit-concepts are not neutral” but instead, writes the psychological anthropologist, that “they have greatpower for those for whom they are real.”26 ThereforeLuhrmann, though she herself makes no claim to be aChristian believer,goestogreatlengths to understand the theological underpinningsofthe evangelical practice of “hearing” God. Althoughpreviousresearchers in her fieldhad speculated that such “hearing” is the expressionofirrationalism or mental instability(and perhaps even schizophrenia), Luhrmann quickly realizedthat such paradigms were inadequate. Instead, from her field work Luhrmann comes to the conclusion that “hearing God’s voice is acomplex process,” a“skill” which even entails something like“anew theoryofmind” among members of the Vineyard Church.27 This “skill” begins with conversion, and is then developed through socialization in the church community’s theological vision. Ye twhile non-theologians such as Ramboand Luhrmann have accepted the inextricabilityofreligiousexperience and theological belief, those within the walls of theologyfaculties have still largely assumedthat theological reflection on Christian new birth entails merely the examination andevaluation of a doctrine, first throughagenealogical sketch of the doctrine’s development over the centuries, highlighted by the opinionsofcertain notabletheological minds, and then topped off by the author’s ownprescriptivedogmatic critique. In the following study,therefore, Iattempt to bridge this methodological gap between non-theological, empirical analyses and systematic theology. While it is the argumentofthis study that such amethodologyisultimately incomplete, it is obviously still verynecessaryand has alreadybeen donewith skill. In particular,Peter Toon’s BornAgain:ABiblical and Theological Study of Regener- ation,alearned and accessible volume which traces differenttheologies of regenerationfromthe Church Fathers to the ReformationtoBilly Graham and modernevangelism, has been an indispensible resource for this presentstudy.Toon’s primaryconcern is to provide abroad historical-theological introduction to the doctrine of regeneration, but he acknowledges that the impetus for his book(which was first published in 1987) is the cultural phenomenonofNorth American “bornagain Christianity” in the 1970s and 80s, which was confusing to manyofhis fellow

26 Luhrmann, When God Talks Back: 266. 27 Ibid.: 60, 40. Other non-theologicalstudies which have been helpful for my researchare Peter Stromberg, Language and Self-Transformation: AStudyofthe Christian ConversionNarrative; BerndUlmer,“Konversionserzählungen als rekonstruktiveGattung”; and particularly Charles L. Cohen, God’s Caress:The PsychologyofPuritan Religious Experience.

Europeans. Toon, an Anglican priest of an evangelical bent,has aunique perspective on the matter,and offers one of the moreinsightful, non-polemical critiques of modernevangelical “born-again” Christianity,which concludes with Toon develop- ing his ownarticulationofthe doctrine of regeneration.28 American theologian Eric Gritsch, in his 1982 publication Born-Againism:Perspec- tivesonaMovement,isverymuch aware of the historyofthe doctrine of regeneration, but unlikeToonassociates the term“born again” primarily with a cultural-theological “movement” arising from the influences of Christian apocalyp- ticism, American Protestant Fundamentalism, and Charismatic and Pentecostal forms of Christianity.Politically,heidentifies “born-againism” with the Religious Right.Gritsch, aLutheran, is forthright concerning his rejection of “born- againism’s” understanding of the doctrine of regeneration:“born-again” Christians, according to Gritsch, understand the doctrine as referring primarily to asubjective experience and completely separate it from the sacramentofbaptism, whereas a proper theological understanding of regeneration focuses not on apersonal experience but instead on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and views the sacramentof(infant) baptism as inseparably linked to this event.29 The bulk of his bookoffers acritical analysis of the differenttheological traditions which informthe born-again “movement,” and is not without its polemical flourishes. In addition to these two books, one article30 deserves particular mention:Bill Leonard’s “Getting Saved in America:Conversion EventinaPluralistic Culture.” While it covers much of the same ground as Toon and Gritsch’s study, it also devotes itself more specifically to the historyofAmerican evangelical Christianity, particularly revivalism in the Baptist context. Leonard focuses on the evolution of dogmatic conceptions of conversioninAmerica, beginning with the Puritan understanding of conversionasaprocess directed by God’s sovereign grace, and which can be represented in a“morphology,”then to more rationalistic, “Arminian” 19th-centurystrands of revivalism which emphasized human free will and developed “techniques” for bringing about aquick conversion; and finally to his ownSouthern Baptist tradition, which he ultimately criticizes as “confusing” the two theologically contradictoryperspectives on conversionfound in Puritanism and 19th-century

28 Cf. Peter Toon, Born Again: 185–89. 29 Cf. Eric W. Gritsch, BornAgainism: 92–94. 30 Many other articles were of assistanceinmyresearch. The primaryGerman language texts used are the following:Wolfgang Schoberth, “Zur neuen Welt kommen. Überlegungen zur theolo- gischen Logikder Metapher,Wiedergeburt‘”; MarcoHofheinz, “Wiedergeburt?Erwägungen zur dogmatischen Revision eines diskreditierten Begriffs”; also worth mentioning is the entry by Wilhelm Peter Schneemelcher,etal.,on“Wiedergeburt” in the Theologische Realenzy- klopädie,aswell as Paul Althaus, “Die Bekehrung in reformatorischer und pietistischer Sicht,” and GerhardMaier,“Gottes Heilstatund die Bekehrung des Sünders im Pietismus und im Zeugnis der Schrift.” Other English texts includeWilliam Loyd Allen, “Being born again –and again, and again,” whocomes to conclusions verysimilar to Leonard’sessay, and Jerald C. Brauer,“Conversion:From Puritanism to Revivalism,” whose research was used by Leonard to build his argument. In addition to these articles,Jürgen Moltmann’s chapter on the doctrine of regeneration in his book Der Geist des Lebens (pp.158–174) was of greatassistance.

© 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525604571 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647604572 26 Introduction revivalism, and in consequence having become “tornbetween conversionasa nurturing process and as dramaticevent.”31 Leonard’s thesis is particularly importantfor the presentstudy in its methodology: Leonardobserves howa modernevangelical tradition –inthis case SouthernBaptist Christianity– has negotiatedand fused different, even contradictorystreamsoftheological reflection on the doctrine of regeneration. In other words, he draws attention to the inherent theological flexibilityofthe evangelical conception of being “bornagain.” While Leonard has documented this flexibility on the level of larger theological traditions and focuses on one particular theological strand, my ownstudy attempts to go one step further and reveal how, particularly in today’s theological pluralistic context, such amethodologycan even be applied on acase-by-case basis.

1.1.4The purpose of thisstudy

1.1.4.1 Regeneration as a“theological phenomenon”

While the presentstudy is indebted to previoustheological accounts of the dogmatics behind “born-again” Christianity, it attempts to understand Christian new birth not merely as adoctrine, but as the result of interdependence between doctrine and experience. This is because when “born-again” Christians describeand reflectupon their experience, they are not simply speaking of adoctrine to which they adhere, but also an experience which they see as having fundamentally changed and continuing to guide them.32 In light of such an intense experience of presence, theological discussions on the mere concept of regeneration,particularly amongthose

31 Leonard,“Getting SavedinAmerica”: 123. ModernSouthernBaptists, according to Leonard, “retained much of the terminologyofCalvinism –election,predestination,depravity –yet increasingly defined those terms in decidedly Arminian directions. Rejecting four of the classic fivepoints of Calvinism, they retained adoctrine of perseverance of the saints but popularized it with aslogan which became awatchword,‘once saved, always saved.’ Thus they utilized ahyper- Arminian conversion eventwhich placed salvation almost entirely in the hands of the sinner and his or her free will, but cut it offfrom the process of sanctification by makingitaonceand for all event. They retained Calvinist perseverance but separateditfrom the salvation process as infusedbysovereigngrace…. Thus for manySouthernBaptists the language of Calvinism and the theologyofArminianism are united in the transactionofconversionistic individualism. Conversionisless aprocess of experience with grace than an eventwhich satisfies asalvific requirement” (Ibid.: 124). 32 However,simply having the term “experience” as afoundational, explanatorycategory, as has been the traditional method of liberal theology, is equally guilty of the methodological “isola- tion”that Schoberth sees as so typical of modern theology, as it attempts to dissolvethe exact interdependency of experience and doctrine which is so importantfor understanding the experience in the first place. Note also thatthis studyleavesthe concept of experience inten- tionally broad. This is because its pointisnot to argue what is or is not an “experience” (or “religion”),but instead to drawattentiontoand explore the formative nature of theological convictions.

© 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525604571 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647604572 Field of Inquiry 27 critical voices which seek to retrieve the doctrine’sbaptismal significance, will have little relevance for howmostChristians understand, as well as practice, their faith. How, then, can theological reflection takethe interdependency between doctrine and experience more seriously?Asafirststep,Iargue that it means incorporating an existential facet into one’s theological analysis in addition to exegesis, historical theology, and dogmatics,byunderstanding the “bornagain” experience as akindoftheological phenomenon in itself, and not merely an after-the-factinterpretation of religious experience. In other words, the grammar of “born-again” Christianitynot only interpretive,but also formative. Methodologically,this change in perspective requires the explication of exactly what, theologically,isbeing claimed in descriptions of Christian new birth, in away which relates its grammar –or“theo-logic” –toits wider confessional, cultural,and historical context while also acknowledgingthat these contexts are constantly being renegotiated and transcended. In other words, it requires thinking the doctrine of regeneration “dynamically” as opposed to “statically” (if Imay be allowed to rehabilitate oneoftheology’s most abused clichs). Such amethodologyrequires aparticular humility on the partofthe theologian, one that is descriptive before it is prescriptive,ashe or she can no longer assume to completely understand even the mosttypical conversionnarrativebeforecarefullyanalyzing it. Hence the first step is not to critique, or even “explain,” but to simply to understand;only afterwards can the theologian attempt to generalize and systematize the various theologies of regeneration, as well as make prescriptivejudgments.

1.1.4.2 Presenceand tacit knowledge

The insight that theologyand experience are involved in adynamic, interdependentrelationship is onewith implicationsthat span beyond systematic theology, thereforethis bookalso offers the opportunityfor this discipline to enter into constructive interdisciplinarydialogue with other fields of study.The idea for this bookwas first conceived within such acontext: within an interdisciplinarygraduate research group(what in Germanyis called a Graduiertenkolleg)dedicated to exploring the relationship between the concepts of “presence”and “tacit knowledge.” The fundamental assumption of this research groupisthat experiences of presence (understood as either temporal or spatial immediacy) are in areciprocal relationship with various forms of (often unarticulated) knowledge. The phrase “experience of presence,” which will be used throughout this study to describeChristian new birth, is anod to the work of literarytheorist Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, who believes that the humanities’ obsession with questions of “meaning” (in German, Sinn)has led to the neglectofanotherequally importantdimension of human experience, that of presence. Gumbrechtisnot primarily interested

© 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525604571 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647604572 28 Introduction in religious experience but instead in the aesthetic (althoughhedoesindeed consider certainreligious experiences, which he views as being closely related to the aesthetic), which he describes as “an oscillation (and sometimes as an interference)between ‘presence effects’ and meaning effects.”33 This “oscillation” can be observed, for example, in the experience of soaking in the beauty (or shock, or disarray, etc.) of apaintingwhile simultaneously attempting to deduce its meaning,orofbeing swept away in the intensityofa song while also paying attention to its lyrics. Poetry,according to Gumbrecht, can be seen as “perhaps the most powerful example of the simultaneity of presence effects and meaning effects,” in that no purely meaning-based understanding –“even the mostinstitutional dominance of the hermeneutic disposition” –can ignore the essentialness of presence effects (rhyme, alliteration, verse, etc.) to poetry’s creation and enjoyment. This is why, argues Gumbrecht, overly hermeneutic literarycriticism of poetry is inescapably boring.34 It is not difficult to see howGumbrecht’s interest in the fundamental tension (or “oscillation”) between “presence effects” and “meaningeffects” relates to this presentstudy, for justasinGumbrecht’s example of poetry, being “bornagain” is aconcept in which both “presence effects” and “meaning effects” are inextricably tied together.This is seen in the metaphor of new birthitself:onthe onehand, it describes apersonal experience of new life, filled with hope and spiritual vigor;onthe other,itisanormative doctrine, basedonspecific biblical texts and taught as being the result of Christ’s death and resurrection. It is the argument of thisstudy that these two components of regeneration, personal experience and normativedoctrine, lead to aproductive“oscillation” similar to Gumbrecht’s theoryofpoetry. Ye tmostChristians, particularly non-theologians, are not necessarily aware of the complexityofthisinterplay, in the same sense that most people cannot list and explain the grammatical rules that they follow, or howthey are able to ride abicycle, or whythey enjoy onetypeofmusic over another.Itisthe case, in other words, that much of what is theologically interesting about“born-again” Christianitytakes place on the tacit level. Tacitknowledge namesneitheratheorynor aparticular phenomenon, but instead is an umbrella-termreferring the manifold forms of knowledge that human beings possess, yet are often unable to articulate; this has been most famously summarized in philosopher Michael Polanyi’s dictum that “we knowmore than we can tell.”35 Given the expressed conviction

33 Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, ProductionofPresence: 2. 34 “The intuition, in contrast, thatinstead of being subordinated to meaning, poetic formsmight find themselvesinasituationoftension, in astructural formofoscillationwith the dimensionof meaning, turned out to be another promising starting pointtowardageneral reconceptuali- zation of the relationship between effects of meaning and effects of presence” (Ibid.: 18). 35 Michael Polanyi, The Tacit Dimension: 4. Cf. also HarryCollins, Tacit and ExplicitKnowledge. A small numberofstudies have been published on the subject of tacit knowledge theoryand Christian theology. Cf. R.T.Allen, Transcendence and Immanence in the PhilosophyofMichael

© 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525604571 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647604572 Field of Inquiry 29 of this study that theological concepts are not neutral, it is not difficult to see howthe specific subjectofChristian new birth would be of interest to the broader study of presence andtacit knowledge:for born-again Christians, experiences of presence (for instance, of the conversionmoment, or the presence of God, or the presence of achanged state) are perceived and reflected upon with the aid of arich theological vocabulary. Thisvocabulary, just likeany other,has agrammar;and just likeany other grammar,one must not be able to explicitly articulate its rules in order to understand and followit. Farmore importantisthat one can show that he or she has learned it. In this context, the theologian acts firstand foremostasakind of grammarian, articulating and explicating the characteristics and (often implicit) rules of this vocabulary. The presentstudy can thereforebeunderstood as belonging to acertain tradition of theological reflection known as post-liberalism (also sometimes referred to as the “Yale school”), aschool of thoughtwhich views theological language as only properly understood when situated within alarger context of Christian narrativeand practice which allows its “grammar” to become clear.Following the philosophyofLudwig Wittgenstein, oneofpost-liberalism’s most significantintellectual influences, theologians within this tradition showwhattheological language means by focusing on howitisused. This approach is demonstrated in George Lindbeck’s The Nature of Doctrine,awork of stunning originality devoted to the practical aim of improving ecumenical dialogue with the insightthat theological doctrines are complex, multifaceted concepts:doctrines are not merely propositions about God(although they often entail these), nor are they simply“expressions” of human religious experience, but are instead “communally authoritative rules of discourse, attitude, and action.” Lindbeck therefore calls for a“cultural-linguistic” approach to theological analysis, which seeks to contextualize theological statements within the practices and “language games” that give them sense.36 Asimilar theological program has been undertaken by Dietrich Ritschl, aGerman theologian and psychoanalyst whouses the term“implicitaxioms” to describethe grammatical, pre-linguistic “steering devices” which are “behind” theological language.37 Ritschl is primarily interested in the implicit axioms which guide dogmatic texts (which he identifies as a

Polanyiand ChristianTheism;William H.Poteat, The Primacy of Persons and the Language of Culture;Thomas F. Torrance, ed. Belief in Science and in Christian Life:The Relevance of Michael Polanyi’sThoughtfor Christian Faithand Life. In Torrance’s anthology, John C. Puddefoot’s essay, “Indwelling:Formal and Non-Formal Elements in Faith and Life,” was particularly helpful for this presentstudy. 36 Lindbeck, The NatureofDoctrine: 20. The influence of Wittgenstein on Lindbeck’stheoryis palpable, which Lindbeck acknowledges in variouspassages. Cf. Ibid.: 20–21, 33, 38–39, 107. Cf. also Wittgenstein, PhilosophischeUntersuchungen,aswell as Über Gewißheit. For aCatholic perspective on Wittgenstein’s lessons for contemporarytheology, cf. Fergus Kerr, Theology After Wittgenstein. 37 Ritschl, Bildersprache und Argumente: 111. For an explanation of howRitschl’s theoryof implicit axioms is informed by psychoanalysis, see the chapter “RegulativeSentences:Axioms for Steering TheologicalExpression,”inIbid.: 100–110.