Introduction
The Spirit over the Earth: Pneumatology in the Majority World
Gene L. Green
The Holy Spirit in Scripture and Christian Theology through History
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Gen. 1:1, NIV). The biblical story begins with God. He is the Creator of all things and the divine Spirit is his active agent to bring order to chaos.[1] Throughout Scripture the biblical authors have also viewed the Holy Spirit as God’s agent to empower human beings for work, especially as they become his prophets who express his will (Heb. 3:7–11; 1 Peter 1:10–12; 2 Peter 1:20–21). We learn from these authors that the Spirit empowered Jesus for his ministry in fulfillment of Isaiah’s messianic prophecy (Luke 4:16–21; cf. Isa. 61:1–2). Upon his ascension, Jesus gave the church the Holy Spirit so that his people could carry out the work he ordained (Acts 1:6–8; 2:32–36). Scripture ascribes these and other roles to the Holy Spirit, and the church through the centuries has reflected on its teaching regarding the person and work of the Spirit of God.
After the New Testament era, discussion about the Spirit continued in earnest as the church sought to articulate the nature of God and the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Cappadocian fathers—Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus—vigorously defended the Spirit’s divinity as they recognized and described the Trinitarian foundation of Christian theology. The Nicene Creed (325) affirmed the church’s belief in the Holy Spirit as the third member of the Trinity. The Council of Constantinople (381) reiterated Nicea’s affirmation of the Spirit’s divinity and then elaborated on the nature and role of the Holy Spirit in this way:
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son
he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
Although the Eastern and Western churches have debated the question of whether the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, they are in entire agreement that the Holy Spirit is divine and personal. While the Western church’s belief in the procession of the Spirit from both the Father and the Son may seem to imply the subordination of the Spirit to the other members of the Trinity, the church affirmed that the Spirit’s divinity was on par with that of the Son and the Father. The Holy Spirit and the Son are not “derived Deities” despite the begetting of the Son and the procession of the Spirit.[2] Another way to articulate this is to say that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are consubstantial, that is, of the same and not similar substance.
At the same time, Athanasius carefully distinguished the Spirit from creation. In his Letter to Serapion, Athanasius celebrates the full divinity of the Spirit, saying, “For as the Son, who is in the Father and the Father in him, is not a creature but pertains to the essence of the Father . . . so also it is not lawful to rank with the creatures the Spirit who is in the Son, and the Son in him, nor to divide him from the Word and reduce the Triad to imperfection” (1.21). The Holy Spirit is not a creature but a full member of the divine Triad.
While the fathers were carefully working out the question of the being of the Spirit in relationship to the other members of the Trinity and creation, they also reflected on the Spirit’s agency. Nicea states that he is the sovereign “Lord” and that all life has its source in him, “the Giver of Life.” Moreover, “He has spoken through the Prophets.” The Spirit has a particular role in revelation which, in the creed, is tied tightly to the prophets. Additionally, the creed points in the direction of the church since following the “third article” it confesses: “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.” Ecclesiology and pneumatology cannot be drawn asunder since it is through the Spirit’s agency that Christ establishes his church.
With each succeeding generation the church’s understanding of the person and work of the Holy Spirit has deepened and widened, becoming a great and powerful river at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century.[3] Although the creed makes critical affirmations regarding the person and work of the Holy Spirit, it hardly reflects the whole of the biblical witness and does not answer many questions that have arisen in the church’s long march up to this day. During the medieval period attention was drawn to the experience of the Holy Spirit. The mystics held the day but for them this experience was the privilege of those set apart for the religious life. We find, for example, Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) in the monastery where he writes Sermons on the Song of Songs which promotes the devotional life, regarded as “a gift of the Holy Spirit.”[4] Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) entered a Benedictine monastery and later became a member of the Dominican Order of Friars. In a life given over to theology and devotion he affirmed that the Holy Spirit is love, proceeds in love, and distributes his gifts accordingly.[5] With the dawn of the Reformation, however, Luther’s understanding of the “priesthood of all believers” opened the door to understanding how the Spirit works for sanctification in every Christian, not just those devoted to the medieval conception of the spiritual life. The Reformers emphasized the Spirit’s role in relation to the Word and sacraments, whereas some Radical Reformers turned to the Holy Spirit as the one who leads the believer, thereby decoupling the Spirit from Word and sacrament.
Contemporary Western and Majority World Developments in Pneumatology
Until recently, Western theology has focused more on Christology and less on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. A turning point came with the rise of Pentecostalism at the start of the twentieth century and Vatican II (1962–65). The renewed emphasis among Roman Catholics falls on the Spirit’s work within the church. Lumen gentium begins its ecclesiological reflection stating, “Christ is the Light of nations. Because this is so, this Sacred Synod gathered together in the Holy Spirit eagerly desires, by proclaiming the Gospel to every creature, to bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church.” On the Protestant side, the rise of Pentecostalism in North America and globally has brought with it laser-focused attention on the empowerment that comes through the Spirit of God that enables the church to fulfill its role as witness in the world (Acts 1:8). Out of this movement arose a number of notable North Atlantic Pentecostal scholars, including Gordon Fee, Russell Spittler, and Frank Macchia, who emphasize God’s presence and power through the Spirit.[6] Non-Pentecostal theologians, such as George-Yves Congar, Jürgen Moltmann, and Wolfhart Pannenberg, have also been deeply concerned with the Holy Spirit and ecclesiology, renewal, and especially life in all its forms.[7]
Unsurprisingly, the church in the Majority Word has begun renewed reflections on the role of the Holy Spirit in the church and in the world. The church in the Majority World is “self-theologizing.” That is, it recognizes its responsibility as part of “one holy catholic and apostolic church” to make its own contribution to the universal or Catholic discussion about theology that has unfolded through the ages within the Western and Eastern churches. From within Africa, Christian theologians have embraced a theology of the Spirit that underscores the way he confronts other spiritual powers in the world. The Holy Spirit is part of a power-encounter that finds few parallels in the West where the church has, at times, forgotten Paul’s statement that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark