Charismatic Gifts In Early Christian Worship

The New Testament spiritual gifts-especially prophecy, tongues, and interpretation, along with healing-continued to manifest themselves in the life of the church up to and beyond the fourth century. Evidence in the literature from this period indicates that these gifts were respected among the "established" church leadership, referred to by important theologians, and practiced especially throughout the "underground" church. The question of spiritual gifts in worship has become a crucial issue as a result of the rise of the twentieth-century Pentecostal and charismatic movements. Prior to the twentieth century, most scholars and pastors relegated the spiritual gifts to the first century and explained them as witnesses to the supernatural character of Jesus' ministry. It was argued that the gifts ceased to be available to the church at the close of the apostolic age. Research into the writings of the first three centuries of the church demonstrate that this presupposition regarding t…