The Spirit, the Affections, and the Christian Tradition


Book Description

The essays in this volume explore the role of emotions and affections in the Christian tradition, focusing also on the importance of pneumatology in Christianity.




The Holy Spirit


Book Description

In "The Holy Spirit: Ancient Christian Traditions" (formerly titled "The Spirit and the Church: Antiquity)," the first in a series of three volumes devoted to the history of Christian pneumatology, Stanley M. Burgess Recounts Christian efforts from the end of the first century to the end of the fifth century AD to understand the divine Third Person. The Christian centuries have witnessed a tension" sometimes waxing, sometimes waning, but always present" between the spirit of order and the spirit of prophecy. In the ancient church, representatives of institutional order, in an effort to keep the development of Spirit doctrine within a recognizable tradition, muffled the immediacy of religious experience. Prophetic elements came to be viewed with distrust and remained in the institutional church only at the cost of severe internal tension. In this work, the author recognizes the wealth of Spirit theology and activity in both traditions, and the need for modern Christians to gain a deeper and wider vision of the workings of the Holy Spirit in history and in our own generation.




Understanding Affections in the Theology of Jonathan Edwards


Book Description

This volume argues that the notion of “affections” discussed by Jonathan Edwards (and Christian theologians before him) means something very different from what contemporary English speakers now call “emotions.” and that Edwards's notions of affections came almost entirely from traditional Christian theology in general and the Reformed tradition in particular. Ryan J. Martin demonstrates that Christian theologians for centuries emphasized affection for God, associated affections with the will, and distinguished affections from passions; generally explaining affections and passions to be inclinations and aversions of the soul. This was Edwards's own view, and he held it throughout his entire ministry. Martin further argues that Edwards's view came not as a result of his reading of John Locke, or the pressures of the Great Awakening (as many Edwardsean scholars argue), but from his own biblical interpretation and theological education. By analysing patristic, medieval and post-medieval thought and the journey of Edwards's psychology, Martin shows how, on their own terms, pre-modern Christians historically defined and described human psychology.




Signs of the Spirit


Book Description

A thoughtful and accessible interpretation of Jonathan Edwards's immensely relevant and enriching work Religious Affections.




Pentecostal Theology and the Christian Spiritual Tradition


Book Description

This book deals with the problem of Pentecostal 'traditioning'. Traditioning has been ineffective thus far because the richness of Pentecostal faith and experience has been inadequately captured in the classical Pentecostal doctrines of Spirit-baptism and glossolalia. A more adequate understanding of the key theological symbol of Pentecostalism, glossolalia, emerges when it is interpreted in the light of Christian spiritual tradition. Within this larger tradition glossolalia can be seen as bringing together both the ascetical and contemplative dimensions of the Christian life. Chan thus explores the shape of Pentecostal ecclesiology as 'traditioning community'.




The Giving Gift


Book Description

This major study breaks new ground, going beyond the issue most discussed in charismatic circles (the working of the Holy Spirit) to tackle questions relating to the person of the Holy Spirit and his relationship to the Father and the Son, as well as his relationship to people. Tom Smail's theological horizons are impressively broad, embracing historical orthodoxy and including the Roman and Eastern Orthodox traditions, as well as contemporary theology. He combines full theological literacy with personal insight into renewal, thus illuminating a contemporary experience of the Holy Spirit with the sovereignty of God in salvation. In The Giving Gift he offers a positive understanding of Christian tradition in its relation to Scripture and a new approach to prayer as a gift that God makes by his Spirit. He also provides an attempt to understand the work of the Spirit in the church throughout the ages and in different traditions, emphasising in particular the role and contribution of the Eastern Orthodox churches.




Understanding Affections in the Theology of Jonathan Edwards


Book Description

"This volume argues that the notion of "affections" discussed by Jonathan Edwards (and Christian theologians before him) means something very different from what contemporary English speakers now call "emotions." and that Edwards's notions of affections came almost entirely from traditional Christian theology in general and the Reformed tradition in particular. Ryan J. Martin demonstrates that Christian theologians for centuries emphasized affection for God, associated affections with the will, and distinguished affections from passions; generally explaining affections and passions to be inclinations and aversions of the soul. This was Edwards's own view, and he held it throughout his entire ministry. Martin further argues that Edwards's view came not as a result of his reading of John Locke, or the pressures of the Great Awakening (as many Edwardsean scholars argue), but from his own biblical interpretation and theological education. By analysing patristic, medieval and post-medieval thought and the journey of Edwards's psychology, Martin shows how, on their own terms, pre-modern Christians historically defined and described human psychology."--Bloomsbury Publishing.




Third Article Theology


Book Description

Third Article Theology (TAT) is the name given to a new movement in constructive theology utilizing a distinctly pneumatological approach to dogmatics. Trinitarian in its foundation, pneumatological in its impetus, and comprehensive in its scope, TAT specifies both a method and a theology. Thinking through the theological loci of the tradition in relation to the Holy Spirit opens up new vistas and a deeper vision of the task of theology, revealing ways of thinking hitherto eclipsed by the tradition. Drawing upon the trinitarianism of the Great Tradition, theologians from across the theological spectrumbring their voices to bear upon central and defining theological issues of today in order to present a new form of systematic theology—a pneumatological dogmatics—capable of representing the faith in a contemporary mode. For students, scholars, and clergy, the volume unfolds the classic articles of systematic theology in this new register. Each doctrinal article is written by a leading theologian in the field, with essays from Amos Yong, Eugene Rogers, Veli-Matti Karkkainen, Joel Green, Marc Cortez, Frank Macchia, Myk Habets, and others.




Pentecostal Theology and the Christian Spiritual Tradition


Book Description

This book deals with the problem of Pentecostal 'traditioning'. Traditioning has been ineffective thus far because the richness of Pentecostal faith and experience has been inadequately captured in the classical Pentecostal doctrines of Spirit-baptism and glossolalia. A more adequate understanding of the key theological symbol of Pentecostalism, glossolalia, emerges when it is interpreted in the light of Christian spiritual tradition. Within this larger tradition glossolalia can be seen as bringing together both the ascetical and contemplative dimensions of the Christian life. Chan thus explores the shape of Pentecostal ecclesiology as 'traditioning community'.




The Holy Spirit


Book Description

The Holy Spirit: Medieval Roman Catholic and Reformation Traditions (Sixth-Sixteenth Centuries) is the third in a series of three volumes devoted to the history of Christian pneumatology. In the first volume, The Holy Spirit: Ancient Christian Traditions (formerly titled The Spirit and the Church: Antiquity), Stanley M. Burgess detailed Christian efforts from the end of the first century to the end of the fifth century A.D. to understand the divine Third Person. Volume 1 explored the tensions between the developing institutional order and various prophetic elements in the Church. The second volume, The Holy Spirit: Eastern Christian Traditions, brought together a wealth of material on the Spirit from Eastern Christian traditions, a rich heritage often overlooked in Western Christianity. By exploring the various ways in which Eastern theologians understood the Third Person of the Trinity, volume 2 showed how modern Christians can gain a wider vision and fuller understanding of the workings of the Holy Spirit in history and in our own generation. This concluding volume examines medieval Roman Catholic and Reformation attitudes toward the Holy Spirit beginning with the writings of medieval Catholic theologians from Gregory the Great and Bede to Aquinas and Bonaventure. Subsequent sections describe the contributions of influential women such Hildegard of Bingen, Birgitta of Sweden, and Catherine of Siena; "fringe" figures such as Joachim of Fiore and the Cathars; the magisterial reformers Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin; leading Catholic reformers such as Ignatius of Loyola; and the "radical reformers" Thomas Muntzer and Menno Simons.