Pneumatology

The Spirit of Life: pp. x-77

by Lucas Wright

A presentation given in the seminar "The Theology of Jurgen Moltmann " at Fuller Theological Seminary under Dr. Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen

Ritual Water, Ritual Geist: An Application of Narratological Analysis to Luke's Development of Christian Initiation from John the Baptist to Pentecost

by David McCollough

This paper employs narratological analysis, especially focalization, the sequential development of entity... more This paper employs narratological analysis, especially focalization, the sequential development of entity representations and intertextuality, to demonstrate that through Luke 3, 11 and Acts 2, Luke prescribes a liminal ritual complex of initiation composed of four elements: repentance, water baptism, prayer and xenolalic experience understood as Spirit reception. The paper briefly explains focalization (the lens through which a narrator looks at something) and entity representations (ERs, the mental construct of a character, motif, procedure, network of relationships, etc., built up lineally through a narrative). It addresses the intertextual role of Isaiah and Malachi in the formation of the initiation ER, and implications of lukan Sinai imagery.
The paper traces the cumulative development of the initiation ER from John the Baptist’s prophecy of Spirit and fire baptism, to Jesus’ baptism, to Jesus’ teaching on prayer for the Spirit, to Pentecost. Luke’s use of priestly imagery is found to color his portrayal of believers. The Pentecost narrative is shown to redundantly focalize the xenolalia experience, and to identify it for the reader as the Spirit experience prophesied by Joel and promised by Jesus, and to prescribe that same xenolalic experience as a boundary marker obtainable through repentance, water baptism and prayer.
The paper will demonstrate that notwithstanding a strong, undeniable vocational role, narratological analysis indicates Luke subordinates Spirit experience under a broader soteriological heading which can be further refined as initiatory with a liminal aspect, thus ecclesiological.

The God Who Has Citizenship Among Us : Toward a Retrieval of the Christology of Saint Basil of Casaerea

by Michael Gibson

The Way into Triune Life: Balthasar, Gender, and the Mystery of the Form Made Flesh

by Kirsten Guidero

Filled with His Own Glory: Reclaiming the Christological Foundation of Theosis

by Kirsten Guidero

EMPERORS OF BYZANTIUM AND THEIR RELIGIOUS POLITIC

by EIRINI ARTEMI

A Warrior Against a Legion: A Literary Reading of Mark 5:1-20

by Reed Hamil

An Emerging A/Theistic Fighting Collective? A Caputian Introduction to Žižek’s Pneumatology

by Katharine Sarah Moody

Presented at "Subverting the Norm: The Emerging Church, Postmodernism, and the Future of Christianity," Drury University, Springfield, Missouri, USA, Oct 15 2010.

For Jacques Derrida, there is 'something demanding' about thinking about truth as an event that 'fall[s] on me, or... more For Jacques Derrida, there is 'something demanding' about thinking about truth as an event that 'fall[s] on me, or visit[s] me,' that is done to me and makes me ("Composing Circumfession," p.23). As for Alain Badiou, then, truth as an event is constitutive of the subject. Since a 'wager' has to be made that an event even occurred, this 'groundless decision' not only constitutes the event as an event but also constitutes the one who makes the decision as the truth-subject, after which a 'chance-driven course' is attempted, a truth-procedure, that is the working out of the consequences of 'fidelity' to the event (Infinite Thought, pp.46-47). Fidelity to the event constitutes the community of truth-subjects – a community of believers which Slavoj Žižek uses the language of the 'Holy Spirit' to designate (The Fragile Absolute, p.127). Any theology of the event, such as John D. Caputo's deconstructive a/theology (The Weakness of God), must, then, be translated into a community of the event.

My main research interests revolve around the ways in which such theo-philosophies are being performed, and the extent to which the radical sociality implicit in such discourse might be enacted by religious collectives. As such, I work at the intersection of European philosophy and theology, on the one hand, (particularly Caputo, Derrida, Žižek, and Radical Orthodoxy) and, on the other, the empirical study of religion. Today, I aim, firstly, to introduce Žižek's pneumatology, his deployment of the term 'Holy Spirit' as a community of truth-subjects, a 'fighting collective;' and, secondly, to stage a conversation between Žižek and Caputo regarding atheism and theism, metaphysics and materialism, in the hope that it will spark some ideas about what an emerging a/theistic fighting collective might look like and what the work of these thinkers might mean for the future of Christianity.

The Role of the Holy Spirit in Reformed Worship: Evaluating the 1973 Report on Neo- Pentecostalism as a Pastoral Resource for Worship Today

by Jeff Fisher

Th.M. Thesis submitted to Calvin Theological Seminary, 2005

An introduction to addressing questions regarding the role of
the Holy Spirit in corporate worship in Reformed churches.

This study particularly focuses on the Christian Reformed Church of North America and her expressed views on issues... more This study particularly focuses on the Christian Reformed Church of North America and her expressed views on issues regarding the Holy Spirit and worship as stated in a synodical report from 1973 on Neo-Pentecostalism.

The purpose of this thesis is to challenge and encourage Reformed churches to renew an awareness of and desire for the work of the Spirit in order to cultivate his presence and power in worship. Building on the 1973 Report as the foundation, this study seeks to formulate a biblical and Reformed position on the role of the Holy Spirit in worship by more explicitly articulating the Spirit’s role in the theology and practice of worship, and more actively renewing an awareness of and desire for the Spirit’s work.

This study surveys the 1973 Report on Neo-Pentecostalism, the recent theological study on the work of the Holy Spirit, and three major worship movements since 1973. Each section demonstrates how a biblical and Reformed position on the role of the Holy Spirit in worship must connect theology and practice and cultivate the desire for the power and presence of the Spirit’s work in worship. The final section applies this understanding to demonstrate ways congregations could be more explicit in articulating the Spirit’s role in every aspect of worship and be more active in renewing an awareness of and desire for the Spirit’s work.

‘Pneumatology, Healing and Political Power: Sketching a Pentecostal Political Theology,’ in The Holy Spirit in the World Today, ed. Jane Williams (Oxford: Lion Publishing, 2011), pp. 130-150

by Luke Bretherton

The Holy Spirit and contextualization

by Andy Lord

Nationhood Beyond the State: the Development of Karl Barth's Theological Understanding of Nationhood

by Carys Moseley

This is my PhD dissertation passed with a grade '1' (no corrections) in the School of Divinity, Edinburgh University, September 2007. I am currently completing a modified version of this as a book manuscript.

The thesis charts the development of Karl Barth's theological understanding of nationhood from the inception of his... more The thesis charts the development of Karl Barth's theological understanding of nationhood from the inception of his career as an undergraduate to the writing of the section on nationhood in his Church Dogmatics ('Near and Distant Neighbours'). Barth is shown to distinguish nationhood from the state. Nationhood for Barth is the product of human agency working within the providence of the Trinitarian God. It is not an order of creation or nature, nor can it be grounded in the work of the Spirit. Barth's motivation for distinguishing nationhood and the state was to oppose the nationalist dogma that every nation must have its own state, a doctrine which he believed provoked warfare. Barth's understanding of the nation as the 'people' (das Volk) is similar to the concept of ethnos found in the Bible. The maintenance of the distinction between nationhood and the state as a means of countering nationalist dogma is shown to be a major factor in the development of Barth's theology.

Book review. David A. Höhne's Spirit and Sonship: Colin Gunton’s Theology of Particularity and the Holy Spirit (Farnham, UK and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2010). Journal of Theological Studies (2011) 62 (1): 413-415.

by Alfred H. Yuen

Western Ordination Pneumatology: A Comparative Analyais of Six Rites

by Will Abbott

“’Fullness of the Spirit’ and ‘Fullness of Catholicity’ in Ecclesial Communion”

by Evan Kuehn

International Journal of Systematic Theology, 11.3 (2009), pp. 271-292

The Transformative Work of the Holy Spirit in Pauline Thought

by Brian LePort