Posts Tagged ‘Pneumatology’

The Lord Is the Spirit by Andrew K. Gabriel

Monday, February 14th, 2011 by Wolfgang Vondey

Andrew K. Gabriel. The Lord Is the Spirit: The Holy Spirit and the Divine Attributes. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2011. pp. 237. $27.00.

In a theological world increasingly interested in Pentecostalism and its celebration of the Holy Spirit, The Lord Is the Spirit represents an extraordinary contribution to the doctrine of God by a Pentecostal scholar. Gabriel’s account examines the divine attributes–omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, impassibility, immutability, and the like–and proposes that classical theism has not adequately taken into account the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. As a result, theology has overemphasized the transcendence of God. In response, Gabriel proposes that a pneumatological approach to the doctrine of God recovers an emphasis on divine immanence. The book offers a renewed emphasis on the Spirit in the understanding of the divine attributes and promises to do so from a distinctly evangelical and pentecostal perspective. What results from these efforts is a crisp, well-written, insightful, and highly instructive volume that should find its place into theological libraries not only among Pentecostals. The Lord Is the Spirit is a rewarding read for many audiences. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted in Book Reviews, Renewal Studies, Theology | 1 Comment »

Westminster Captivity, “New Calvinists,” and the Spirit

Friday, May 7th, 2010 by Dale M. Coulter
Gifts of the Spirit, Pusey House, Oxford

Photo by Lawrence OP

I see that my initial post on a “Westminster Captivity” has raised an eyebrow or two, and also an amen. In addition, this week my Regent colleagues, Richard Kidd and Scott Pryor have entered the discussion with Kidd talking about Reformed roots and Pryor suggesting that I may have a point with respect to forensic justification while at the same time challenging me on the importance of penal substitution.

In this post I wish to renew my invitation to the “New Calvinists” by a brief look at Reformed pneumatology in light of my two concerns: the possibility of being Reformed and charismatic and the possibility of an evangelical core centered upon a theology of conversion. The Reformed readers of my blog rightly intuited that my “beef” is with the way Reformed theology–and by extension evangelicalism–has been co-opted by a particular stream that can cloud its rich diversity. It is most definitely not an assault on Reformed Christianity, but a call not to allow one interpretation of the Reformed faith to define the whole.

The kind of Reformed Christianity I hope the “New Calvinists” will embrace is a particular stream that moves from the early Reformed thinkers to the Puritans and into the present. This does not mean that other streams must be rejected, but that this stream should become the interpretive lens rather than Old Princeton/Westminster (OP/W). Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted in Church History, Renewal Studies, Theology | 23 Comments »

Paul and his Kingdom Problem – Part 1

Saturday, April 10th, 2010 by Jason Wermuth

The apostle Paul is well known for many of his theological insights, such as his theology of justification, salvation, sanctification, glorification and all of the other Pauline words that, in English, end in “-ation.” Many scholars note, however, the scarcity of references to the kingdom of God in Paul’s epistles. Since this is the central theme of Jesus’ message, this would appear to be a problem!

Many suggestions have been offered in reference to the lack of kingdom language in Paul. Some suggest that he knew nothing of Jesus’ teaching, and thus he knew little of the kingdom of God. This answer is unsatisfactory, however, since as a good Jew, from the pharisaic tradition, he would have certainly been well acquainted with the promise of the coming kingdom found in places such as Daniel 7 and elsewhere throughout the Jewish Scriptures. Furthermore, Paul does indeed use kingdom language in his letters, albeit rarely.

Why do you think Paul talked about the kingdom of God so rarely?

In most instances Paul uses kingdom language eschatalogically (referring to the end of the age), and many use this fact to show that Paul knew nothing of the “at-hand” kingdom that Jesus was set on inaugurating in the present. Some, such as James Dunn (see his The Theology of Paul the Apostle, pp. 190-191) have proposed that there is more to Paul’s understanding of the kingdom of God than many have given him credit for.

Dunn contends that Paul replaced much of the kingdom language associated with Jesus’ teaching with Spirit-language and I am inclined to agree with him on this point. He shows that in the synoptic Gospels, “the kingdom” is mentioned some 105 times. In contrast, Paul uses the term kingdom of God (or related variations) only 14 times. Paul, however, mentions the Spirit over 110 times. Could it be then that through Paul’s emphasis on the Spirit we may see allusions to Jesus’ not-yet/already tension of the kingdom of God?

Next week we will look at why Paul uses the phrase so rarely and we will survey the pertinent passages in relation to Paul’s view of the kingdom to attempt to understand what Paul means when he does use kingdom language and how this compares to Jesus’ use of the phrase.

Does Paul actually view the kingdom of God similarly to Jesus? What would it mean for Christian theology if Paul truly knew nothing of Jesus’ teachings? What role does the kingdom of God play in your own theology?

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Posted in Biblical Studies, Renewal Studies, Theology | 6 Comments »