"Strange Fire": Can the Church Be both Evangelical and Charismatic?

"Strange Fire," like the author's earlier book, "Filled with the Spirit," stems from the author's personal experiences in the last several years of involvement in ministry in both Evangelical and Charismatic/Pentecostal churches (sometimes simultaneously) and addresses the divide between the two camps on the work of the Spirit in the church. It is not a question of "either/or" but "both/and." Much in the two books overlaps, but there is different material in each volume. "Filled with the Spirit" contains a ninety-five page dialogue between "Praise" and "Exposition" in which the two characters battle it out over a wide range of issues; in addition, it contains more exegetical and historical material supporting the Charismatic position. "Strange Fire" contains the author's paper, "North American Perspectives on Spirit-Filling: Some Distinctive Views and their Relationship to Pentecostalism," presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies in Lakeland Florida. The paper deals with Dispensational, Reformed, and dissenting Pentecostals' views of the Spirit's work. This book also contains an extensive discussion of providence and charismata in Chapter Nine, "Overcoming Charismania: A Thankful Heart Meditates on the Providence of God." Both books are necessary to get the full scope of the author's views.