Mark Cartledge's book is a short introduction to the influence of the charismatic tradition throughout Christianity but particularly focusing on 'encountering the Spirit' today. He gives us a lightning speed tour of the history of the gifts of the spirit over the past two thousand years, from St Augustine and Hildegard of Bingen to John Wesley and John Wimber; I would have appreciated more detail in this section as I wasn't always sure that the charismatic gifts these people discussed would be familiar to us today. The author then looks in more depth at the four main strands of the charismatic movement - praise and worship, inspired speech, the sanctified life and empowered kingdom witness. These are very helpful chapters which place the charismatic tradition within its historical and geographical contexts, focusing mainly on the UK but with some reference to the USA and other worldwide churches. He finishes with a discussion on interpretation of the sacred texts by charismatics with reference to two main strands within this. The book has a helpful notes section and a select bibliography and would be a good starting point for further reading.