Prof Crawford Gribben, J. N. Darby as a Charismatic Theologian

Presented at the MWRC/Nazarene Theological College Seminar on 3 May 2023. Crawford Gribben is Professor of Early Modern British History, Queen's University Belfast. This presentation relates to his research as a Visiting Research Fellow of the MWRC. Here's a short abstract of the presentation:
J. N. Darby was not a cessationist. From the late 1820s, he developed an ecclesiology that depended upon gifts rather than office. In the 1840s, he led a division among the Plymouth Brethren in order to maintain the liberty of the Spirit in the worship of the congregation. From the 1850s, he developed a two-stage theory of Christian life, in which Spirit-baptism, deliverance from the law, and sealing were identified as distinctive experiences following upon regeneration, while arguing for the continuation of apostolic and prophetic ministry. This paper reconstructs Darby’s charismatic theology and suggest reasons why it was so quickly dropped from the dispensational premillennial theology that circulated after his death.