The Charismatic Structure of Acts

2004 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30
Author(s):  
John Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Strategic Role

AbstractThis study surveys major attempts to understand the structure of Acts and proposes a structure based upon insights gained from textual markers in the text and the significant role of the Holy Spirit. Building upon the work of a number of others, including Roger Stronstad in particular, this article proposes that the primary theme that holds the document together is the charismatic and/or the prophetic activity of the Holy Spirit. Accordingly, the proposal offered takes account of a full spectrum of defining emphases in Acts: the major individuals in Acts, the book’s emphasis upon missionary expansion, the literary markers in the text, and the strategic role of the Holy Spirit throughout the narrative.

The Spirit in 1 Corinthians

Pneuma ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 485-495
Author(s):  
J. Ayodeji Adewuya
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Community Formation ◽  
Personal Lives ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
And Function

Abstract The Holy Spirit plays a significant role in 1 Corinthians. Paul discusses the role of the Spirit in personal lives, community formation, and worship, among other aspects of Christian living. Paul’s teaching about the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians cannot be understood apart from the situation of the congregation in Corinth. It is not possible to address every issue related to the Holy Spirit in an essay of this length. However, Paul highlights and sometimes elaborates on different aspects of the ministry and function of the Holy Spirit among believers in several passages. Therefore, the approach in this essay is to look at some of the passages and see how much they foster the understanding of the Holy Spirit’s work in 1 Corinthians.

Moral Formation in Christ, the Beautiful Beloved

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Stewart-Kroeker
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Moral Formation ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Loving Relationship ◽  
Falling In Love

Christ’s healing of humanity consists, crucially, in forming human beings for loving relationship with himself and others. In this respect, Christ also takes the role of the beautiful beloved. Believers become pilgrims by falling in love with the beautiful Christ by the initiative of the Holy Spirit, who cleanses their eyes to see him as beautiful and enkindles desire in their hearts. By desiring and loving the beautiful Christ, the believer is conformed to him and learns to walk his path. Desiring the beautiful Christ forms a believing community shaped aesthetically and morally for a particular way of life: pilgrimage to the heavenly homeland. Formation is both earthly and eschatological, for so too is the journey and the activity of the pilgrim.

The Integration of Mission Theology and Practice: Zinzendorf and the Early Moravians

2008 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Cultural Humility ◽  
Spiritual Renewal ◽  
Mission Theology ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
The Holy Spirit

AbstractThis paper explores the key characteristics of Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf's mission theology that influenced the early Moravian missional practice. After discussing the early eighteenth century European historical context and the Spirit-renewal of the Herrnhut community, the paper considers Zinzendorf's theology on the death of Christ, the prominent role of the Holy Spirit, and harvesting the "first fruits." These theological distinctives contributed in determining the motivation and message of these pioneer Protestant missionaries. It then takes into account some of the subsequent methods such as working with the marginalized, practicing the love of Christ in cultural humility, and preaching the gospel in the vernacular. The main contributions of the early Moravians to mission were that they brought an understanding that spiritual renewal preceded mission renewal, the atoning death of Christ is central to mission theology, and a Protestant recognition that it had an obligation to do mission. On the other hand, the foremost negative aspects of Moravian mission were their obsession with the physical death of Christ and an ignorance of the broader social issues that at times resulted in a lack of contextualization, religious syncretism, indifference to social justice, and extreme subjectivism.

Thomas Aquinas and Contemplation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rik Van Nieuwenhove
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
Marked Contrast ◽  
Faith And Reason ◽  
Beatific Vision ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Theology And Philosophy ◽  
Key Questions

Contemplation, according to Thomas Aquinas, is the central goal of our life; yet a scholarly study on this topic has not appeared for over seventy years. This book fills that obvious gap. From an interdisciplinary perspective this study considers the epistemological and metaphysical foundations of the contemplative act; the nature of the active and contemplative lives in light of Aquinas’s Dominican calling; the role of faith, charity, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in contemplation; and contemplation and the beatific vision. Key questions addressed are: What is contemplation? What is truth? How can we know God? How do faith and reason relate to one another? How does Aquinas envisage the relations between theology and philosophy? What role does charity play in contemplation? Throughout this book the author argues that Aquinas espouses a profoundly intellective notion of contemplation in the strictly speculative sense, which culminates in a non-discursive moment of insight (intuitus simplex). In marked contrast to his contemporaries Aquinas therefore rejects a sapiential or affective brand of theology. He also employs a broader notion of contemplation, which can be enjoyed by all Christians, in which the gifts of the Holy Spirit are of central importance. This book should appeal to all those who are interested in this key aspect of Aquinas’s thought. It provides a lucid account of central aspects of Aquinas’s metaphysics, epistemology, theology, and spirituality. It also offers new insights into the nature of the theological discipline as Aquinas sees it, and how theology relates to philosophy.

scholarly journals Hope as a Virtue in the Middle Ages

2020 ◽  
pp. 47-60
Author(s):  
Andrew Pinsent
Keyword(s):  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Theological Virtues ◽  
Kingdom Of Heaven ◽  
Contemporary Life ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
New Research ◽  
Radical Transformation

Abstract As a theological disposition revealed in Scripture, the recognition of hope as an important virtue coincided with the radical transformation in virtue ethics in the early Middle Ages. As the ideals of pagan antiquity gave way to the Christian aspirations for the Kingdom of Heaven, early work on hope was strongly influenced by writers with a monastic background, such as Pope St Gregory the Great. The rise of scholasticism in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, however, gave an impetus to finding a coherent account of virtue ethics that would incorporate hope along with the other theological virtues and revealed attributes of perfection, such as the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. This chapter examines, in particular, the attempt of St Thomas Aquinas to develop such an account and the role of hope in this account, drawing from new research in experimental psychology. The chapter concludes by considering briefly the transposition of the medieval account of hope to aspects of contemporary life.

Chrysostom’s Homily on the Word Koimeterion and on the Cross: A Translation and Commentary

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
David M. Friel
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Full Text ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Cross

Abstract Chrysostom’s homily De coemeterio et de cruce (CPG 4337) was delivered during a full eucharistic synaxis on Good Friday in a cemetery outside the gates of late-fourth-century Antioch. It demonstrates both rhetorical and theological prowess. Chrysostom consoles his hearers by likening death to sleep and reflecting on the cemetery as a “sleeping place” (koimeterion). The text is notable for its theology of physical space, its conception of liturgical anamnesis, and its presentation of the Christus Victor atonement motif. The homily also highlights the liturgical role of the Holy Spirit, especially by alluding to the eucharistic epiclesis, and it chastises the congregation for their poor behavior during the communion rite. This article presents the homily’s full text in Greek with English translation, followed by a commentary that probes its major themes and liturgical aspects.

Seventeenth-Century Catholic Reception Outside the de auxiliis Controversy

2021 ◽  
pp. 279-292
Author(s):  
Charles Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Holy See ◽  
Beatific Vision ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Love Of God ◽  
Commentarial Tradition

Seventeenth-century Thomists, with the exception of John of St Thomas, are today virtually unknown. Nevertheless, in their day they contributed to the Catholic reception of the thought of the Angelic Doctor not only by continuation of the commentarial tradition but also by engaging in the intramural Catholic debates in which the Holy See intervened. After introducing the reader to some of the more prominent Thomists of the century, this chapter outlines some Thomist responses to intramural Catholic debates concerning the formation of conscience in light of probable opinions, the nature of our desire for the beatific vision and its compatibility with love of God above self, and the role of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

Spiritual Meaning and Experimental Piety in the Exegesis of Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Stievermann ◽  
Ryan P. Hoselton
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Jonathan Edwards ◽  
Critical Questions ◽  
Cotton Mather ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Religious Piety ◽  
Historical Issues

Jan Stievermann and Ryan P. Hoselton consider the role of experiential piety in the exegesis of Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards. Both were deeply engaged in the new critical questions of their day, and both were also committed to nurturing religious piety—though they differed somewhat in how they handled these concerns. Although Mather was profoundly interested in the philological and historical issues in the Bible, he prioritized devotional and contemplative engagement with Scripture. Edwards, Stievermann and Hoselton argue, drew on the experimental language and philosophy of the Enlightenment to construct a case for the supernatural authority of the Bible against increasingly naturalistic arguments. Edwards held that one gains spiritual understanding as the Holy Spirit harmonizes the believer’s internal senses with the Word; this reconstruction affected Edwards’ approach to the emotive element in Scripture, the dynamism of typology, and the nature of the regenerate interpreter of the Bible.

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