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How the Spirit Became God: The Mosaic of Early Christian Pneumatology
In How the Spirit Became God , Kyle Hughes tells the often-neglected story of how and why the early church came to recognize that the Holy Spirit was a distinct divine person. While the subject of Christ’s divinity is a popular topic in church and academy alike, the notion of the Spirit’s divinity remains a mysterious yet intriguing question for many Christians today. Focusing on major pneumatological innovations from Pentecost through the Council of Constantinople in 381, Hughes examines how biblical interpretation and the lived experience of the Spirit contributed to the development of this important, and yet often overlooked, aspect of trinitarian theology. This important contribution not only explains, from a historical yet accessible perspective, the development of early Christian pneumatology but also challenges readers to apply these insights from the church fathers to engaging with the person of the Holy Spirit today.
- GenresTheology
176 pages, Paperback
Published April 16, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 20, 2024
Much has been said and written about the Father and the Son in terms of the Godhead and the Trinity; comparatively far fewer studies exist in terms of the Spirit.
How the Spirit Became God: The Mosaic of Early Christian Pneumatology represents a great contribution to understanding the development in understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit and His divinity.
The author charted the development of “orthodox” pneumatology from the days after the Apostles until the “mature” conciliar pronouncements at the end of the fourth century.
Throughout he did well at demonstrating how the early Christian “church fathers” articulated and formulated their understanding of the Spirit based upon their reflection upon what the Spirit had made known in Scripture, in light of the various potential alternatives which arose from the Gnostics, Montanists, Pneumatomachians, etc, and in light of the perceived continued work and experience of the Spirit in and among Christians and the church.
He approached the development in terms of triads: he considered the original formulations and developments within the Gospel of John, the Epistle of Barnabas, and Justin Martyr. Then the perspectives of Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Origen, understanding their perspectives in light of what had come before and according to their own situations with the Montanists, Gnostics, etc. The third triad would be Athanasius, Didymus the Blind, and Basil of Caesarea, also in light of those who came before them, and in view of the resistance of the Pneumatomachians.
All of these lead to the synthesis which represents modern “orthodoxy”: the Spirit not as a created divine being but fully God, One with the Father and the Son, with His own place in the divine economy. The author well laid out how these conclusions developed yet remained faithful to the witness of Scripture.
A lot of what has developed as Christian “orthodox” doctrine developed in similar ways. Various aspects of the truth did not require the depth of investigation and explication until alternative ideas were advanced which were perceived to stand at variance with the way God made things known in Christ through the Spirit according to the witness of Scripture. We could find this development in understanding embarrassing, and can certainly concede and grant aspects in which some “developments” were really digressions or ways in which people turned aside from the apostolic standards of faith and practice. But it would be unwise to consider all such developments as intrinsically suspect because they developed over time.
A highly recommended read in order to come to a better understanding of why the Holy Spirit is best understood to be a full Person of the Godhead and how this understanding well developed through experience and understanding of the witness of the Spirit in Scripture.
How the Spirit Became God: The Mosaic of Early Christian Pneumatology represents a great contribution to understanding the development in understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit and His divinity.
The author charted the development of “orthodox” pneumatology from the days after the Apostles until the “mature” conciliar pronouncements at the end of the fourth century.
Throughout he did well at demonstrating how the early Christian “church fathers” articulated and formulated their understanding of the Spirit based upon their reflection upon what the Spirit had made known in Scripture, in light of the various potential alternatives which arose from the Gnostics, Montanists, Pneumatomachians, etc, and in light of the perceived continued work and experience of the Spirit in and among Christians and the church.
He approached the development in terms of triads: he considered the original formulations and developments within the Gospel of John, the Epistle of Barnabas, and Justin Martyr. Then the perspectives of Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Origen, understanding their perspectives in light of what had come before and according to their own situations with the Montanists, Gnostics, etc. The third triad would be Athanasius, Didymus the Blind, and Basil of Caesarea, also in light of those who came before them, and in view of the resistance of the Pneumatomachians.
All of these lead to the synthesis which represents modern “orthodoxy”: the Spirit not as a created divine being but fully God, One with the Father and the Son, with His own place in the divine economy. The author well laid out how these conclusions developed yet remained faithful to the witness of Scripture.
A lot of what has developed as Christian “orthodox” doctrine developed in similar ways. Various aspects of the truth did not require the depth of investigation and explication until alternative ideas were advanced which were perceived to stand at variance with the way God made things known in Christ through the Spirit according to the witness of Scripture. We could find this development in understanding embarrassing, and can certainly concede and grant aspects in which some “developments” were really digressions or ways in which people turned aside from the apostolic standards of faith and practice. But it would be unwise to consider all such developments as intrinsically suspect because they developed over time.
A highly recommended read in order to come to a better understanding of why the Holy Spirit is best understood to be a full Person of the Godhead and how this understanding well developed through experience and understanding of the witness of the Spirit in Scripture.
April 7, 2024
The Development of the Spirit
The writer points out in this book that the deity of the Holy Spirit did not arise with the birth of the church, but through time and study and counsel was fully reached. Just as it took time for the deity of Jesus to be recognized, the same is true of the Holy Spirit. The author shows that development. Good insights into the start of the church.
The writer points out in this book that the deity of the Holy Spirit did not arise with the birth of the church, but through time and study and counsel was fully reached. Just as it took time for the deity of Jesus to be recognized, the same is true of the Holy Spirit. The author shows that development. Good insights into the start of the church.
June 12, 2024
The Church Fathers and the Development of Pneumatology
I’ll admit, for a non-technician, this book can be a slog. But it is well organized, each chapter ending with a tidy summary of the chapter, and the book itself tying it all up with a summary.
For me, a non-technician, the gold was in the end with the author’s challenge to the reader / the Church.
I’ll admit, for a non-technician, this book can be a slog. But it is well organized, each chapter ending with a tidy summary of the chapter, and the book itself tying it all up with a summary.
For me, a non-technician, the gold was in the end with the author’s challenge to the reader / the Church.
June 19, 2022
Some recent polls reveal that a surprising number of American Christians hold the heretical view that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force rather than a personal being. Certainly there are some scriptural passages that, taken by themselves, might seem to support such a view. The Spirit is "the power of the Most High" (Lk 1:35) and can be "poured out" (Isa 32:15; Acts 2:33; 10:45; Titus 3:5-6) and sometimes "quenched" (1 Th 5:19). So how did the Holy Spirit come to be viewed as the third person of the Trinity?
In this informative study, the author chronicles the development of the Christian doctrine of the Holy Spirit, up to the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD. He describes the contributions of Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Novatian, Origen, Athanasius, Didymus the Blind, Basil of Caesarea, and Gregory of Nazianzus. In his discussion, he highlights how this development was motivated by the church's desire to understand another set of scriptures---particularly John 15:26 and John 16:13, which say that the Spirit bears witness to Jesus and will lead Christians to all truth---in light of its experience of the Spirit.
The early church fathers, Hughes explains, identified several passages from the Hebrew Scriptures in which they recognized the Spirit bearing witness to the Father and Son---Ps 110:1; Gen 19:24; Ps 45:6-7; Isa 53:1. In their interpretation of these passages, they used a technique that scholars call prosopological exegesis. (This technique has become a recent focus of much scholarly work, including books by Matthew Bates and Madison Pierce.)
This is a book for general audiences based on the author's dissertation, and it is more than an academic study. The final chapter discusses Andrei Rublev's visual depiction of the Trinity from the fifteenth century, viewing it as invitation for us to join in fellowship with the Trinity. Hughes concludes with some thoughts, based on the preceding chapters, on how Christians might best respond to that invitation.
In this informative study, the author chronicles the development of the Christian doctrine of the Holy Spirit, up to the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD. He describes the contributions of Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Novatian, Origen, Athanasius, Didymus the Blind, Basil of Caesarea, and Gregory of Nazianzus. In his discussion, he highlights how this development was motivated by the church's desire to understand another set of scriptures---particularly John 15:26 and John 16:13, which say that the Spirit bears witness to Jesus and will lead Christians to all truth---in light of its experience of the Spirit.
The early church fathers, Hughes explains, identified several passages from the Hebrew Scriptures in which they recognized the Spirit bearing witness to the Father and Son---Ps 110:1; Gen 19:24; Ps 45:6-7; Isa 53:1. In their interpretation of these passages, they used a technique that scholars call prosopological exegesis. (This technique has become a recent focus of much scholarly work, including books by Matthew Bates and Madison Pierce.)
This is a book for general audiences based on the author's dissertation, and it is more than an academic study. The final chapter discusses Andrei Rublev's visual depiction of the Trinity from the fifteenth century, viewing it as invitation for us to join in fellowship with the Trinity. Hughes concludes with some thoughts, based on the preceding chapters, on how Christians might best respond to that invitation.
May 6, 2024
An attempt to trace the development, in the first few centuries of the church, the process by which the Holy Spirit came to be recognized as a fully divine and personal subsistence of God, co-equal but distinct from God the Father and God the Son.
The story of how the doctrine of the Trinity came to be articulated and creedalized in the early church is most familiar with respect to the person of Christ, and how the Son came to be acknowledged as "God from God, light from light, very God of very God, begotten, not made..." But how the same understanding developed with regard to the Holy Spirit is less understood. Kyle Hughes tries to fill that gap here by tracing how the Holy Spirit was treated in the earliest Christian writings, until full articulation of the Trinity gained widespread acceptance in the church.
The story of how the doctrine of the Trinity came to be articulated and creedalized in the early church is most familiar with respect to the person of Christ, and how the Son came to be acknowledged as "God from God, light from light, very God of very God, begotten, not made..." But how the same understanding developed with regard to the Holy Spirit is less understood. Kyle Hughes tries to fill that gap here by tracing how the Holy Spirit was treated in the earliest Christian writings, until full articulation of the Trinity gained widespread acceptance in the church.
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September 26, 2024Read for PhD seminar
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews