Judging the Movement of the ‘Spirit’

[Michie]

From Christianity Today back in 2021.

Ties in a bit with my post on judging the movement of the Spirit by whether it’s something “new” we’re experiencing.

The author is a Protestant, and so might be picked apart on historical consistency, but that doesn’t, in my mind, make his point any less sound:

It seems paradoxical to argue that orthodoxy—bounding by its nature—is a path to inquiry, creativity, and freedom. We usually think of freedom as the opposite. Yet church historian Jaroslav Pelikan observed that one of the characteristics of authentic orthodoxy is its acceptance of and dependence upon free and responsible inquiry.

In a 1966 address at Valparaiso University, Pelikan noted the fourth-century debate that resulted in the church’s articulation of the doctrine of the Trinity. “Without such inquiry, neither the Nicene Creed nor the theology of St. Athanasius would have been possible,” he explained. Orthodoxy invites examination and exploration because it expresses truth. “The orthodox tradition, then, has no reason to fear free and responsible inquiry,” he asserted. “It does have reason to fear sentimentality, trivialization, and indifference.”

The freedom that orthodoxy offers is a freedom of constraint. In contrast, our age is an age of unrestrained shouting. It is a modern reenactment of the unproductive project at Babel: voices on every side demanding our attention, allegiance, and action, often contradicting one another. Those who speak the rubric of freedom the loudest often employ such rhetoric to contradict the plain teaching of the Bible.

(And I would add – to force our participation as they work out their own issues.)


Continued below.

God is doing an old thing

From Christianity Today back in 2021. Ties in a bit with my post on judging the movement of the Spirit by whether it’s something “new” we’re experiencing. The author is a Pr…

amywelborn.wordpress.com

 

[mourningdove~]

The history of the Church is, in part, a history of discernment – discernment – of the presence and movement of the Holy Spirit at all levels of Church life – in the teaching Church, among the leadership, in lay life, trickling down, bubbling up.

After all, what does Paul say?

“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances (1 Thess 5:19).

And that’s the history of the Church. Continual, engaged, prayerful discernment of what is authentic and what is false: what to quench and what not to despise. People write books about it. They take classes about it. They pray about it. They listen, reflect and yes, judge. Discernment is not a simple checklist.

But what is not done, what doesn’t happen in Catholic history and sound practice, is dependence on blithe, unsupported assertions that if something is “new” it must be from the Spirit and especially if it’s knocking down something “old” it’s quite obviously from the Spirit.
The Spirit groans…

Discernment of the supernatural is very important, as not all spiritual activity is 'of God'.

Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (2 Cor. 11:14)

 

[mourningdove~]

Ignatius of Loyola offers Catholics some helpful guidelines for the discernment of spirits ...

Chapter Five: Discernment of Spirits—Part One

Whether you are making a guided Ignatian retreat or simply want to incorporate his spiritual lessons into your daily spiritual life, understanding some

mycatholic.life