Ernest Tatham

Charles Ernest Tatham (1905 – 14 August 1997^[1][2]) was a Canadian theologian and missionary.

Early life

Tatham was born in Ontario in 1905. He was the son of Charles Goodeve Tatham (1854-1918).^[3] He earned a B.A. degree in Theology from Toronto Bible College^[4]

Career

Tatham is best remembered as a co-founder of Emmaus Bible College in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1941, along with R.E. Harlow and John Smart. Some of the correspondence courses he wrote remain part of the curriculum to this very day.^[5]

In 1959, Tatham also founded Kingsway Academy, a Christian school in Nassau, Bahamas.^[6] In 1970, he was a founding board member of another Christian school; The King's Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida.^[7]

He planted nine Open Brethren churches throughout Canada and the United States.^[8]

Literary career

Tatham was a prolific author over a period spanning nearly sixty years. In addition to course materials for Emmaus Bible College, he wrote a number of books for the wider public. Among these were Daniel Speaks Today, Forever Secure: Now and Hereafter, Waiting for the Sunrise, Food for New Believers, and Let the Tide Come In! ^[9]

The Charismatic Movement

For most of his life, Tatham was a strict cessationist. Like most of his fellow-Brethren, he believed that the so-called sign gifts (miracles, divine healing, and speaking in tongues) were given only to the early church, for the purpose of authenticating the apostles, and "ceased" with the apostles' deaths. He argued for this view in the Emmaus course on the Holy Spirit, which he authored in 1942.^[10] He revised his views in the 1970s, however, and in his 1976 book Let the Tide Come In!, he embraced continualism (the view that all spiritual gifts are operating today) and said that his earlier support for cessationism had been mistaken. He never endorsed the organized Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, however. He continued to oppose the doctrine of subsequence; he came to believe in the validity of speaking in tongues, but never endorsed the Pentecostal doctrine that it marks a post-conversion Baptism in the Holy Spirit.^[11] Indeed, he addressed his book "to all who want God's gifts, but are unable to accept mainstream Charismatic theology." ^[12] Although the Third Wave movement as such did not exist at the time, the views he expressed were later adopted by large sections of it.

Personal life

Tatham was the father of Bible teacher Grace Kemp and of Dave Tatham, Paul Tatham, and Ruth Nottage, all of whom assisted in the running of The Kingsway Academy in Nassau. Tatham had four grandchildren through Grace, all born in Nassau.^[13]

References