Book Review: Rediscovering our Spiritual Gifts

Information about the book

Rediscovering our Spiritual Gifts; Building up the Body of Christ through the Gifts of the Spirit by Charles V. Bryant.  Upper Room Books, Nashville.  1991.  (Cokesbury link)

Summary

The book identifies 30 spiritual gifts and shows their value for the church (per Cokesbury).  The author states, "In this book, I propose ____ study of the extraordinary powers God gives people who receive the Holy Spirit."  He explores what spiritual gifts are and what they are not.  He provides an in depth look at 32 spiritual gifts and how they are used to build up the church.  The book ends with an assessment to discover what the reader's gifts.  For those interested in using this book as a resource for group study, John I. Penn offers Rediscovering our Spiritual Gifts Workbook as a companion piece (Cokesbury Link).  I think studying the book in a group would help alleviate some of the concerns I list in the Impressions section of my post.  (Note: I do not have and have not read the Workbook)

Impressions

I appreciated the beginning chapters of the book more than the litany of spiritual gifts.  I found that there were times when I did not agree with the author.  His statements sometimes seemed black and white or difficult to support.  For example the idea that we receive spiritual gifts when we receive the Holy Spirit (and only then) and that the gifts never change seems to limit God's action.  If spiritual gifts are gifts of grace from God, then why would we assume that God can't give a new one later if it serves God's purposes?  The idea glosses over the thought that we may not be in a situation presently  that requires a particular gift - it's not disobedient to not be using a particular gift right now.  Also, some of the characters he lists that people demonstrate who have a particular gift seem too narrow.  Do people with the gift of leadership ALWAYS step up to lead? Do people with the gift of hospitality ALWAYS prefer short term relationships?  Most of the gift descriptions contain these types of statements.  I may be sharing my reaction to the writing rather than the author's intention, however.

I do appreciate the definitions of each gift and the exploration of the word origins for each.  Very helpful.  Also, as I mentioned, the first few chapters were very good, and I appreciated his insights.

If there are any other posts on my blog that refer to this book, they can be found at this link.