Not surprisingly, the news and social media commentary about the Asbury Revival has been all over the place. Over the weekend, I shared some texts with my good friend Sean Palmer, observing that how you see the Asbury Revival will depend a great deal upon your epistemological assumptions. Revivals are either social psychological phenomena, or outpourings of the Holy Spirit. Your view is either enchanted or disenchanted.
Beyond epistemology, there's also your degree of cynicism about church and evangelicalism. Some of us look upon revivals with hurt, jaded, or suspicious perspectives.
But the initial fruits of the Asbury Revival have been, to many observers, both happy and healthy. The revival hasn't been bombastic or filled with dramatic faith healings. Nor are there charismatic leaders running the show or dominating the stage. The Asbury Revival has simply been young people engaged in continual prayer and praise. What many people have seen at Asbury are young people longing for God. And that is a very hopeful thing.
I bring up the Asbury Revival to return to a point I make in Hunting Magic Eels.
Much of Hunting Magic Eels can feel "Catholic," as it recommends a variety of things by way of re-enchantment from the liturgical, contemplative, and Celtic streams of the Christian tradition. And yet, I also devote a chapter in the book to "Charismatic Enchantments." In that chapter I point to the power of contemporary praise music and the role of emotions in our journey toward re-enchantment, along with an open posture of receptivity to the work of the Holy Spirit. This is the enchantment we've observed at the Asbury Revival.
Many readers of Hunting Magic Eels didn't like my chapter on Charismatic enchantments, having had some bad experiences with Pentecostalism and the Prosperity Gospel. But I think the Asbury Revival has shown some of the good fruit that can come from charismatic expressions of faith as routes toward re-enchantment.
Even in this jaded, cynical, and skeptical world, the Holy Spirit still blows where she wills.
