“I’m not really into the whole ‘charismatic thing.’” “It’s great for kids and teens, but I prefer a mature approach to spirituality.” “I used to be really into that stuff, but I have moved into a less emotional phase of my spiritual life.” “It seems kind of irreverent.” “Isn’t that for Protestants?” “It makes me uncomfortable.”
This litany of phrases comes from real-life conversations I have had with Catholics in the last five years. They refer to what is known as “charismatic spirituality” in the Church. I can’t help but mourn over what is missing in these comments. They reveal a black-and-white approach to charismatic spirituality that endangers the identity of the Catholic Church. Without the charismatic dimension, the Church stands in danger of becoming what C. S. Lewis called “men without chests.”
What logic lies at the root of this controversy? The issue lies in a fallacy that clouds the judgment of proponents of this view. This essay is written in response to that fallacy. It is not a condemnation of any specific group or any practical action. Rather, this essay addresses itself exclusively to a line of thinking, one which is fraught with misconceptions about what it really means to be charismatic. This line of thinking mistakenly assumes one can be Catholic but not charismatic.
The Fallacy of Equivocation
There is a glaring problem with the word “charismatic” that is often left unaddressed. The problem is that people often mean wildly different things by the term. In his Metaphysics, Aristotle traces the various ways in which words are defined. He demonstrates that words have multiple uses. If we do not attend to the various uses a word has, we risk equivocating our concepts. The fallacy of equivocation happens when a term in an argument is used to mean one thing at first, and then later on its definition is changed (often without being clear about this change). Equivocation assumes that just because a statement is true about a term when it’s operating under one definition, that same statement must be true about the term when it operates under an entirely different definition. For example, Steve may say that “bark” is beautiful, referring to the bark of a tree. Tony replies that he therefore should not be irritated when the neighbor’s dog keeps him awake all night by barking.
If we do not attend to the various uses a word has, we risk equivocating our concepts.
The danger of equivocation is that it leads us to overextend our praise or blame of something without warrant. We may think we have proven something when all we’ve done is misunderstand it. While some of our best puns and sitcom bits come from equivocation, it becomes quite serious when it leads us to condemn an entire way of worshipping God. For this is precisely the fallacy at the heart of the condemnation of charismatic spirituality.
The Equivocation of “Charismatic”
The conversation surrounding charismatic prayer in the Church has become muddied by the fallacy of equivocation. Thus, the first question we should ask when people voice criticism of charismatic spirituality is “What exactly do you mean by the term ‘charismatic’?” Based on the conversations I have had with people, they often mean one of four things:
- Emotion-based faith
- Spontaneous or expressive acts of prayer (raising hands, lying prostrate before the Blessed Sacrament, spontaneous verbal praise, etc.)
- The free use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (especially those that are particularly miraculous, such as speaking in tongues or prophecy)
- Contemporary worship music
Having laid out these four definitions, we must now ask if any of them actually belong to the definition of “charismatic.” If they do not, then by condemning them we have not condemned charismatic spirituality at all but only what we mistakenly think charismatic spirituality to be.1
What Is Charismatic Spirituality?
In a video from Ascension Press, Catholic speaker Jackie Angel defines charismatic spirituality by first explaining what it is not. She notes that being charismatic does not require that one attend high-energy faith rallies, listen to trending Catholic speakers, or jam out to praise and worship music. “Being a charismatic Catholic simply means embracing the charisms (or gifts) of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives gifts of faith, teaching, healing, wisdom, prophecy, the gift of tongues, and discernment of spirits, among others. . . . All of [these] are given to us to build up the Body of Christ in some way.” The term charismatic comes from the word “charism,” referring to a gift of the Holy Spirit. To be charismatic, therefore, means to live a charism-filled life, one in which a person is radically open to the Holy Spirit and the conferment of his gifts.
The Bible affirms that being open to the charisms is an essential part of Christian life and worship.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. (1 Cor 12:7–11)
Ever since the early days of the Church, the Holy Spirit has been at work through the charisms. For the followers of Christ, being inebriated by the Spirit was an essential part of Christian maturity. This is seen in Mary’s conception of the Lord (Luke 1:35). It can also be seen in Elizabeth’s prophecy during the visitation (Luke 1:41). Luke describes both of these women as being spontaneously “filled with” or “overshadowed by” the Holy Spirit. When this happens, miracles occur.
But were the annunciation and the visitation only special instances of grace, not to be taken as the norm for Christian living? The book of Acts replies in the negative. In Acts, we see that the birth of the Church was rooted in radical openness to the Spirit. When the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in tongues of fire, he enabled them to speak in foreign tongues, to prophesy, and to preach with power. This was the promise of the Father that Jesus told his disciples to wait for.2 The coming of the Holy Spirit enabled them to go out into the world, proclaiming the good news of Christ. Nor was life in the Spirit only for the first apostles.
While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:1–6)
The Holy Spirit is given to all believers in the New Testament, those actively engaged in evangelization as well as those receiving its fruits. This is what it really means to be charismatic.
Emotion-Based Faith
Under this view, it becomes clear that the first interpretation on our list above (which associates charismatic spirituality with emotion-based faith) is simply inaccurate. There is nothing inherently emotional about being open to God’s Spirit. Emotions may accompany the conferral of the Spirit, or they may not. However, they are not an essential part of what it means to be charismatic because emotions need not be present in order for the Holy Spirit to give his gifts.3
Spontaneous acts of prayer
Moving to the second interpretation, which identifies charismatic spirituality with spontaneous acts of prayer, our answer is similar to the first response. Spontaneous acts of prayer are often associated with charismatic spirituality for good reason. Radical openness to the Spirit involves moving beyond the (good and beautiful) structures of rote prayer and speaking to God directly from our hearts.4 However, God’s Spirit works with our individuality, not against it. God may not be asking you to dance naked before the ark of the covenant. He may not be asking you to break out in tongues like the apostles. He might not be asking you to fall prostrate on your face in adoration or raise your hands during a song of praise. But he is asking you to be open to whatever way he moves you in prayer. Charismatic spirituality does not have to look a certain way, but it is always marked by abandonment and love.
using gifts of the Holy Spirit
What about the third definition, which says that charismatic spirituality is all about using the gifts of the Spirit? Charismatic spirituality does essentially involve openness to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. To anyone who objects to this, we could rightly ask: If we object to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, is it not simply Christian spirituality in general that we are objecting to? How can we want the Spirit but not his gifts? If one reads the book of Acts, it becomes difficult to reasonably condemn the charisms, especially in evangelization. The gifts of the Spirit are meant to be used with prudence, maturity, and proper formation, like any gift. But they are meant to be used. This is why Jesus gave us a Church to guide, form, and foster the use of the gifts in accord with the mission of the Church. Any spiritual movement that calls itself charismatic but is not rooted in obedience and unity with the Church is acting apart from God, not for him.
Contemporary worship music
The last definition, which assumes that charismatic spirituality and contemporary worship music are synonymous, is the easiest to refute. This objection often comes from those who have had very singular experiences within charismatic communities that use praise and worship music as a way of fostering an encounter with God. These people often walk away from these communities with the impression that the musical genre is synonymous with the spirituality. In short, it is not. The musical genre is secondary to the disposition. One can be equally moved by the Holy Spirit to chant as well as to a guitar.5
The Holy Spirit is given to all believers in the New Testament, those actively engaged in evangelization as well as those receiving its fruits.
To be charismatic means nothing more than to be open to the promise of the Father, the promise that he planned to pour into the hearts of his children from all eternity. If you ask anyone who is sincerely devoted to charismatic spirituality in accord with the Church, they will tell you that the term “charismatic” does not refer to a particular moment in history, a personality preference, or a music genre. It refers to a spiritual disposition that opens one up to the fullness of life in Christ.
During his pontificate, Pope St. John Paul II called the Catholic Charismatic Renewal “a particular gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church.” He believed it could “help foster the growth of a solid spiritual life based on the Holy Spirit’s power at work in the Church.” The pope’s words encourage us to take another look at the term charismatic. They show us, along with Scripture, that charismatic spirituality is neither new nor merely modern. It expresses a return to the primary identity that God established for his Church from day one, as Pope St. John Paul II noted: “If we have been able to know Christ, it is because he has made himself known to us by giving us his Spirit.” Charismatic spirituality is exactly what the Church needs today. It is time for Christians to unite under the label of charismatic spirituality, to cast off inaccurate interpretations, and to embrace the fullness of the Spirit’s power in the Church. By living as charismatic Catholics, we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us to “bring the graces of Pentecost to all people.”
1 It is important to note that the question of whether these four things constitute the essential definition of “charismatic” is different from the question of whether these four things are acceptable in the life of the Christian. This essay is concerned with the former question, not the latter.
2 Luke 24:48–49: “You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
3 It should be noted, however, that emotions often do accompany the conferral of the Spirit. The presence of emotions is not, by itself, proof that charismatic spirituality is inherently emotional, nor does it provide sufficient reason to condemn it. In the Summa theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas writes about the relationship between emotions and virtue, saying when the act of reason chooses to stir up the emotions in alignment with the good, then emotion is actually a sign of greater virtue (ST 1-2.24.3).
4 “Moving beyond” does not mean leaving behind. Rote prayers will always be a rich part of our Catholic faith.
5 That being said, there is a good reason why contemporary praise and worship music has proven to be effective at fostering a personal encounter with God. Contemporary praise and worship music breaks down the walls of formality and invites the Holy Spirit immediately into hearts. It opens one up to surrender and self-abandonment. Contemporary worship music is intensely personal, as God is intensely personal.