Where did the Holy Spirit Go?
13 Dec 2004
One of the things I’ve been looking at in my research is the doctrine of creation, and how the modern church has had a christology where the humanity of christ is almost functionally obliterated. Stanley Grenz calls this the ‘christological heresy’ of the modern church. Christ overcomes sin by being divine, not because he is human depending upon the holy spirit.
There has been a wonderful recovery of the humanity of christ, and his connection to ours and to creation in theology. But is the pendulum in danger of swininging to far? Will we end up with an over realised anthropology, and ontology? So much collapses back into creation that everything can become panentheistic.
Everything is church, everything is God, except church as it is, which can’t possibly be a place God would be.
Anyhow, it got me thinking about how we need to be trinitarian in our thinking, with all these things we are re-thinking, it’s the thing that stops us swinging to far the other way. I have wondered in much of what I have been reading about where the holy spirit is? Where is the Holy Spirit in our theolgoy and our experience?
On monday morning I was getting ready for work, and praying about something personal I was struggling with, asking God if He was there and interested in my life at all. I then opened my e-mail to find a friend Eric Keck had just written to me, feeling God had nudged him to write. What he wrote included word for word what I had just prayed…..I’m taking that as the Holy Spirit working in my life, and speaking.
Now Eric BTW is a wonderful guy and you can check out his blog at http://www.erickeck.com/
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Comment by Matt
10.26 am on 13 Dec 2004
have you come across Clark Pinnock’s book on the Holy Spirit : ‘Flame of Love’? Highly recommended. He deals with a lot of the points you have raised e.g. the relationship between HS and creation; how we perhaps need to think about Christ continuing the Spirit’s mission in the world rather than the Spirit continuing Christ’s mission (because otherwise it can look like the Spirit has only been active since Christ) etc. Best theology on the Holy Spirit I’ve come across. Matt.
Comment by DLE
7.42 pm on 13 Dec 2004
Isn’t it odd that in a charismatic generation we have so little of the Holy Spirit operating through the charisma in our churches?
In Emergent circles there is an extreme reliance on demographic studies to determine direction, sociological studies to analyze the inner man, and a whole host of other kinds of studies that replace the work of the Holy Spirit altogether.
Why is Emergent so radically secular? Why have the leaders so easily given their hearts over to scientific studies and rarely mention the Holy Spirit except in passing?
A very distressing situation, to say the least!
Comment by john
8.58 pm on 13 Dec 2004
Great reminder…thanks.
Comment by Scott Baxter
6.05 pm on 14 Dec 2004
I love those moments, almost as if the Holy Spirit waits until we are sure it is Him.
Are we shy of the Holy Spirit? or is the Holy Spirit shy of us? R T Kendalls book ‘The Sensitivity of the Spirit’ i feel challenges us on this point.
Comment by Sivin Kit
1.37 am on 15 Dec 2004
I was just talking with someone on this a couple of days ago … as I shared about some “ministry” time I had at a recent methodist youth camp and how I “felt” led to do it.
I think I’m taking this post as the Holy spirit affirming some “stirrings” within me.
Pinnock’s book is a good one and was helpful for me. So, that’s a good recommendation.
Comment by Paul
10.24 pm on 15 Dec 2004
Interesting one Jason. Particularly in the context of the short tradition of the Vineyard movement and the signs and wonders heritage. Now it seems more to be about sighs and wanderers as people leave to find that buzz again or arrive with no sort of HS background –
Has the HS left us? Or have we left her? Or neither and she is still there doing her thing amongst her but now we just kinda of accept that as the status quo?
The answer for me is not to hanker for those classic vineyard days, with major conferences and top gifted individuals but perhaps still keep alive the dream of being naturally supernatural, incarnate in the world with the incarnate spiirt indwelling in us, guiding us whether the father whether its via the world wide web or a word of wisdom, to heal the sick with the miracle of medicine or the miracle of divine intervention etc
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