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Cal Explanations.' the Movement Itself Appeals to Church History 117- INTERPRETING CHARISMATIC EXPERIENCE: HYPNOSIS, ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT?† Mark J. Cartledge* St John’s College, 3 South Bailey, Durham DH1 3RJ, England The Toronto Blessing has raised important questions regarding Chris- tian experience generally and experiences associated with the charis- matic movement in particular. The phenomena associated with the Toronto Blessing such as people falling or rolling over, laughing or weeping uncontrollably, jerking and making strange noises-which appear to have an animal quality-all raise eyebrows from observers. The obvious questions that spring to mind include: What is actually happening here? And, how can these activities be explained? Indeed, a variety of explanations have been and continue to be offered. These include sociological, psychological, physiological and theologi- cal explanations.’ The movement itself appeals to church history and † This paper was prepared initally for a meeting of the Association of Chris- tian Psychiatrists (North West Group). I am appreciative to those who took part in the discussion, especially to Vivien Millar as convener of the group. I am also grateful to William Kay for reading and commenting upon an earlier draft of the paper. * Mark J. Cartledge (PhD candidate, Trinity College, Carmarthen, University of Wales) is Chaplain and Tutor at St John’s College, University of Durham. 1. The following sources have guided my thoughts on this matter: (1) Personal experience: I visited the Toronto Airport Vineyard Fellowship, as it was called then, in April 1995. This was followed by visits to Holy Trinity Church, Brompton and St Andrew’s Church, Chorleywood in the UK. (2) Video material: J. Amott, Decently and in Order (Toronto: Toronto Airport Vineyard, 1995); J. Arnott, God’s Love: Bottom Line (Toronto: Toronto Airport Vineyard, 1995). (3) Literature: 118 biblical texts to justify these experiences.’ Recently David Middlemiss in his book Interpreting Charismatic Experience, which advocates a philosophical and theological approach to assessing such experience, M. Bickle and M. Sullivant, ’God’s Manifest Presence: Understanding the Pheno- mena that Accompany the Spirit’s Ministry’ (TAV Website: http://www/grmi.org/ TAV, 1995); G. Chevreau, Catch the Fire: The Toronto Blessing, an Experience of Renewal and Revival (London: Marshall Pickering, 1994); C. Cook, ’Medical Aspects of the "Toronto Blessing"’, Journal of the Christian Medical Fellowship (April 1995), pp. 11-13; P. Dixon, Signs of Revival (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1994); D. Forbes, ’From North Battleford to Toronto’, Prophecy Today 12.1 (1996), pp. 14-17; J. Gardiner and R. Tingles, ’Ticket to Toronto ... and Beyond to the Strawberry Fields’, Churchman 109.1 (1995), pp. 37-49; P. Hocken, ’Renewal and Revival: A Catholic Perspective on the Toronto Blessing’, Goodnews 177 (1995), pp. 18-19; N. Hudson, ’Personal Reflections on a Most Unusual Year’, European Pentecostal Theological Bulletin 15 (1995), pp. 101-106; S. Hunt, ’The "Toronto Blessing": A Rumour of Angels?’, Journal of Contemporary Religion 10.3 (1995), pp. 257-71; B. Jackson, ’What in the World Is Happening to Us? A Biblical Per- spective on Renewal’ (Urbana, IL: Vineyard, 1994); F.D. Macchia, ’The "Toronto Blessing": No Laughing Matter’, JPT 8 (1996), pp. 3-6; D. Middlemiss, Interpret- ing Charismatic Experience (London: SCM Press, 1996); M. Mitton, The Heart of Toronto (Grove Spirituality Series, 55; Cambridge: Grove Books Ltd, 1995); N. Needham, ’The Toronto Blessing’, The Shepherd: An Orthodox Pastoral Magazine 16.3 (1995), pp. 2-8; 16.4 (1996), pp. 2-13; 16.5 (1996), pp. 2-8; S. O’Donnell, ’Toronto Blessing’, Goodnews 117 (1995), pp. 12-13; D. Pawson, Is the Blessing Biblical? (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1995); M. Percy, Words, Wonders and Power: Understanding Contemporary Christian Fundamentalism and Revivalism (London: SPCK, 1996); M. Percy, ’Making Waves: A Perspective on Ministry and Revivalism’, Ministry Today 8 (1996), pp. 27-37; M. Poloma, ’Com- ments on "Vineyard Reflections: The Toronto Blessing"’ (TAV website: http:// www/grmi. org/TAV, 1995); M. Poloma, The Toronto Report (Bradford-on-Avon: Terra Nova, 1996); S. Porter and P. Richter (eds.), The Toronto Blessing-Or Is It? (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1995); P. Richter, ’The Toronto Blessing: Charismatic Evangelical Global Warming’, in S. Hunt, M. Hamilton and T. Walker (eds.), Charismatic Christianity: Sociological Perspectives (London: Macmillan, 1997), pp. 97-119; P. Roberts, ’Lessons from the Past—The Discernment of Signs: Jonathan Edwards and the Toronto Blessing’, Churchman 110.1 (1996), pp. 31-45; M.W.G. Stibbe, Times of Refreshing (London: Marshall Pickering, 1995); A. Warnock, ’An Outpouring of the Spirit?’, Journal of the Christian Medical Fellowship 41.1 (1995), pp. 1-6. 2. It has to be said that the biblical approaches used to support the blessing are far from satisfactory. See S. Porter, ’Shaking the Biblical Foundations? The Bibli- cal Basis for the Toronto Blessing’, in Porter and Richter (eds.), The Toronto Bless- ing,ch. 2. .
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