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Deprived of eros, the body can become the champion of thanatos.
— James B. Nelson, Embodiment, 41.
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The depersonalization of the Holy Spirit serves the interest of those who would employ a divine image to further their own desires for control, those who seek to domesticate the divine, the ultimate expression of idolatry. The depersonalization of the Holy Spirit is counter to the imago Dei given to all human creation through the agency of the Spirit. A depersonalized spirit reflects the depersonalization of God as Spirit. God as Spirit is life, and as such human life is subject and not object. The Holy Spirit in his person reflects the personality of the Godhead.The Trinity reflects this communion of persons, not of influences or energies.
— Samuel Solivan, “The Holy Spirit - Personalization and the Affirmation of Diversity: A Pentecostal Hispanic Perspective,” in Teologia en Conjunto: A Collaborative Hispanic Protestant Theology
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Perhaps a new way of experiencing God in the world of nature is
to appreciate that the God who is triune relation is present in nature as the very source of the interrelation of all things. The interpersonal divine love that is Trinity makes space for the world, and energizes it by creating the cosmos to exist with all things in relation one to the other. The more we discover our relation to other humans to the non-human creation, and recognize the interconnectedness of all things, we experience the One who transcends all things and yet is in all things as the source of their dynamic interrelation; the Father and the Son who in their mutual love breathe forth the Holy Spirit.
to appreciate that the God who is triune relation is present in nature as the very source of the interrelation of all things. The interpersonal divine love that is Trinity makes space for the world, and energizes it by creating the cosmos to exist with all things in relation one to the other. The more we discover our relation to other humans to the non-human creation, and recognize the interconnectedness of all things, we experience the One who transcends all things and yet is in all things as the source of their dynamic interrelation; the Father and the Son who in their mutual love breathe forth the Holy Spirit.
— Ralph del Colle, “The Experience of the Divine,” Chicago Studies
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Any and every spirituality to be authentic and relevant must come to terms with personal and social sin and evil…. it must realize that sin and evil goes beyond the individual; that we are all enmeshed in a social living that is complex, dynamic, and dialectical; and that our spirituality, and the very Gospel that we preach, needs to be as big and ubiquitous as sin and evil. We will falter in our spirituality and thus grieve the Spirit if “our struggle with evil” does not “correspond to the geography of evil.
— Eldin Villafane, The Liberating Spirit: Toward an Hispanic American Pentecostal Social Ethic
…in response to Mark Driscoll. For more: http://love2justice.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/light-em-up-jurgen-moltmann-responds-to-mark-driscoll/
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So if we ask about the charismata of the Holy Spirit, we musn’t look for things we don’t have. We must first of all discern who we are, what we are and how we are, at the point where we feel the touch of God on our lives. What is given to all believers in common and equally, is the gift of the Holy Spirit…. What is given to each person individually and uniquely is different and full of diversity.
— Jurgen Moltmann, The Spirit of Life
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The miracle of Pentecost is that the Spirit enables the difficult and even impossible task of understanding the other in all his or her otherness, strangeness, and difference.
— Amos Yong, The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh, pg 254.
The Mind of Francis: Capitalism, Jobs & Globalization | National Catholic Reporter
His critique of capitalist systems is not just economic and political; it is also theological because “it tames religion so that it does not bother Capitalism too much.” It fosters a worldly spirit that forgets “the act of adoring God means to submit to His will, to His justice, to His law, and to His prophetic inspiration.” Capitalism, he wrote, fosters “a civilization of consumerism, of hedonism, of political arrangements between the powers or political sectors, [and] the reign of money.”
But his strongest words come in criticizing capitalism’s treatment of workers: “There is no worse dispossession,” he wrote, “than not being able to earn one’s own bread, than being denied the dignity of work.” What degrades the poor, he wrote, is “not giving them the oil that anoints them with dignity: a job.” He praises priests, who, imitating Don Bosco, help kids in shantytowns to become electricians, cooks, tailors, etc.”
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Pneumatology thereby attempts to account for divine presence and agency in the world, understood comprehensively to include its natural, cultural, social, institutional, interpersonal, dimensions. The Christian belief that God is no respecter of persons (Acts I 0.34) - regardless of race or ethnicity, gender, social standing,
religious affiliation, or geographical location - and that the Holy Spirit is being poured out universally (Acts 2.17), means that whatever else we as human beings might be up to, we do not live apart from the Spirit of God nor can we escape her (cf. Ps. 139.7-16).
religious affiliation, or geographical location - and that the Holy Spirit is being poured out universally (Acts 2.17), means that whatever else we as human beings might be up to, we do not live apart from the Spirit of God nor can we escape her (cf. Ps. 139.7-16).
— Amos Yong, “Spiritual Discernment: A Biblical-Theological Reconsideration” in The Spirit and Spirituality
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To remain anchored in a non-evolving traditionalism, whether out of ignorance or selfishness, is to close one’s eyes to what is meant by authentic Christian tradition. For the tradition that Christ entrusted to his Church is not a museum of souvenirs to be protected. It is true that tradition comes out of the past, and that it ought to be loved and faithfully preserved. But it has always a view to the future. It is a tradition that makes the Church new, up to date, effective in every historical epoch. It is a tradition that nourishes the Church’s hope and faith so that she may go on preaching, so that she may invite all men and women to the new heaven and new earth that God has promised (Revelation 21:1; Isaiah 65:17).
— Archbishop Oscar Romero, “The Church, The Body of Christ in History,” 2nd Pastoral Letter, August 6, 1977
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