SEMANTICS AND HOLINESS: A Study in Holiness-Texts' Functions
James Earl Massey Anderson College and Graduate School of Theology
My topic involves our language statements, which deal with the subject of Christian holiness. By "our language statements" I refer both to the New Testament writers and our Wesleyan holiness emphasis. To treat this subject from the perspective of semantics is but to use another methodological approach to our perennial task of interpreting the biblical text.
Holiness is both a subject and an experience, and with respect to both of these the New Testament tradition has a lot to say. Semantics helps us to see how the saying was done, the focus being upon the forms and logic of the language system used and how these functioned to express and provide meaning.
We are familiar with the syntactical approach to biblical interpretation, an approach in which we use grammars and lexicons as our tools to dig out meanings. The science of semantics offers an additional approach and another useful set of tools by which to interpret the texts.
Christian holiness is an experience of depth and ultimacy. The New Testament writers have used a dynamic religious language system in writing about their own experience of holiness; and the statements, expressions, and prescriptions used in their language system vividly reflect the experiential stance, thought-categories, and intentions of these writers with reference to that experience. When the sentence units within their language system are analyzed in terms of functions to be served, then the basic meanings within what they wrote tend to become quite clear.
Semantics has to do with this concern for clarity and understood meaning. The interrogation of sentence forms and the isolation and interpretation of sentence functions help us to discern meaning. This paper is based upon that method of approach in interpreting the function of New Testament holiness-texts.
The science of semantics is of a comparatively recent origin, but sufficient growth and development have occurred to make it a mature and valuable member within the family of sciences. Simply put, the science of semantics deals with the logic of language and explores the conditions under which language statements become meaningful. The work of semantics is language analysis, the exploration and classifying of sentence forms and functions, and testing the empirical basis for what is said and meant.'
There are many determinants at work in the use of a language: assumptions, attitudes, culture, experiences, perceptions, etc. When these determinants are considered for what they are, it is possible to see the way that they influence what is said, and to see as well how they condition what is meant. The use of "religious language" is also deeply influenced and conditioned by many determinants, the foremost being the religious situation or experience within which the speaking person is based or to which he stands related.
The new concern among philosophers about language analysis called the attention of the world to the "meaning" and "significance" of all language uses. The new emphasis was upon a more precise "placing" of words and phrases to insure a more precise function toward clear meanings. "Religious language" has also been explored and examined against the new criteria. Many philosophers (logical positivists and others) who tested religious language for its limits and functions differed in their final assessments of its validity and value, but the encounter has not been without value to the Church.2
Some philosophers who were more congenial to the Christian faith recognized in the new philosophical concern an important tool by which to render theological statements more precise; they also saw its value for studying the logic at work within the unique religious statements within the Bible. At the present time there are many studies available which deal with religious language as a specialized category, and essential treatments have been offered of the assumptions, terminology, logic, locus, essence, functions, and truthfulness (empirical placing) of such a language system.3 This new and prolonged look into the nature and function of religious language has been shared by a sizable number of investigators, including ethnologists, anthropologists, linguists, theologians, historians of religion, and even sociologists.4
II
I have referred to the dynamic religious language system of the New Testament writers, and I somewhat passingly categorized their treatment of Christian holiness under three function-headings: "statements," "expressions," and "prescriptions." It is in order now to treat these designations in more detail because this is crucial to the purpose of the paper.
Semanticists have pointed out that in uttering a sentence in our everyday use of language we do one or more of four things: (1) We make a statement-analytical terminology for asserting or affirming some fact; (2) We make an expression, an utterance in which emotion and impulse play a considerable role; (3) We speak prescriptives, directing that something should be done; (4) We utter performatives, saying something that creates a new state of affairs, like making a promise. (The very speaking of the promise is the act of creating the new situation, which is to say that a performative is a spoken action.) Meaning is intended through the use of any and all of these ways of speaking; performatives, however, are of a more critical nature since they have to do with speech-action in which meaning, emotion, and effect all go along hand in hand.
These categories of sentence-function provide us with an interesting measure for testing the function level of New Testament holiness-texts.6 Although I am drawing upon these descriptive categories from the current perspective of semantics, it should be mentioned, however, that the study of sentences by function-level and intention is not a new effort at all. Aristotle categorized sentences in this way long, long ago in his Poetics,7 although he outlined five categories rather than four. However ancient the categorizing might be, there is an evident history of its influence upon later cultures.8 With the current help we have for utilizing language theories and refining language uses, we have a meaningful tool for our research into the intended meanings of the New Testament message. We also possess a relevant method to help us pass on those meanings in our preaching, teaching, and theological work.
III
The number and functional forcefulness of the many New Testament holiness-texts impress me. In terms of sentence-functions, the "statements" and "prescriptives" are the most plentiful. This is characteristic not only of the holiness-texts but also of other teaching and hortatory themes, particularly in the Epistles, since these materials were addressed to evoke within readers a reaction-response of faith and commitment. The holiness-texts arebeing highlighted here, however, since the whole issue of the kerygma and the experience of salvation are toward righteousness and the fulfillment of the will of God in the holiness of obedient love.
It is instructive to watch the massive dependence of the writers upon the function of prescriptives in aiding this end; their usage of the imperative keeps us mindful of how the imperative and the indicative relate in the holiness experience.9 There are many implications to be seen in this epistolary constant for developing a theological ethic of holiness, as well as for a constructive psychology of Christian experience of holiness.
As a basic illustration of how plentiful the "statements" and "prescriptives" are within holiness-texts, consider the following instances drawn only from sentences using words based on the root HAG.'l Observe the sentence functions with care.
1 Beginning with the 27 appearances of hagiazo (meaning: to sanctify, consecrate, make holy), 4 are not applicable to our concern here (Matt. 6:9; 23:17, 19; Luke 11:2); 9 are statements (1 Cor. 6:11; 7:14; Eph. 5:26; 1 Tim. 4:5; 2 Tim. 2:21; Heb. 2:11; 9:13; 10:14; 13:12); 4 are expressions (John 17:17; Rom. 15:16; 1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Thess. 5:23); 6 are of a mixed character, showing either a double function as statement-expression (John 10:36; 17:19; Acts 20:32; Heb. 10:10, 29), or statement-prescription (Acts 26:18); while 2 are plainly prescriptive (1 Pet. 3:15; Rev. 22:11).
2 Continuing with the 10 textual appearances of hagiasmos (meaning: holiness, consecration, sanctification), 3 uses are in statements (Rom. 6:22; 1 Cor. 1:30; 1 Thess. 4:7); 2 are expressions (2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:2); 1 is of a mixed character, showing a statement-expression function (1 Tim. 2:15); while 4 of the texts are clearly prescriptive (Rom. 6:19; 1 Thess. 4:3, 4; Heb. 12: 14) .
3 There are only two instances where the word hagiotes (meaning: holiness) appears, and both instances are of a mixed character showing a blend of statement-expression functions (2 Cor. 1:12; Heb. 12:10).
4. There are three texts in which hagiosune (meaning: holiness) appears. One is a statement (Rom. 1:4),l2 one is an expression (1 Thess. 3:13), and one is prescriptiue (2 Cor. 7:1).
5. Hagneia (meaning: purity) appears in two places, and is used both times to denote a virtue. Both uses are prescriptive (1 Tim. 4:12; 5:2).
6. Hagnizo (meaning: to purify) is found in seven places: four instances of use are not applicable here because they reflect a purely cultic matter (see John 11:55; Acts 21:24, 26; 24:18); one use is clearly prescriptiue (Jas. 4:8); while two uses are of a mixed character, showing an expression-prescriptive function (1 Pet. 1:22; 1 John 3:3).
7. Eight holiness-texts use the word hagnos (meaning: pure, holy).l3 One of those texts is a statement (Jas. 3:17); one is of mixed function, statement-expression (2 Cor. 11:2); one is a clear expression (2 Cor. 7:11); and the other five uses are all prescriptiue (Phil. 4:8; 1 Tim. 5:22; Titus 2:5; 1 Pet. 3:2; 1 John 3:3).
8. Only two texts employ hagnotes (meaning: purity, sincerity), and in both cases we are dealing with expressions (2 Cor. 6:6; 11:3 [a doubtful reading]).
I do not intend to list here the many instances where the word hagios (meaning: holy) appears, since there would be hundreds of texts for which to account and to analyze. This would not better serve the point, which the given listings already show, namely, that the New Testament treatment of Christian holiness involves statements, expressions, and prescriptives that clearly organize our view about the life of man in the will of God, and they evoke a deep realization of call and demand within us. The New Testament statements about holiness make clear assertions and sponsor a claim that challenges. The New Testament expressions about holiness show great excitement about a life to which the witnesses were committed as real, valuable, engaging, and conclusive. The New Testament prescriptiues about holiness are unsparing in stress and demand, using imperatives with high warrant, strict realism, and decisive intent. Writing from the locus of a confirmed faith, and using language appropriate to the experience-as well as the understanding of their audience-the New Testament witnesses are seen to report, confess, exalt, proclaim, prescribe, invite, and challenge. The statements are often clearly doctrinal, the expressions convictional, and the prescriptives reflect both. In reading the holiness-texts from such a perspective one gains a new "feel" for the life that is being shared there.
IV
In speaking of "feel," there is one holiness-text with a functional force and "prescriptive power" which almost guarantee it for us by the way that text excites and expands the consciousness. I refer to Paul's prescriptive sentence in Eph. 5: 18: "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit."* The thrust of the picture is immediate. It opens up a conspicuously contagious psychology for the reader, inviting him to be "influenced" by God. Paul's use here of the imperative passive- plerousthe en Pneumati-makes his words injunctive and prescriptive, but the sentence-function also makes a promise.
Paul's choice of language opens a new situation for the reader. His prescriptive challenges an old pattern and illuminates the reader's new possibilities. There is a deep treasure of meaning in what Paul has said, and the sentence he used creates a "feel" for that meaning. His imperative is more than a demand; it is an opening for the reader into the will of God.
Historians and commentators have reminded us that in the early period of Church history life in the Spirit was understood as initiation into enlightenment and enthusiasm. The early Christians viewed life in the Spirit as entrance into a higher range of abilities and enablements, as movement into a new sphere of relations by which certain natural limitations, felt helplessness, and the sense of incompleteness could be overcome.
Rom. 8:26 certainly reflects this view. Although Paul's statement there that "the Spirit helps us in our weakness" only mentions prayer as an illustrative instance, we all "sense" that his stated fact about the ready help of the Spirit applies to a wider range of human needs.l4 When scriptural reference is being made to persons "full of" or "filled with the Spirit" the contexts usually show some action being accomplished by those persons which could not have been done otherwise.
The materials in Luke-Acts are especially illustrative of this. There we are shown men and women being helped in their astheneia, and they are thus able to utter prophetic speech (thereby interpreting some event or predicting one) or to give a public witness (thereby creating or handling some religious situation). The Luke-Acts materials abound with the descriptive phrase "full of," or "filled with the Spirit" (Luke 1:15, 41, 67; 4:1; and Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 6:3; 7:55; 9:17; 11:24; and 13:9); and in each instance of use the phrase is linked with a context where someone has been fitted by God for handling some task, speaking some needed word, or doing some strategic deed, and the whole notion is that of readiness to act by the help of God. According to Luke's somewhat strict usage, being "filled with the Spirit" is a discernment-disclosure expression. It is explanatory and descriptive. It tells how some person was aided to make some action take place.
Paul also used the expression, but he widened the framework within which it was first understood and made it into a prescriptiue: "Be filled with the Spirit." Luke wrote to report about events and how they occurred; thus his statements and expressions. Paul wrote to shape an event, to make something occur; thus his prescriptives and performatives. Understood in these Scripture quotations are in some instances the author's personal translations way, both the adjectival use by Luke and the imperative use by Paul of the description "filled" can be viewed in a way that frees us from any notion of quantity in connection with the meaning of the term.
Paul's prescriptive word "Be filled with the Spirit" functions as a challenge to hold a conscious relationship with God. He is encouraging the believer to receive the rich help offered by the Spirit. The point of the prescriptive is practical holiness, the enhancement of experience, the fulfillment of ethical demands, and being readied for service in the arena of human need. There is small wonder, then, that Paul could risk being misunderstood when he confessed his prayer that all the Ephesian members would be "filled with all the fullness of God" (3:19), using a problematic expression with which later generations of believers and scholars still wrestle.l5
There is some evidence that the question was raised in the Early Church about the extent or degree to which one could be "full of the Spirit." The question is implied in John 3:34, which states: "For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for it is not by measure that he gives the Spirit." Scholarly opinion is still divided over whether this is a saying of Jesus, or whether it is the summarized reflection of the Evangelist regarding Jesus,'5 but the point of the statement is clear: There was no limitation of the Spirit in the life of Jesus.
Perhaps the question about degrees of Spirit-relatedness was influenced by a current rabbinic teaching that the Holy Spirit was given sparingly even to the prophets, that He only "rested" on them-and in measured fashiond7 The New Testament writers do not give this question any direct treatment, but their descriptive phrase "filled with the Spirit" does witness to an understood relation with the Spirit. Using such a description they confessed and affirmed that there is indeed a dynamic relationship between the believer and the Spirit.
Appealing again to the Gospel of John, we find there some sayings from Jesus which promise that the Holy Spirit will give the believer enlightenment (14:25; 16:13-15) and sense of divine presence (14:16-17; 16:7-11). The theology in these sayings is the same as that reflected in Luke-Acts, as we have seen. Both Luke and John describe the work of the Spirit in the life of the believer as that of enlightenment, enablement, and a shared sense of divine presence.
In our time another question has been raised in the Church: whether the "filling" of the believer by the Spirit can be perceived by the believer as a felt experience. The way this question is answered usually marks the boundary between churches of the holiness tradition which are "Pentecostal" by description and those of that same tradition which are not. That boundary between the churches is mainly psycho-theological because there are very few substantial theological differences between them to block unity. The Arminian-Wesleyan tradition is the religious milieu in which both groups are rooted. The separate paths they follow are conditioned mainly by a difference of view regarding the nature, form, content, and outworking of "enthusiasm"- God-within by His Spirit8
While the world of our day continues to wrestle with the question about the existence or absence of God, the Church of our day is in a state of unrest as many believers stand puzzled over questions about the presence and manifestations of God. All of us know that there is an intensive search on among churchmen for "peak experience," that there is a widespread longing within the Church to experience that which motivates to optimism, joy, and depth belief. It is really a quest for "the touch of God,"'9 and to know that touch in a felt way. Charles R. Meyer has explained.
By peak experience we would mean that which is particularly striking and significant. It is the type of experience that we cannot easily forget because it is so unusual or different. Peak experiences are those which bring about notable changes in behavior, changes that are profound and lasting. From a peak experience a person might well develop a whole new outlook on life, a different or more meaningful philosophy.20
Our Wesleyan holiness tradition, following the witness of the New Testament, has always associated "the touch of God" with the working presence of the Holy Spirit. This interpretation is biblical and this emphasis is still needed.
The whole thrust of the New Testament witness is toward "peak experiences"-as man needs them and as God wills them. The fact is that Christian living is the result of the peak experience of conversion, and it is sustained and deepened when holiness, "the vision which transforms,''2l is given freedom to fulfill itself on every level of decision and realized intent. The fact is that those who let the vision fulfill itself do learn more and more about the presence of God, because through His Spirit within them God is realized as "manifested Presence."
This is the explanation behind the fruit of the Spirit in Christian holiness (see Gal. 5:22-23). Nor should it be overlooked that a felt experience is implied in connection with the realization of certain fruit: "joy" and "peace," for example, not to mention "self-control." These are by no means unrelated to our realized emotional states; they are certainly perceivable effects for which the ''filling Presence" is responsible. Full commitment can have an "overflow" effect. Conscious yielding of inner consent to God can occasion passionate joy. A will reinforced by the Spirit to live out the demands of the imperatives will learn the glory of the indicative and enjoy what R. R. Neibuhr called "the intimacy of believing."22 Openness to the Spirit releases one's moral energy and forbids that "bottled-up" self-containment that results in sin. Commitment centers the self, focuses identity, and gives a sense of being engaged. There are times when the believer might perceive a "filling" on the level of feeling. If so, then it is but the participatory work of the Holy Spirit to either ready or renew the believer. Even the body can share in some of His manifest effects.
The expression "filled with," widely used by Luke, is found in more contexts than those which link it with the Holy Spirit. Some verses describe persons filled with wisdom (Luke 2:40), or filled 'with wrath (4:28), or filled with awe (5:26); or fury (6:11); wonder (Acts 3:10), grace and power (Acts 6:8), deceit and villainy (Acts 13:10), or joy (Acts 13:52). In most of these instances we can recognize affective states of which the person is aware while being influenced by them. The person experiences himself as struck stirred, and shaped by the state. Being "filled with the Spirit" can also be an affective realization. Paul must have been aware of this wider possibility within his functional directive. Perhaps this is why he gave it along with the prohibition against being drunk!
The New Testament is filled with a language that holds power to effect a situation of "discernment-commitment," to use Ian T. Ramsey's phrase.23 For believers, the holiness-texts found there are especially crucial to this end. Those texts present an organized view by which Christian experience is to be ordered, measured, and fulfilled. Those holiness-texts show us an all-important "vision which transforms," and call us to an interaction with God through statements that are often "logically odd,"24 always morally gripping, admittedly unique, and with power to unmask.
I agree with Wayne E. Oates that "the Hebrew and Greek languages are at their bases structured, psychological points of view to those who look close enough."25 That is so; and as for the New Testament writers, their Greek usage became the vehicle for a dynamic witness concerning life in the Spirit. The syntactical approach is still basic for research study of their message. A semantical approach to the study of that witness both deepens the level of our reach and assures the gaining of results.
REFERENCE NOTES
1. For a treatment of this process, and some statement of the history behind its uses, see: Max Black, Language and Philosophy: Studies in Method (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1949); S. I. Hayakawa, ed., Language, Meaning and Maturity (New York: Harper, 1954); Stephen Ullmann, Language and Style: Collected Papers (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1964); Donald E. Hayden and E. Paul Alworth, eds., Classics in Semantics (New York: The Philosophical Library, 1965). The literature is quite vast.
2. For a brief overview of how the more critical approach posed a distinct problem to the position of religious thought, see John Macquarrie, Twentieth-Century Religious Thought (New York: Harper and Row, 1963), esp. pp. 301-17.
3. See especially: Ian T. Ramsey, Religious Language (New York: Macmillan Co., paperback edition, 1963); Anders Jeffner, The Study of Religious Language (London: SCM Press, Ltd., 1972); an earlier work is by Frederick Ferre, Language, Logic and God (New York: Harper, 1961).
4. See Thomas Fawcett, The Symbolic Language of Religion (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1971), a study that draws upon the work of many scholars in various fields of research; Thorlief Boman, Hebrew Thought Compared with Greek (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), ET from German by Jules Moreau; James Barr, The Semantics of Biblical Language (London: Oxford University Press, 1961); Eugene A. Nida, Toward a Science of Translating (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1964); Gerhard Ebeling, Introduction to a Theological Theory of Language (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1973), ET by R. A. Wilson from the German.
5. On these categorical descriptions, see Anders Jeffner, The Study of Religious Language, esp. pp. 11-12, 68-104. See also J. L. Austin, How to Do Things with Words, ed. J. O. Urmson (New York: Oxford University Press, Galaxy Book, 1965); John Wilson, Language and the Pursuit of Truth (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1960), esp. pp. 47-74.
6. By "holiness-texts" I refer to sentence units that utilize one or more of the words based upon the root HAG, and in addition occur in a context significantly related to the holiness concern (behavior, codes, experience, etc.).
7. See Aristotle The Poetics xix. 7, trans. W. Hamilton Fyfe ("Loeb Classical Library") (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960). See also I. Bywater, 0Aristotle on the Art of Poetry (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909), pp. 258f.
8. See E. a. Revell, "Aristotle and the Accents: The Categories of Speech in Jewish and Other Authors," Journal of Semitic Studies 19, no. 1 (spring, 1974):19-35.
9. There are several excellent discussions on the relation between the indicative and the imperative in the writings of Paul. See Rudolf Bultmann, The Theology of the New Testament, trans. Kendrick Grobel (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951), 1:332-33, 338-39; Robert C. Tannehill, Dying and Rising with Christ: A Study in Pauline Theology (Berlin: A. Toepelmann, 1967), esp. pp. 77-83; Victor Paul Furnish, Theology and Ethics in Paul (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1968), pp. 153-57, 224-27.
10. As both W. Curry Mavis, The Psychology of Christian Experience (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1963), and Mildred Bangs Wynkoop, A Theology of Loue: The Dynamic of Wesleyanism (Kansas City, Mo.: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1972), have certainly seen and explored, with Wesleyan emphases as their province of consideration.
11. These lists are based upon W. F. Moulton and A. S. Geden, eds., A Concordance of the Greek New Testament (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1963, rev. ed.), fourth revision by H. K. Moulton.
12. Taking kata pneuma hagiosunes as applying not to the Holy Spirit but rather to Jesus in His dedicated humanity which bore the quality of holiness. See W. Sanday and A. C. Headlam, The Epistle to the Romans, International Critical Commentary (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1906), p. 9.
13. Hagnos and hagios are synonymous. See Richard C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Truebner and Co., Ltd., 1890), pp. 331-34.
14. Ernst Kaesemann sees here a use of the oratio infusa motif by Paul. The technical concerns to be met in interpreting this verse are many indeed. See hisPerspectiues on Paul (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969), esp. pp. 127-37. ET from the German by Margaret Kohl.
15. On this, see: J. Armitage Robinson, St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians (London: James Clarke and Co., Ltd., n.d.), esp. pp. 87-88, 255-59; C. Leslie Mitten, The Epistle to the Ephesians (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1951), esp. pp. 95-97, 245; C. F. D. Moule, "'Fullness' and 'Fill' in the New Testament," Scottish Journal of Theology 4, no. 1 (March, 1951): 79-86. Markus Barth has explained, "It is not impossible-though convincing evidence is still missing-that the terms 'fullness' and 'fill' contain an allusion to some religious, pagan-syncretistic vocabulary and system" (The Broken Wall: A Study of the Epistle to the Ephesians [Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1959], p. 72; see also pp. 256-57).
16. On the question, see C. H. Dodd, The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1954), pp. 308-11; Raymond E. Brown, TheGospel According to John: Introduction, Translation, and Notes, The Anchor Bible (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Co., Inc., 1966), 1:159-60; George Johnston, The Spirit-Paraclete in the Gospel of John (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1970), pp. 13-14, 21; Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, New International Commentary (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971), p.243.
17. So Rabbi Acha (c. 320), in comments on Leviticus (Midrash Rabbah): "The Holy Spirit, who rests on the prophets, rests ~on them] only by weight (= by measure)." See Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrash (Muenchen: C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 1956), 2:431. J. H. Bernard cites another Talmudic saying on the same point, "The Spirit of God did not dwell upon the prophets nisi mensura (luadam, " but wondering if this form of the saying is original or reflects a Christian influence upon it. See Bernard, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. John, vol.1, ed. A. H. McNeile, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark 1928), p. 125. See also Brown, Gospel According to John, esp. pp. 158, 161-62, for additional comments on John 3:34. The wording of 3:34 could be reminiscent of Wisdom of Sirach 1:10, where the statement is made, "She [Wisdom] dwells with all flesh according to his gift . . .," i.e., in measured quantity.
18. I use this term enthusiasm despite the extreme disrepute in which some hold it. On the varied history it has had as a word, see Susie I. Tucker, Enthusiasm: A Study in Semantic Change (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1972).
For excellent studies regarding Pentecostals, see Gary Schwartz, Sect Ideologies and Social Status (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970), esp. pp. 137-81; W. J. Hollenweger, The Pentecostals: The Charismatic Mouement in the Churches (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1972), trans. from the German by R. A. Wilson. See esp. pp. 291-456.
19. See Charles R. Meyer, The Touch of God: A Theological Analysis of Religious Experience (Staten Island, N.Y.: Alba House, 1972).
20. Ibid., p. 63.
21. Title of a now classic study by George Allen Turner, The Vision Which Transforms (Kansas City, Mo.: Beacon Hill Press, 1964).
22. Richard R. Niebuhr, Experiential Religion (New York: Harper and Row,1972), p. 57.
23. Ramsey, Religious Language, see pp. 11-54.
24. Ibid., p. 106.
25. The Psychology of Religion (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, Publisher, 1973), p. 13.
