After the Spirit - A Constructive Pneumatology from Resources Outside the Modern West

"To think about the Spirit it will not do to think 'spiritually': to think about the Spirit you have to think materially," claims Eugene F. Rogers. The Holy Spirit, who in classical Christian discourse "pours out on all flesh," has tended in modern theology and worship to float free of bodies. The result of such disembodiment, contends Rogers, is that our talk about the Spirit has become flat and uninspiring. In After the Spirit Rogers diagnoses a related gap in the revival of trinitarian theology, a mentality that "there's nothing the Spirit can do that the Son can't do better."

The Eastern Christian tradition, by contrast, has usually linked the Holy Spirit with holy places, holy people, and holy things. Weaving together a rich tapestry of sources from this tradition, Rogers locates the Spirit in the Gospel stories of the annunciation, Jesus' baptism, the transfiguration, and the resurrection. These stories offer illuminating glimpses into both the Spirit's connection with the tangible world and the Spirit's distinctive place in relation to the other persons of the Trinity.

List of contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION: After the Body, After the Spirit YOU WONDER WHERE THE SPIRIT WENT Is There Nothing the Spirit Can Do That the Son Can't Do Better? or, How the Spirit Puzzles a Trinitarian Revival Barth fumbles (Karl Barth, Gregory of Nazianzus) Florensky shrugs (Pavel Florensky and the Pentecost liturgy) How Barth's love for Athanasius can cast out fear of Schleiermacher (Barth, Athanasius) Is the Spirit Superfluous? or, How the Spirit Does Economics The Plowman suspects the surplus (Piers Plowman as in Vance Smith) Bulgakov diagnoses the suspicion (Sergei Bulgakov) How Feuerbach and Schmemann are what they eat (Feuerbach, Alexander Schmemann) Where the Spirit Rests: Matter and Narrative; or, How the Spirit Does Material Culture A person seeks to be known (P. F.Strawson, Emmanuel-Pataq Siman) The Spirit deifies: An excursus on Augustine (as interpreted by R. Williams and T. van Bavel) The narrative depicts the person The Spirit befriends matter What the Spirit can do THE SPIRIT RESTS ON THE BODY OF THE SON Resurrection The Spirit rests on the Son in the resurrection and so identifies all three Persons by it (history of exegesis of Romans 8) The Spirit gives to Gentiles in the Son what Jews keep in the Messiah (against supersessionism, following Stowers) Annunciation The Spirit rests on the Son in the womb of Mary (Romanos the Melodist) Felix dilatio: The Spirit favors the order of consummation over the order of redemption (Amadeus of Lausanne) The Spirit rests on the Son in the womb of the Father (Augustine, Benedict, Toledo) The Spirit rests on the Son in the womb in Christ's side (Gregory of Nyssa, Caroline Bynum, Guerric d'Igny) The Spirit rests on the Son in the womb of the wine (Ephrem and other Syrians, Rowan Williams, Judith Butler) Baptism The Spirit rests on the Son in the waters of the Jordan (Jacob of Serugh, Emile Durkheim, Gregory of Nyssa, and others) The Spirit rests on the Son in the waters of creation (Ephrem, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nazianzus, Irenaeus, and others) The Spirit rests on the Son in the wilderness (Isaac of Nineveh, Donald Mackinnon, others) The Spirit rests on the Son in reversing the Fall (Sebastian Moore) Transfiguration The Spirit rests on the Son in prayer on Mount Tabor The Spirit rests on the Son in prayer in the Trinity The Spirit rests on the Son in prayer in the liturgy The Spirit rests on the Son in the transfiguration of creation The Spirit rests on the Son in asceses of marriage, love, and friendship (Simeon Stylites, Bulgakov) The Spirit rests on the human being at prayer: hesychastic aspect (Symeon the New Theologian) The Spirit rests on the Son in the habits of the law (Thomas Aquinas) Ascension and Pentecost About-Face EPILOGUE: The Spirit rests on the Son in those who do not know how to pray SOURCES CITED OR CONSULTED INDEX OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

About the author

Eugene F Rogers Jr is professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia and the author/editor of three previous works.

Product details

• Authors: Eugene F. Rogers, Eugene F. Jr. Rogers
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 26.07.2005
• EAN: 9780802828910
• ISBN: 978-0-8028-2891-0
• No. of pages: 264
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 16 mm
• Weight: 434 g
• Series: Radical Traditions (Paperback)
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Christianity