Review date: 2002
Reviewed in: PNEUMA
Reviewed by: John R Belcher
The book by Max Turner is very different from Leach's [R1]. Whereas Leach writes a how-to book on prayer, Turner, in the course of five chapters, guides the reader through a Pentecostal understanding of both the belief in and the practice of Spirit-baptism. As a Pentecostal, I found Turner's book interesting, well written, and exhaustive within a fairly short book. Turner's book did leave me confused as to the purpose of the series. Whereas Leach's book is general enough to be understood by a large variety of Christians, Turner's book would exhaust most non-Pentecostal readers.
Turner begins by pointing out that his book is important to Pentecostals, evangelicals, or "to those with a more sacramental spirituality" (p3). Next he examines some of the modern understandings of Spirit baptism. Then he discusses the classical Pentecostal interpretation, critically examines the classical Pentecostal view and offers modifications, and ends with "theological and pastorla conclusions, addressing the questions at the contemporary church role" (p3). Turner's analysis is thorough, particularly his examination of assessments of the Pentecostal interpretation fo Luke-Acts. For people familiar with Turner's other works, he does not hold to the classical Pentecostal interpretation, and maintains that Pentecostal interpreters err when they assume that Acts 1:8 can be applied universally. He points out what he believes to be the proper interpretation of Luke and discusses Dunn's work. Turner does agree with some points argued by Pentecostals, such as the completeness of the Samaritan's conversion. The average reader, however, could easily become overwhelmed by page 13, where Turner begins to go into great detail about the concept of Spirit baptism and the Pentecostal interpretation and experience of it. While Turner correctly concludes that Pentecostalism has been a "massie force for renewal in the church" (p24), the average layperson has most likely benefited from the experience of the Holy Spirit far more than from the proper interpretation of it.