1 / 39

TRAJECTORIES OF THE SPIRIT

This article explores the role of the Holy Spirit in Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Pentecostal traditions, examining themes such as salvation, the church, and spirituality. Discover how different Christian denominations understand and experience the Spirit's work in their theological frameworks.

Download Presentation

TRAJECTORIES OF THE SPIRIT

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. TRAJECTORIES OF THE SPIRIT Conciliar - includes environment, justice, creation - the Spirit that creates! (WCC, Mainline Churches) Evangelical - believers Pentecostal - narrow, empowerment, missions, Baptism of the Holy Spirit

  2. Trajectories of the Spirit The Spirit in the Eastern Orthodox* “Spirit-Sensitive” Theology “Eastern Orthodox theology draws heavily from the early sources, namely the writings of the church fathers of the East.” “EO theology is heavily imbued by pneumatology; Western theology in the main is built on Christological concepts rather than on pneumatological ones.” “The Eastern Church teaches that what is common to the Father and the Son is the divinity that the Holy Spirit communicates to humans within the church, in making them partakers of the divine nature.” *From Kärkkäinen, Pneumatology, 2002:67-68

  3. Trajectories of the Spirit The Spirit in the Eastern Orthodox* The Spirit and Salvation “The role of the Holy Spirit in Eastern soteriology is highlighted by the ultimate goal of salvation. “The immediate aim of redemption is salvation from sin, but salvation will have its ultimate realization in the age to come in our union with God, the deification of the created beings whom Christ ransomed. *From Kärkkäinen, Pneumatology, 2002:70

  4. Trajectories of the Spirit The Spirit in the Eastern Orthodox* The Spirit and the Church “The church is founded on a two-fold divine economy: the work of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.” “Eastern theologians speak about the church as the body of Christ and the fullness of the Holy Spirit.” *From Kärkkäinen, Pneumatology, 2002:71

  5. Trajectories of the Spirit The Spirit in the Roman Catholic Tradition* Earlier Catholic Pneumatology “Christ is the Head and the Holy Spirit is the soul of the church” (Leo XIII, 1897). Negative: It makes the church and its structures absolute, divine in their origin, while the only task of the Spirit is to “animate” the already existing ecclesiastical apparatus. *From Kärkkäinen, Pneumatology, 2002:73

  6. The Spirit in the Roman Catholic Tradition* The Pneumatology of Vatican Council II “The pages of the council documents contain 258 references to the Holy Spirit. And since the council the popes have urged theologians and lay people alike to revive their interest in the Spirit.” “Several Vatican II documents (especially Lumen Gentium) established the existence and contribution of charisms under the supervision of the shepherds of the church. “Vatican II emphasized repeatedly the Spirit’s sovereign freedom in dispensing the charisms.” The prominent role of the Spirit in sacred liturgy. “Since the liturgy is the ‘summit’ and source of the church’s life, believers can grow most deeply in the life of the Spirit precisely through sacramental celebrations.“ *From Kärkkäinen, Pneumatology, 2002:74-75

  7. The Spirit in the Lutheran Tradition* The Context of Luther’s View of the Spirit “The Spirit is not the focus in Luther’s writings; he focuses instead on Christ and the Trinity. He did not write a separate study on pneumatology but his his study of the Holy Spirit is part of his theological corpus, which includes more than twenty Pentecost day sermons. The Spirit in the Trinity Followed the theology of Augustine which made a distinction between the Holy Spirit as persona, “person,” and donum, “gift.” Luther said “So we distinguish the Holy Spirit as God in his divine nature and essence from the Holy Spirit as he is given to us.”

  8. The Spirit in the Lutheran Tradition* The Spirit and Salvation “It is through the Spirit of Christ that salvatory gifts are mediated. Participation in God is possible only through the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of adoption.” “There is not justification by faith without the Holy Spirit. Justifying faith is itself the experience that the love of God has been poured into our hearts ‘through the Holy Spirit’ (Rom. 5:5).

  9. The Spirit in the Ecumenical Movement* The Ecumenical Potential of Pneumatology “Pneumatology offers the divided Christian communities a new meeting place for dialogue.” “The rules of ecumenical theology must be “biblically rooted, ecclesially responsible, open to criticism, and sensitive to the present leading of the Holy Spirit.” “The study of the Holy Spirit offers an eschatological hope to be experienced and realized now.” WCC Conferences Lausanne (1927) and Edinburgh (1937) referred to the H.S. mainly in relation to the church, as the one who gives life to the church. The Spirit sanctifies and renews the church through Word and sacrament and draws it into unity. International Missionary Conference at Willengen and Lund (1952) – Through the Spirit, the church can proclaim God’s saving work in Christ and wait for His final victory.

  10. The Spirit in the Pentecostal/Charismatic Movements Pentecostal Spirituality The focus of Pentecostal spirituality is experiencing God mystically as supernatural. The category of experience is essential to understanding the spirituality of the Pentecostals and thus their worship. “Worship” is another way of saying “presence of God.” The Holy Spirit is not the center of the worship. Rather, in the power of the Spirit, the focus is on Jesus Christ and God. Full Gospel Justification by faith in Christ Sanctification by faith as second definite work of grace. Healing of the body as provided for all in the atonement. The premillennial return of Christ The baptism of the H.S. evidenced by speaking in tongues

  11. Issues in Asian Pentecostalism • Luke – “Expressive ministry” – Mission • 2. Paul – “Interior ministry” - Ethical domain

  12. Issues in Asian Pentecostalism • Luke – The HS in terms of the ‘expressive’ domain (external). • Prophetic in nature. • Key word is “POWER” • ‘Doing’ in Acts • Outline of Acts * Church in Jerusalem * Judea and Samaria * Reaching the Mediterranean world -“Ends of the Earth” HERMENEUTICAL ISSUES

  13. Issues in Asian Pentecostalism • Luke stresses growth of the Kingdom – Geographically and numerically. “And the Word of the Lord grew…” • Luke assumes that people are growing in Christ, but that is not his focus. • Reality check – You can’t write everything in one letter HERMENEUTICAL ISSUES

  14. Issues in Asian Pentecostalism • Paul – Matters of the ‘interior’ domain • Key word – “BEING” • Lifestyle is important as doing • Quality of Christian life. • Eph 5:18 – “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” • Paul’s emphasis is Fruit – Gal. 5:22-3 – Love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. HERMENEUTICAL ISSUES

  15. Issues in Asian Pentecostalism • Normal or Normative? • Initial Physical Evidence • Pneumatic Inspiration or Illumination? • Main issue in Pentecostal Theology HERMENEUTICAL ISSUES

  16. Pentecostal Hermeneutics Pneumatic Illumination “[t]he contribution to hermeneutics of the present Charismatic, or Pentecostal, renewal of the Church is its insistence upon the experiential immediacy of the H.S.” • H. Ervin, “Hermeneutics: A Pentecostal Option.” Pneuma (Fall 1981), 19.

  17. Pentecostal Hermeneutics “This emphasis upon illumination arises not from a Pentecostal preoccupation with spiritual encounters, but rather is an extrapolation from theological concepts regarding inspiration of Scripture.” -Cargall, Pneuma (Fall 1993) 173.

  18. “The word of God is the ultimate word. It is the word beyond all human words, for it is spoken by God (revelation). It is indeed the word that contradicts all human words . . . [and] judges all human gnosis. It is a word for which there are no categories endemic to human understanding. It is a word for which, in fact, there is no hermeneutics unless and until the divine hermeneutes (the H.S.) mediates an understanding.” • H. Ervin, “Hermeneutics: A Pentecostal Option.” Pneuma (Fall 1981), 19.

  19. “Most Pentecostal academics emphasize that ‘linguistic, literary and historical analysis are indispensable as a first step to an understanding of the Scriptures’ as ‘human words,’ although admittedly some Pentecostal scholars worry the use of ‘critical-historical exegesis’ even as applied in ‘traditional evangelical/fundamentalist hermeneutical principles may be inimical to Pentecostal theology and biblical interpretation.” -Cargall, Pneuma (Fall 1993) 174.

  20. “Pneumatic illumination becomes a factor in understanding the ‘Word of God’ quality of scripture, that is the ‘deeper significance to the biblical text that can only be perceived through the eyes of faith’ and with the aid of the Holy Spirit.” -Cargall, Pneuma (Fall 1993) 174 on Harrington “Hermeneutics” in DPCM, 1988, 382.

  21. “It is this ‘deeper significance of the biblical text’ which is most emphasized by Pentecostal preachers, for it is after all the ‘divine’ as opposed to the ‘merely human’ aspect of Scripture. Thus, expressions such as, ‘The H.S. showed (or ‘revealed’) something to me in these verses that I had never seen before,’ are commonly heard within Pentecostal sermons.” -Cargall, Pneuma (Fall 1993) 175.

  22. “Herein lies the origins of the traditional Pentecostal emphasis upon the multiple dimensions of meaning of the biblical text; the H.S. may ‘illumine’ the words of the text so as to ‘make them speak’ to any number of situations unforseen by the human author of the text.” -Cargall, Pneuma (Fall 1993) 175.

  23. “Within a Pentecostal setting these ‘illuminated’ meanings exercise far more power over Pentecostal believers since they are perceived as carrying divine sanction and authority.” -Cargall, Pneuma (Fall 1993) 175.

  24. Dangers of pneumatic illumination “The danger lies in the potential that the interpreter confuses his or her own (or some other) spirit with the Spirit of God. Because the interpreter has claimed divine guidance, the resulting interpretation is assumed to be above questioning and thus implicitly demands an authority on par with Scripture itself. This unchallenged status ostensibly renders the interpretation itself as inspired, infallible, and inherently authoritative.” -Cargall, Pneuma (Fall 1993) 174 on Harrington “Hermeneutics” in DPCM, 1988, 383. .

  25. Inspiration or illumination? • Inspiration – the human authors of the biblical texts were “inspired” by the H.S. resulting in a special authority and indeed infallibility for these writings. • Illumination – subsequent interpreters of these texts are only “illuminated” by the Spirit so that their appropriations of the text lack similar authority.

  26. The Role of Experience in Interpretation • Hermeneutical circle • Not only must ‘the interpretations drawn from Scripture impact Pentecostal experience,’ but that such ‘personal and corporate experience inform[s] the Pentecostal hermeneutical process. • Question: “At what point the Pentecostal interpreter enters the circle with her or his experience?”

  27. “Hermeneutics: The Quiet Revolution” • (W. & R. Menzies, Spirit & Power, pp. 37-45) • “We have already stated that narrative often teaches more indirectly than didactic literature without becoming any less normative. Thus, we reject Fee and Stuart’s highlighted maxim that “unless Scripture explicitly tells us we must do something, what is merely narrated or described can never function in a normative way.” • -W. Klein, C.Blomberg, and R. Hubbard, • Introduction to Biblical Interpretation. Issues in Asian Pentecostalism

  28. “Hermeneutics: The Quiet Revolution” • (W. & R. Menzies, Spirit & Power, pp. 37-45) • “From its inception the Pentecostal movement has emphasized the narrative of Luke-Acts. It is evident that the distinctive features of Pentecostal theology- particularly its emphasis on baptism in the Spirit distinct from conversion – are rooted in Luke-Acts. Without Luke’s writings there could be no Pentecostal theology, for we would not know of the Pentecostal gift (Acts 1-2).’’ Issues in Asian Pentecostalism

  29. The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament: Pentecostal Perspective

  30. Holy Spirit in the Old Testament Definitions - • ruach & pneuma: originally means “air in motion” • Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is known as “the Spirit of God”. • These two words came to mean wind, breath, the human spirit, and the divine spirit. • Both are appropriate to describe God in action, which show the “charismatic” activity of the Spirit of God (Stronstad).

  31. Holy Spirit in the Old Testament • The Charismatic Spirit of God (Roger Stronstad) • God’s gift of His Spirit to His servants, either individually or collectively, to anoint, empower, or inspire them for divine service. • The term “charismatic” is used in a functional and dynamic sense. • Charismatic Spirit in the Old Testament has numerous functions.

  32. Holy Spirit in the Old Testament • Chronology of the Charismatic Spirit (Stronstad) The activity of the Spirit of God falls into five clearly defined periods. These periods of charismatic activity are: 1. the founding of the nation in the wilderness 2. the period of the Judges 3. the founding of the Monarchy 4. the time of Elijah and Elisha 5. the period of Exile and Restoration

  33. Holy Spirit in the Old Testament • Understanding the “activity” and the “function” of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is important. • There is a “progression” of the work of the Spirit. • The “endowment” of the Spirit is God’s confirmation for service in his chosen leaders or people to fulfill a divine commission.

  34. Holy Spirit in the Old Testament Persona of the H.S. in the O.T. • God is the subject more than man • When the verbs are used, the Spirit of God is in action with endowing or empowering the various individuals for certain tasks. • “He filled” is used 4x to empower craftsmen with the Spirit of wisdom and Joshua with the Spirit of knowledge. • “Filling individuals with skills to fulfill the duty that is required of them

  35. Holy Spirit in the Old Testament Charismatic Motifs • The “Transfer Motif” • The Spirit of God is transferred from one leader to another. Transfer of authority and the delegation of responsibility and endowment of power from one individual to another individual or group. • The “Sign Motif” • A sign is given publicly by God to authenticate or confirm God’s approval of that particular indiv. • The “Vocational Motif” • An endowment of power and skills by the Spirit of God to a particular individual or group.

  36. Holy Spirit in the Old Testament PENTECOSTAL VIEWS OF THE H.S. IN THE O.T. • Wonsuk Ma • The Spirit of God in the OT has more than one root, and that the development of the various spirit traditions can be fruitfully traced. • Walter Kaiser • The N.T. should not be used to settle doctrine in the O.T. Work of the H.S. – regeneration and sanctification.

  37. The Holy Spirit in the Life and Teachings of Jesus KEY CONCEPTS WHICH JESUS TAUGHT HIS DISCIPLES • The Spirit is God’s promised gift to the Church. • The Spirit would be with the disciples to help them to minister and to cope with persecution. • Jesus commanded the disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

  38. He commanded the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received the promised gift of the Spirit. • He taught that regeneration is a work of the Spirit. • He spoke of the ongoing supply of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. • The ministry of the Spirit in worship. • He called Him “another” Comforter. • The Spirit of Truth – the One who will guide us into truth. • He comes to reprove, convict or convince

  39. The Holy Spirit in the Life and Teachings of Jesus • He called Him “another” Comforter. • The Spirit of Truth – the One who will guide us into truth. • He comes to reprove, convict or convince

More Related