The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience

In The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience, Simeon Zahl presents a fresh vision for Christian theology that foregrounds the relationship between theological ideas and the experiences of Christians. He argues that theology is always operating in a vibrant landscape of feeling and desiring, and shows that contemporary theology has often operated in problematic isolation from these experiential dynamics. He then argues that a theologically serious doctrine of the Holy Spirit not only authorizes but requires attention to Christian experience.\nAgainst this background, Zahl outlines a new methodological approach to Christian theology that attends to the emotional and experiential power of theological ideas. This methodology draws on recent interdisciplinary work on affect and emotion, which has shown that affects are powerful motivating realities that saturate all dimensions of human thinking and acting. In the process, Zahl also explains why contemporary theology has often been ambivalent about subjective experience, and demonstrates that current discourse about God's activity in the world is often artificially abstracted from experience and embodiment.\nAt the heart of the book, Zahl proposes a new account of the theology of grace from this experiential and pneumatological perspective. Focusing on the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation and sanctification, he retrieves insights from Augustine, Luther, and Philip Melanchthon to present an affective and Augustinian vision of salvation as a pedagogy of desire. In articulating this vision, Zahl engages critically with recent emphasis on participation and theosis in Christian soteriology, and charts a new path forward for Protestant theology in a landscape hitherto dominated by the theological visions of Barth and Aquinas.

Religion & Spirituality

Zahl, Simeon

Christian Books & Bibles

Oxford University Press

In The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience, Simeon Zahl presents a fresh vision for Christian theology that foregrounds the relationship between theological ideas and the experiences of Christians. He argues that theology is always operating in a vibrant landscape of feeling and desiring, and shows that contemporary theology has often operated in problematic isolation from these experiential dynamics. He then argues that a theologically serious doctrine of the Holy Spirit not only authorizes but requires attention to Christian experience. Against this background, Zahl outlines a new methodological approach to Christian theology that attends to the emotional and experiential power of theological ideas. This methodology draws on recent interdisciplinary work on affect and emotion, which has shown that affects are powerful motivating realities that saturate all dimensions of human thinking and acting. In the process, Zahl also explains why contemporary theology has often been ambivalent about subjective experience, and demonstrates that current discourse about God's activity in the world is often artificially abstracted from experience and embodiment. At the heart of the book, Zahl proposes a new account of the theology of grace from this experiential and pneumatological perspective. Focusing on the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation and sanctification, he retrieves insights from Augustine, Luther, and Philip Melanchthon to present an affective and Augustinian vision of salvation as a pedagogy of desire. In articulating this vision, Zahl engages critically with recent emphasis on participation and theosis in Christian soteriology, and charts a new path forward for Protestant theology in a landscape hitherto dominated by the theological visions of Barth and Aquinas.

This book identifies the impasse between classical Protestant and contemporary charismatic and Pentecostal pneumatologies as a fundamental theological problem. Its goal is to contribute a constructive pneumatological proposal for moving beyond this impasse, based on the resources of the theology of Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt (1842-1919). The disagreement is over the question of unmediated experience of the Holy Spirit. Luther's rejection of 'enthusiastic' pneumatologies on the basis of a narrow concept of the mediation of the Word and a pessimistic anthropology became Protestant orthodoxy. In relation to classical Protestantism, the primary theological distinctive of charismatic theology is its strong affirmation of unmediated experience of the Spirit in Christian life and worship. The Pentecostal movement's rapid growth in the past century has brought this difference to the fore. Christoph Blumhardt's theology, which integrates pessimistic anthropology and unmediated experience, is well-suited to exploring the impasse between the two theological traditions.

Pneumatology and Theology of the Cross in the Preaching of Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt: The Holy Spirit Between Wittenberg and Azusa Street (T&T Clark Studies in Systematic Theology, 7) (Volume 7)

History

World

T&T Clark

Pneumatology and Theology of the Cross in the Preaching of Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt: The Holy Spirit Between Wittenberg and Azuza Street (T&T Clark Studies in Systematic Theology)

Continnuum-3PL

The Modern Theologians: An Introduction to Christian Theology Since 1918, 3rd Edition This popular text has been updated to ensure that it continues to provide a current and comprehensive overview of the main Christian theologies of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. <ul> <li>Each chapter is written by a leading theologian and gives a clear picture of a particular movement, topic or individual.</li> <li>New and updated treatments of topics covered in earlier editions, with over half the chapters new to this edition or revised by new authors.</li> <li>New section singling out six classic theologians of the twentieth century.</li> <li>Expanded treatment of the natural sciences, gender, Roman Catholic theology since Vatican II, and African, Asian and Evangelical theologies.</li> <li>Completely new chapters on spirituality, pastoral theology, philosophical theology, postcolonial biblical interpretation, Pentecostal theology, Islam and Christian theology, Buddhism and Christian theology, and theology and film.</li> <li>As in previous editions, the text opens with a full introduction to modern theology.</li> <li>Epilogue discussing the present situation and prospects of Christian theology in the twenty-first century.</li> </ul> The Modern Theologians Reader The Modern Theologians Reader is an outstanding selection of the key writings in modern theology, with each extract introduced and annotated to support student learning. <ul> <li>A unique stand-alone text which can also be used alongside the highly successful textbook, The Modern Theologians</li> <li>Features introductory notes and annotations with each extract to help students understand the relevance and importance of the reading</li> <li>Includes selections from major 20th-century theologians and theological movements, and texts on Christian theology's relation to science, globalization, and other faiths such as Buddhism and Judaism</li> </ul>

The Modern Theologians 3e & The Modern Theologians Reader, Set

Ford, David F.

Muers, Rachel

Higton, Mike

Wiley/Blackwell

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