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). Andreas Aarflot, Hans Nielsen Hauge: His Life and Message (Minneapolis:Augsburg Publishing House, 1979). Reviewed by Donald Dean Smeeton.

This book is a cistern from which one might draw many kinds of water, but all are portable. The person os Norwegian descent will find material to satisfy his thirst for his spiritual roots. The historian of theology will taste an often-needed balance to the superficial judgment that eighteenth century was only rationalistic orthodoxy. The advocate of lay leadership will relish this practical paradigm of the lay activist and, of course, the person with pneumatological interests will drink deeply from the creative thinking and courageous life of this preacher-theologian. Although Hans Nielsen Hauge is not widely known outside Scandi- navia, he was the most important revivalist-not in the pejorative sense of an evangelist, but in the truer sense of one who provokes spiritual awakenings-in the history of Norwegian Christianity. Hauge dated his commitment to ministry to a profound, estatic experience which Aarflot suggests "had the character of a in the Spirit as was known later in the Pentecostal movement" (p. 22). Although without formal theological training, Hauge synthesized liturgical Lutheranism and pietistic practice with limited accommoda- tions to the liberation of the Enlightenment. Even if one doubts that Hauge was influenced by the Enlightenment to the extent indicated by Aarflot, Hauge definitely combined the tenets of orthodox theology with the flame of spiritual fire. Hauge's position of almost 200 years ago anticipates many parallels to the twentieth century renewal. Desiring to infiltrate spiritual life without rending his church, Hauge chose to remain loyal to structures which constantly restricted his efforts, sometimes with open hostility. From the perspective of the twentieth century, one might question if he made the best decision or if he surrendered too much to the Enlighten- ment, but one must admire Hauge's zeal, which awakened so many of his country men. Andreas Aarflot, bishop of and former professor of church history at The Independent Theological Seminary at Oslo, deserves thanks for presenting Hauge's biography and theology to contemporary charismatic Christianity.

- 61- Rene Laurentin, Catholic Pentecostalism, tr. M. O'Connell (London: Darton, Longman, and Todd, 1977), 239 pp. Reviewed by Paul Elbert (postgraduate), University of London King's College.

Originally Pentecotisme chez les Catholiques (also copyrighted by Doubleday in 1977), this history and critique by Professor Laurentin of the Catholic University of Angers attempts to document the world progress of the Catholic sector of the renewal movement. Laurentin estimates that Catholic Neo-Pentecostalism had somewhere between 2 and 4 million participants in one hundred countries as of May 1975. This movement is traced from its birth among Holy Ghost Fathers at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in January 1967, noting the wide- spread and modest belief that there was no human founder-"the Holy Spirit is the only founder" (185). As an example of its growth Laurentin cites attendance figures for annual meetings at the University of Notre Dame: 90 in 196 7 , 30,000 in 1974. From contact with the movement in the United States subse- quent growth apparently occurred in Canada and South America and then spread to many other countries. For example, Laurentin places the beginnings in France at the end of 1971 and records that since 1973 every important city in France has one or more groups. (This reviewer has learned from a reliable source he can not disclose that there are now at least 60 fellowships in Poland.) Since Catholic Pentecostalism was influenced ("inspired," 20) at its outset by the literature and testimony of Classical Pentecostalism, Laurentin is careful to review the history of its Protestant forerunner. He is eympathetic and once defends E. S. Williams from critics (36). However, his stress throughout is on critiquing recent developments in the Catholic sector, which he does with objectivity as a participating (non-charismatic) observer. Despite the tension between the enthusi- astic evangelical life of Protestant influence and the established tradi- tion, the movement has by and large remained faithful to the church. It is not elite, it welcomes all. Dangers are neutralized by communal dis- cernment, which Laurentin sees as being the most characteristic trait of the movement as a whole. Such tensions then are resolvable by revising the relationship between institution and believers, specifically by revising "the relationship in keeping with the teaching of Christ, by putting the emphasis once again on the people, equating power once again with service, and rehabilitating the charisms" (146). Reactions from within Catholicism are mixed as are the various exegetical strands regarding baptism in the Spirit and sacramental water baptism, but Laurentin is wise to point out that the church was aware of such problems anyway. Laurentin rightly believes baptism in the Spirit meets a pastoral need at the level of the common people "at a

62