Christianity: Details about 'Hank Hanegraaff'
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Hendrik "Hank" Hanegraaff is an American author, radio talk-show host and advocate of evangelical Christianity. He is an outspoken figure within the Christian countercult movement where he has established a reputation for his criticisms of non-Christian religions, new religious movements or cults, doctrinal questions, and general Christian apologetics issues. He was born in the Netherlands and raised in the United States since childhood. He is married with nine children.
CareerPrior to Hanegraaff becoming a leading figure in the Christian countercult movement, he was closely affiliated with the ministry of D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Presbyterian church in Florida. During his association with Kennedy in the 1980s, Hanegraaff applied memory-based techniques (such as acrostic mnemonics) to summarise strategies, methods and techniques in Christian evangelism. His work bears striking resemblences to memory dynamics techniques developed in speed-reading courses and in memory training programs used in some executive business courses. During the late 1980s Hanegraaff became associated with Walter Martin (1928-1989) at the Christian Research Institute (CRI). , which was founded by Martin in 1960, became widely acknowledged in conservative Protestant churches as an important bureau of information on apologetics and cults. After Martin's death from heart failure in June 1989, Hanegraaff became president of CRI. As part of his role as ministry president, Hanegraaff assumed the role from Martin of anchorman on the radio program . Hanegraaff also became a conference speaker and itinerant preacher in churches, pursuing the general ministry charter of CRI. In the early 1990s Hanegraaff came to international notoriety for his strong criticisms of the Word Faith teachings of Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn and other prominent Pentecostal and charismatic televangelists. Hanegraaff faulted these teachers on the grounds that they misunderstood various Christian doctrines, particularly on the Trinity and deity and humanity of Jesus of Nazareth. Hanegraaff argued that these teachers exhibited a strong tendency to rely heavily on visions and other experiential phenomena and failed to test these phenomena by the Bible. His argument is presented in the best-selling book Christianity in Crisis (1993). Hanegraaff subsequently revisited some of these same critical issues in his 1997 book Counterfeit Revival, where he rejected the claims of many Pentecostal and charismatic teachers such as Rodney Howard Browne concerning what became known as the Toronto Blessing. The Toronto Blessing was associated with the Vineyard church located at Toronto airport, and was identified by spontaneous and sustained outbursts of bodily phenomena such as laughing, crying, animal noises, and dancing. The proponents of this blessing believed this was a special time of refreshing bestowed on churches by the Holy Spirit. A different set of phenomena and claims subsequently emanated from churches in Pensacola, Florida and became known as the Pensacola Revival. These claims were rejected by Hanegraaff as incompatible with the Bible and Evangelical doctrines. Aside from these debates, Hanegraaff has been noted for his friendly dialogues in the early 1990s with the leaders of the Worldwide Church of God. This church, which was established in the 1930s by Herbert W. Armstrong, was long regarded by Evangelicals as a cult because of its non-orthodox doctrine of God, its promulgation of the British-Israel dogma, and predictions for the world's end. After Armstrong's death, several leaders began voicing concerns about their founder's teachings. This internal review of doctrine led to a number of reforms, such as renouncing the British-Israel dogma. As internal discussions about the Trinity ensued, leaders such as Joseph Tkach senior, Joseph Tkach junior, and Greg Albrecht began to dialogue with various Evangelical apologists such as Ruth Tucker and Hanegraaff. The end-result of these dialogues was that the Worldwide Church of God repudiated its founder's non-orthodox doctrines, and was accepted into the Evangelical fold as an orthodox church. Hanegraaff has also pursued various Christian apologetic issues such as defending the historicity of the resurrection of Christ, and rejecting Darwinian theory of evolution in favour of creationism. On his radio program he often claims that Christ's suffering in death was greater than that of any other human being in history, which has little basis in scripture. Critics point out that Christ only endured six hours on the cross, when the execution typically lasted for several days. Hanegraaff is noted for his belief that Biblical inerrancy can be proven on a rational basis. Hanegraaff has also been an outspoken opponent of what he describes as pseudo-Christian cults, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons. In recent times he has co-authored two novels. In April, 2005, CRI announced that it was relocating to Charlotte, North Carolina, where Hanegraaff now lives. The reason given for this decision was based on lower operating costs. ControversiesHanegraaff has been a figure of controversy since he assumed the presidency of CRI. A significant number of staff who worked under Martin have quit CRI for a variety of reasons. In the early 1990s about 30 former staff formed a lobby-support network known as the Group for CRI Accountability, which tried to meet with Hanegraaff in the spirit of Matthew 18. Hanegraaff refused to meet, instead allowing his lawyer to send threatening letters to the group. Those involved in this network leveled a number of claims against Hanegraaff's administration of CRI, alleging misuse of funds and plagiarism in his books. In the mid 1990s a wrongful dismissal law suit by an ex-CRI staff worker was settled out of court. During the twenty-first century the Evangelical periodical Christianity Today has carried news items concerning allegations about CRI's management, and of a looming law suit against a Christian critic of the ministry. At least one accountant at CRI attempted to confront Hannegraaff, alleging repeated wrongful use of ministry funds for personal use. Hanegraaff again refused to meet with his accusers, but terminated the accountant. The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability temporarily removed CRI from their lists, but later reinstated CRI without public comment. Martin's widow, Darlene Nesland Martin and eldest daughter Jill Martin-Rische, have made public calls for Hanegraaff's removal from CRI. Martin's daughter and son-in-law run a ministry that perpetuates Martin's ministry known as Walter Martin's Religious Information Network. The public nature of this dispute between Hanegraaff and Martin's family was reported in April 2000 in the Los Angeles Times (see below "Other Relevant Sources"), and is evidenced by the fact that in 1997 Hanegraaff was general editor of a posthumous edition of Martin's book, The Kingdom of the Cults. However, in 2003 an entirely different edition of the book was released that had Ravi Zacharias as general editor with editorial supervision from Jill Martin-Rische. Hanegraaff has many detractors in the Christian countercult movement who cite the undocumented takeover of presidency of CRI and the change in direction of the ministry. However, Hanegraaf is also supported by others. Bibliography of Hanegraaff's Writings
Other Relevant Sources
See alsoChristian countercult movement Hank Hanegraaff |
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