Finny Philip inquires into Paul's initial thoughts on the Holy Spirit. Paul's conviction that he was called to be an apostle to the Gentiles and that God bestowed the Spirit upon the Gentiles apart from Torah obedience is the basis for any inquiry on this subject. Central to Philip's argument is Paul's conviction that God graciously endowed his Gentile converts with the gift of the Spirit, an understanding that is rooted primarily in his conversion experience and secondarily in his experience with and as a missionary of the Hellenistic community in Antioch. In examining the range of expectations of the Spirit that were present in both Hebrew scripture and in the wider Jewish literature, the author comes to the conclusion that such a concept is rare, and that it is usually the covenant community to which the promise of the Spirit is given. Furthermore, Paul's own pre-Christian convictions about the Spirit, a result of his own self-perception as a Pharisee and persecutor of the church, display continuity between his thought patterns and those of Second Temple Judaism. Paul's Damascus experience was an experience of the Spirit. His experience of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3:1-4:6) provided him with the belief that there was now a new relationship with God, which was possible through the sphere of the Spirit. In addition, Paul was influenced by the Hellenists, whose theological beliefs included the perception of the church as the eschatological temple in which the Spirit of God is the manifest presence of God. It is in these notions that one may trace the origins of Paul's thoughts on the Holy Spirit.

This handbook provides an interdisciplinary and diverse reference work to the Holy Spirit. Daniel Castelo and Kenneth M. Loyer gathered together a wide range of voices that are religiously, geographically, and ethnically diverse, bringing theology into conversation with biblical studies, ethics and morality, and global Christian studies. The T&T Clark Handbook of Pneumatology examines the Holy Spirit in a variety of sources, such as the Synoptic Gospels, the Catholic Epistles, the Old Testament, and the Hebrew Scriptures. It also includes chapters on key concepts in the field, such as mediation and sacramentality, ecology, and creation. This broad scope enables readers to appreciate how nuanced the field of Pneumatology is, and how it can be relevant for other Christian discourses.

An internationally respected scholar offers a biblical, historical, and theological assessment of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, focusing on the ecumenical and contextual experiences of the Spirit. This comprehensive review of pneumatology in global perspective examines various theological and denominational understandings of the Spirit, assesses key contemporary theologians of the Spirit, and inquires into several contextual approaches. The new edition has been substantially updated throughout to account for major developments in theology over the past decade and includes added coverage of interfaith issues.

Oliver B. Langworthy examines the interaction of soteriology and pneumatology in Gregory of Nazianzus' thought. He shows that this interaction, Gregory's soteriological pneumatology, is a coherent, significant, but under-examined area of Gregory's thought. His study engages in a chronological treatment of a wide range of Gregory's prose and poetic works. This allows for the particular character of Gregory's soteriological pneumatology to emerge, notably his emphasis on the experience of the Spirit. The result is a more complete and nuanced picture of Gregory's theological investment in a divine and "truly holy" Spirit that is operative in the salvation of the believer.

In Wesleyan Pneumatology, Pentecostal Mission, and the Missio Dei, Jody B. Fleming argues that missiology in a Wesleyan context has been heavily influenced by the Western worldview and needs renewal. Spirituality is central to living in many non-western cultures, integrated with the physical world of everyday life. Wesleyan traditions may need to renew and strengthen the pneumatology found in their mission theory and praxis. As the center of Christianity is shifting to the global south, Pentecostal and charismatic expressions of the faith are becoming more prominent. Without forfeiting their solid foundations, what might the Wesleyan traditions learn from their theological cousins about engagement with the Holy Spirit? How might pneumatology be renewed in order to address spiritual beliefs found in other cultures in both global and local settings? Renewal also includes the indigenous voice as essential for understanding cultural dynamics and spirituality. Contextualization is not new to missiology and so mission theory is explored from Latin American scholars as another point for renewal. Partnerships in mission and the role of the Holy Spirit are highlighted in the of field work conducted in Venezuela. In Renewing the Spark the author suggests that a fresh look at pneumatology will more effectively articulate the gospel in holistic and spirit-centered non-western cultures.

Perceptible inspiration', a term used by John Wesley to describe the complicated relationship between Holy Spirit, religious knowledge, and the nature of spiritual being, is not unlike the term 'Methodist' which was also coined by critics of Methodism during the eighteenth century in Britain. Wesley’s adversaries - especially the pseudonymous “John Smith,” with whom Wesley exchanged letters for a period of three years - frequently attacked the plausibility of such a thing as direct spiritual sensation, which Wesley in turn defended. What exactly did he mean by perceptible inspiration?

This book represents a germinal effort that urges all religious and world leaders to savor the mystical spirituality, especially the cosmology and spirituality of sacred sustainability of the indigenous peoples. The power of indigenous spirit world is harnessed for the common good of the indigenous communities and the regenerative power of mother earth. This everyday mysticism of the world as spirited and sacred serves to re-enchant a world disillusioned by the unsustainability of destructive economic systems that have spawned the current ecological crises. Author Jojo Fung offers insight from his lived-experience and this book represents his effort to correlate the indigenous spirit world with Catholic Pneumatology and articulate the activity of God’s Spirit as the Spirit of Sacred Sustainability.

The Holy Spirit who worked on the first Christian Pentecost continues to work in the church and the world today. This being so, the field of pneumatology—the theology of the Holy Spirit—should pique the interest of both the “average” Christian and the academic theologian, perhaps more than it has in recent times. This collection of chapters brings pneumatology into conversation with a wide variety of disciplines, including scripture, patristic and medieval theology, and history. The result is a scholarly monograph that enriches both pneumatology and the fields with which each contributor engages. Furthermore, with its attention on the work of the Spirit in the sacraments and the life of the church, Pneumatology at the Beginning of the Third Millennium will help pastors and catechists in their ministries to understand more deeply the riches of the theology of the Third Person of the Trinity.

The work of the Spirit of God is a vibrant and much discussed topic in many contemporary Christian communities worldwide. Apparently, the Spirit is moving. Theological reflection on this phenomenon has even given rise to what is often called a ‘pneumatological renaissance’. This volume not only takes stock of these remarkable developments, but also probes some of their hidden aspects and highlights avenues for future exploration. It contains a wide-ranging but coherent assortment of essays, covering the five relations of the Holy Ghost distinguished already in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed: how does the Spirit of God relate to the Bible, to the Christ, to the human person, to the church and to the world? These essays are written as a tribute to the many inspiring theological contributions of prof. Cornelis van der Kooi on the occasion of his retirement as Professor of Systematic Theology at the Faculty of Religion and Theology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where he taught from 1992 until 2018. Contributors are: Henk A. Bakker, Abraham van de Beek, Erik A. de Boer, Carl J. Bosma, Gijsbert van den Brink, Martien E. Brinkman, Gerard C. den Hertog, Arnold Huijgen, Gerrit C. van de Kamp, Miranda Klaver, Akke van der Kooi, Margriet van der Kooi-Dijkstra, Bruce L. McCormack, Richard J. Mouw, Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte, Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman, Eep Talstra, Benno van den Toren, Jan Veenhof, Willem van Vlastuin, Pieter Vos, Michael Welker, Cory Willson, Maarten Wisse.

How do the Greco-Roman views of ethnicity inform our reading of the Spirit in the Fourth Gospel? This study not only reviews the role of ethnicity and race in the ancient world; it also proposes a bold new understanding of Johannine pneumatology. From an ethnocritical perspective, this study argues that the Spirit was articulated for an ethnically diverse Johannine community that was dealing with the issues of race relations. The Spirit is the divine breath of God that commissions Jesus for the redemption of all ethnicities. The Spirit is involved in the maternal birth of all ethnic members who are in the family of God. The Spirit draws all people despite their ethnic lineage and heritage. And the Spirit is actively involved as an advocate for the minoritized community undergoing synagogue violence. Will the members of the Johannine community still hold onto ethnic ideologies of dehumanization that were prevalent of their age? Can the Johannine community still have the Spirit and support ideologies of ethnic division and hate? This study seeks to answer these questions.