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ABSTRACT
During the Covid-19 pandemic most, if not all, Christian denominations moved their worship services online. While this may have been satisfactory in some respects, it caused problems for many liturgical traditions because of the centrality of the Eucharist as an act of worship. They struggled to decide whether it was legitimate to celebrate the sacrament online. However, Pentecostals and independent charismatic churches simply moved their eucharistic services online without too many obvious problems. Individuals sat at home with bread and fruit juice in front of their computer screens. Since the pandemic has passed, many people continue to sit in front of their computer screens or smartphones in order to participate in the Eucharist. But these practices raise some important and interesting theological questions from a Pentecostal perspective. This paper explores Pentecostal eucharistic theology using the example of Bill Johnson’s teaching praxis, as posted on the social medial platform YouTube. It offers a theological reflection on Pentecostal scholarship and makes suggestions as to how the discussion of Pentecostal eucharistic praxis may be developed.
KEYWORDS:
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Notes
1 I shall move between different terminology for the Eucharist, using the Lord’s Supper or the Supper, and Holy Communion or communion as variants. My preference is to use the word Eucharist, but I recognize that Pentecostals prefer the designation the Lord’s Supper.
2 I have explored the development of ‘digital Pentecostalism’ in other publications. See Cartledge, “Studying Digital Pentecostalism”; and Cartledge, “Virtual Mediation of the Holy Spirit”.
3 See the discussions by Burridge, Holy Communion in Contagious Times; Doyle, Embodied Liturgy, Schmidt, Virtual Communion; Berger, @Worship, 83–87; and Spadaro, Cybertheology.
4 Kärkkäinen, “The Pentecostal View,” 121–22; Green, Towards a Pentecostal Theology, 178.
5 Here I am using the term ‘methodology’ in the sense of an overarching process of investigation (although I recognise other senses), see Cartledge, “Can Theology be Practical? Part II”.
6 Cameron et al., Talking about God in Practice.
7 Hollenweger, The Pentecostals, 385; Dukto, “Beyond Ordinance,” 253, notes this but suggests it misunderstands the nature of Pentecostal belief and practice. In this view, he is joined by others, e.g. Green, Towards a Pentecostal Theology, 179; and Black, “On the possibility of presence,” 122–2. Black argues that Pentecostals reject Zwinglian finitum non capax infiniti (the finite is incapable of the infinite) and interprets the Lord’s Supper in the light of Spirit Baptism, thus arguing for finitum capax infiniti as the Pentecostal alternative.
8 Plüss, “Sacrament or Ordinance?,” 66.
9 Bicknell, “The Ordinances,” 207.
10 Kärkkäinen, “The Pentecostal View,” 123.
11 Bicknell, “The Ordinances,” 210.
12 Ibid., 220.
13 Black, The Lord’s Supper, 97.
14 Ibid., 115–16.
15 Black, The Lord’s Supper, 121; Kärkkäinen, “The Pentecostal View,” 126.
16 Hollenweger, The Pentecostals, 387.
17 Black, The Lord’s Supper, 166: Plüss, “Sacrament or Ordinance?, 70.
18 Also noted by Plüss, “Sacrament or Ordinance?,” 70–71; Kärkkäinen, “The Pentecostal View,” 126–27.
19 Kärkkäinen, “The Pentecostal View,” 125, although he observes that Pentecostals have generally not made much of the charismatic element in the Eucharist.
20 Plüss, “Sacrament or Ordinance?,
21 Cartledge, “The Holy Spirit and the Digital Church”.
22 Plüss, “Sacrament or Ordinance?, 70.
23 Ibid.; Black, The Lord’s Supper, 90, also comments how taking the elements in pre-packaged bread and juice at home during the pandemic reinforced individualism.
24 Bicknell, ‘“The Ordinances,” 205; Plüss, “Sacrament or Ordinance?, 66–68; and Hunter, “Ordinances, Pentecostal,” 947–49; but see Dukto, “Beyond Ordinance,” 255–56.
25 Kärkkäinen, “The Pentecostal View,” 124; Green, Towards a Pentecostal Theology, 179; Black, “The Holy of Holies,” 77, argues that the ‘anti-ritual bent’ is contextual and a response to Anglo-Catholicism in England and Roman Catholicism in Northern Ireland.
26 Bicknell, "The Ordinances," 209; also see Kärkkäinen, “The Pentecostal View,” 120–21.
27 See Larson-Miller, “Sacramentality as Contemporary Theological Context,” 62.
28 Bicknell, “The Ordinances,” 208.
29 Ibid., 209.
30 Black, The Lord’s Supper, 42.
31 See the discussion by Green, Toward a Pentecostal Theology, 171–77. I tend to think that Cranmer was more indebted to Calvin that Green appears to consider.
32 See Cartledge, Testimony in the Spirit, 31, 42, 49–51, for an Assemblies of God congregational study. Here, I am thinking of the use of particular biblical texts, e.g. Isaiah 53.4–5, and the integration of prophetic utterances and calls for healing since it is inspired by the ‘healing in the atonement’ language. This is also referred to by Bicknell, “The Ordinances,” 221; Kärkkäinen, “The Pentecostal View,” 127–28; and Plüss, “Sacrament or Ordinance?, 70.
33 See Sutinen and Cooper, Digital Theology; Crizaldo, “Digital Theology”; Campbell and Dyer, Ecclesiology for a Digital Church; and Campbell and Bellar, Digital Religion.
34 For a discussion of research using YouTube see: Pihlaja, “Analysing YouTube Interaction,” 49–58.
36 See the study of Shuttleworth, “On Earth As It Is In Heaven”; also Shuttleworth, "A Critical Discussion."
37 https://www.bethel.com/. It has been associated with the ‘Revival Alliance’ network, see the discussion in Cartledge, “‘Catch the Fire’,” 217–38.
38 His early published works do not even mention the Lord’s Supper, even though there are key eucharistic-type themes that intertwine with the topics of a number of books. See, for example, his When Heaven Invades Earth; The Supernatural Power for a Transformed Mind; Dreaming with God; Secrets to Imitating God; Strengthen Yourself in the Lord; Face to Face with God; Release the Power of Jesus; and (with Randy Clark), The Essential Guide to Healing.
39 Randy Clarke is an associate of Johnson at Bethel Church and the Founder and President of the organization ‘Global Awakening’, see https://www.bethel.com/people/randy-clark; and https://globalawakening.com/.
40 See Pugh, The Old Rugged Cross, 154–61.
41 This is an observation from personal experience. Most of the Pentecostal literature does not discuss actual praxis, hence the need for this kind of study.
42 Tomberlin, Pentecostal Sacraments, 78–87; also see Nutt, General Principles, 138–50.
43 Shuttleworth, “On Earth As It Is In Heaven,” 56, notes the influence of Oral Roberts in particular.
44 Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 899; and Fee, The First Epistles to the Corinthians, 563–569.
45 Hollenweger, The Pentecostals, 389.
46 Also noted by Dukto, “Beyond Ordinance,” 261–65.
47 For example, Black, “On the possibility of presence” and Dukto, “Beyond Ordinance” in relation to Pentecostalism generally.
48 Tomberlin, Pentecostal Sacraments, 177.
49 Simatupang, “A Renewal Theology of the Eucharist,” uses my account of Pentecostal and Charismatic spirituality to frame eucharistic theology in these terms, see Cartledge, Encountering the Spirit.
50 Archer, “Nourishment for our Journey,” 82–88, argues that the sacrament should be placed within the Pentecostal via salutis, which is also missing from Johnson’s narrative.
51 It should be noted that the words of institution are often read as part of the Eucharist in Pentecostal settings, but clearly not all of the time. In this example, the words of institution are not read and are not understood as constituting the Lord’s Supper. But with Black, “Holy of Holies,” 79, it could be agreed that they should do so.
52 See Yong, The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh, 162–66, who draws on these concepts and understands the Lord’s Supper as a physical event, an occasion for healing, one of 'inter-subjective mutuality' with Christ, an act of ecclesial and social solidarity, a political and prophetic act as well as an eschatological one.
53 See Guest, Neoliberal Religion.
54 See, for example, Biddy’s appropriation of the Anglican tradition in the “Re-envisioning the Pentecostal Understanding of the Eucharist”.
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Mark J. Cartledge
Mark J. Cartledge, PhD, FRSA, is Principal of London School of Theology and Professor of Practical Theology. He is a minister in the Church of England, a practical theologian and a scholar of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity. His recent books include: (co-editor), Sisters, Mothers, Daughters: Pentecostal Perspectives on Violence Against Women (2022); The Holy Spirit and Public Life: Empowering Ecclesial Praxis (2022); and (co-editor), The Holy Spirit and the Reformation Legacy (2020). He is a past President of the Society for Pentecostal Studies and a co-editor of the Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies book series.