By Peter Hocken
Eagle. £8.99. 276 pages
ISBN 0 86347 191 9
If you only read books you agree with, coming from a theological stable with which you are at home and confident, then I suspect you will want to avoid this one like the plague. The very constituency from which it comes will raise negative feelings in many, and the subject which it endeavours to deal with raises the hackles of others, for the author, Peter Hocken, is a Roman Catholic priest, both charismatic and overtly ecumenical, and that should be enough to be going on with. But 'go on' with it I suggest we must, not to agree necessarily, but to be informed and challenged by what this man has to say.
It is Peter Hocken's thesis and desire that the historic churches (mainly seen as the Roman Catholic and Orthodox!) should build bridges towards the evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic churches but, nevertheless, says the foreword writer: 'He seeks an authentic reconciliation without compromising his beliefs as an orthodox priest', and something of the work of the Holy Spirit in the various streams of churchmanship. It might be felt that such an author has very little to say about the strategy of the Spirit, and it is encouraging to see the question mark in the title!
