The Holy Spirit (Eerdmans Guides to Theology) [Paperback]

F. LeRon Shults (Author), Andrea Hollingsworth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2008

This introductory text outlines the key movements and major figures in the historical unfolding of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, with special attention on the role of philosophical interpretation and spiritual transformation, showing how historical developments have shaped contemporary trends in pneumatology. Part 1 identifies key turning points and major thinkers who have shaped the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The authors trace the ways in which both spiritual experience (transformation) and philosophical and cultural categories (interpretation) have influenced the unfolding of pneumatological doctrine throughout Christian history. Part 2 offers an extensive annotated bibliography of important primary and secondary English-language resources for readers interested in diving more deeply into particular aspects of the doctrine or specific influential theologians in the history of pneumatology.

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About the Author

John Reumann (1927–2008) was Ministerium of Pennsylvania Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Greek at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He also authored the Anchor Yale Bible Commentary volume on Philippians. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 156 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (September 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802824641
• ISBN-13: 978-0802824646
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,205,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Professor of Theology and Philosophy at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway.

www.leronshults.typepad.com

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4.0 out of 5 stars Holy Spirit: An Annotated Bibliography, April 18, 2009

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This review is from: The Holy Spirit (Eerdmans Guides to Theology) (Paperback)

Rather than a developed examination of the theology of the Holy Spirit, this is much more of an Annotated Bibliography (about 175), and purposefully a "brief introduction" to the field to "help further the faithful study of Christian theology in our time."

The authors review the patristic, medieval and reformation interpretations of the Holy Spirit, and cover the filioque controversy. Then they cover protestant scholasticism and pietism, modern liberalism and fundamentalism, pentacostalism, the ecumenical movement, feminist and liberation theology, and other twentieth-century reconstructions.

Shults concludes with Transforming Pneumatology, in which he identifies three philosophical categories which "have had a particularly significant role in the formulations of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit throughout the history of the church: matter, person and force.

Matter is no longer considered arbitrarily separate from spirit. "Albert Einstein's recognition that 'matter' and 'energy' are transferable (E=mc squared) has made it possible for theorists in sciences of emergent complexity to conceptualize what has traditionally been called 'spirit' ... as in some sense a qualification of matter." (p. 90). Therefore theology must avoid collapsing into dualism (or diesm) and not "inadvertently collapse into monism (or pantheism) by simply conflating the concepts of Spirit and matter." (p. 94)

Person is no longer just an individual substance of a rational nature (Boethius), or just the intellect and will in the individual soul (Augustine). "Today, human personhood is understood as emerging within and mediated through the relationality of interpersonal and social systems. Neuroscientists have shown that rationality and emotion (which is embodied) are integrated in the human organism." (p. 91) Therefore theology must "avoid not only the modalist tendencies of psychological models of the Trinity, but also the tri-theistic leanings of some of the social trinitarian models." (p. 94)

Force is no longer the equivalent of mass times acceleration. "When mass and motion (velocity) were integrated within fields of energy (E=mc squared), this opened up new possibilities for conceptualizing the human experience of temporality and causation." (p. 92) Therefore theology must depict "the power of the divine Spirit in a way that escapes the constraints of early modern fatalism ... and voluntarism (an emphasis on the efficacy of the will, divine and human) without giving up on the idea of God as the absolute ground of all things." (p. 95)

If you need an annotated bibliography of theological and philosophical treatises on the Holy Spirit, and a brief history of the development of the theology of the Holy Spirit, then this book is for you.