Editing Higher Life movement (section)

==Theology==
The main idea in the '''Keswickian theology''' of the Higher Life movement (also known as ''deeper Christian life'') is that the [[Christians|Christian]] should move on from his initial [[Conversion to Christianity|conversion experience]] to also experience a [[Second work of grace|second work]] of God in his life.<ref> Ed Hindson, Dan Mitchell, ''The Popular Encyclopedia of Church History'', Harvest House Publishers, USA, 2013, p. 203</ref> This work of God is called "[[entire sanctification]]," "the [[second blessing]],” “the second touch," "being filled with the Holy Spirit," and various other terms. Believers are encouraged to "let go and let God" in order to receive this.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dillehay |first1=Justin |title=Why You Should Let Go of 'Let Go and Let God' |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/no-quick-fix-higher-life-theology-naselli/ |publisher=[[The Gospel Coalition]] |access-date=8 April 2023 |date=1 December 2017}}</ref> Higher Life teachers promote the idea that Christians who receive this blessing from God can live a more holy—that is, a less sinful, or even a sinless—life. The Keswick approach seeks to provide a mediating and biblically balanced solution to the problem of subnormal Christian experience. The “official” teaching has been that every believer in this life is left with the natural proclivity to sin and will do so without the countervailing influence of the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]].

With the rise of the Higher Life movement, [[Christian denominations]] largely accepting a form of Keswickian theology with unique distinctives, such as the [[Christian and Missionary Alliance]], were founded.<ref name="Knight2010">{{cite book |last1=Knight III |first1=Henry H. |title=From Aldersgate to Azusa Street: Wesleyan, Holiness, and Pentecostal Visions of the New Creation |date=11 August 2010 |publisher=[[Wipf and Stock Publishers]] |isbn=978-1-63087-656-2 |page=365|quote=Not included on this chart are denominations that emerged out of the Keswick wing of the Holiness movement. The most significant of these is the Christian and Missionary Alliance. |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Wu2012">{{cite book |last1=Wu |first1=Dongsheng John |title=Understanding Watchman Nee: Spirituality, Knowledge, and Formation |date=1 April 2012 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-63087-573-2 |page=58 |language=en|quote=D. D. Bundy notes that A. B. Simpson (1843–1919)—Presbyterian founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance—who never accepted the Wesleyan doctrine of eradication of sin, accepted the Keswickian understanding of sanctification.}}</ref><ref name="BurgessMaas2010">{{cite book |last1=Burgess |first1=Stanley M. |last2=Maas |first2=Eduard M. van der |title=The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements: Revised and Expanded Edition |date=3 August 2010 |publisher=Zondervan |isbn=978-0-310-87335-8 |language=English |quote=A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA), influenced by A.J. Gordon and W.E. Boardman, adopted a Keswickian understanding of sanctification.}}</ref><ref name="KnightIII">{{cite book |last1=III |first1=Henry H. Knight |title=Anticipating Heaven Below: Optimism of Grace from Wesley to the Pentecostals |date=1 February 2014 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-63087-125-3 |pages=91–92  |language=en |quote=It is the other christological strand, that of the indwelling Christ, that is the heart of the distinctive sanctification theology of A. B. Simpson. A Presbyterian who ultimately founded the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Simpson operates within a Keswick framework while also drawing upon Wesleyan ideals. Like Wesley, Simpson described sin as in the motive or intent of the heart most especially lack of love for God and neighbour. While he agrees with Keswick that we can't ever be freed from this sinful nature in this life, he insisted, as Van De Walle puts it, "the power of the resurrected Christ would more than enable the believer to consider the sin nature a vanquished foe and to behave as though it were.}}</ref><ref name="Kenyon2019">{{cite book |last1=Kenyon |first1=Howard N. |title=Ethics in the Age of the Spirit: Race, Women, War, and the Assemblies of God |date=29 October 2019 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-4982-8522-3 |language=English |quote=Much of the Keswickian influence came through A.B. Simpson's Christian and Missionary Alliance, itself an ecumenical missionary movement}}</ref> The Keswickian view of sanctification became normative in "American Evangelicalism of a more Calvinistic bent ... except confessional Reformed and Lutheran".<ref name="Sawyer2004"/>