Book Reviews / Pneuma 35 (2013) 87-156
91
D. Vincent Twomey and Janet E. Rutherford, eds., The Holy Spirit in the Fathers of the Church: The Proceedings of the Seventh International Patristic Conference, Maynooth, 2008 (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2010). 203 pp., €50 hardback.
The ten papers in this excellent volume are conference contributions of well-established scholars on a range of authors and sub-themes. Essays are arranged chronologically by sub- ject matter beginning in the second century and extending to modern “fathers” of the twen- tieth century. This volume would effectively introduce advanced students to patristic pneumatology since most essays quite deftly balance analysis of historical, textual, and lin- guistic issues with discussion of the constructive significance of particular early church thinkers, all without unnecessary repetition. The cumulative result is a rich survey of pneu- matology as developed in contexts as varied as heresiology, dogmatic debates, catechesis, ecclesiastical politics, and mystical theology.
Though not explicitly organized this way, it is helpful to consider how each essay fits into one of four categories. First, two papers provide broad and very useful overviews of the pneumatology of one particular author. Brendan Leahy unfurls Irenaeus’ dramatic account of the role of the Holy Spirit in the divine economy as integral to his response to Gnosticism. After the fall, the simultaneously active and self-effacing Holy Spirit works to bring human beings to fulfillment in communion with Christ, a movement that requires of humans the patience to receive themselves from God in history. Serafim Seppälä presents the work of Isaac of Nineveh as representative of an experiential theology of the life-giving Holy Spirit, especially in the mystical life. Though not anti-dogmatic, Isaac portrays a Holy Spirit not grasped conceptually but illuminated in its totality. He is much more interested in the effects of the Spirit on the spiritual life: inner stillness, joy, virtue, and prayer as divinization of mental activity. This openness to the Spirit (free will is a presupposition) is not an escape from this world, but “participation in the reality in which the world to come is transparently present in this world” (150).
Secondly, several papers examine key themes in lesser known texts. Lewis Ayres shows how the idea of the Holy Spirit as undiminished giver, an important concept in the pro- Nicene arguments for the divinity of the Spirit and the mutual indwelling of divine persons, was developed by Didymus the Blind in the fourth century. Using Cyril of Jerusalem’s cate- chetical writings, Juliette Day explains how his teachings on the role of the Holy Spirit in baptism likely countered several pneumatological heresies. In his analysis of Augustine’s De consensus evangelistarum, Thomas O’Laughlin shows how Augustine responded to those who challenged the credibility of the gospels with various explanations for how the Holy Spirit works in the formation of Scripture. Finbarr Clancy draws attention to the rich Trini- tarian spirituality evinced in Fulgentius of Ruspe’s response to Arian questions about the relationship of the Trinity and Eucharist. Fulgentius’ discourses on Eucharistic prayers, which emphasize the invocation of the Holy Spirit not primarily to consecrate the elements but to bring about the unity of their recipients, appear to reflect early Latin evidence for epiclesis. Though Clancy indicates his findings would be useful in Roman Catholic-Orthodox dialogue, further paragraphs of elaboration would have been helpful.
Thirdly, two papers engage directly the controversy of the filioque, and both build in dif- ferent ways on two key assertions. The first is that amidst their efforts to establish the Spirit’s
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013 DOI: 10.1163/15700747-12341277
1
92
Book Reviews / Pneuma 35 (2013) 87-156
divinity, the fourth-century Nicene theologians did not give a definitive answer to the ques- tion of procession. Secondly, the east-west schism was/is as much or more over ecclesiology than theology strictly speaking. Addressing the western charge of an inadequate account of the eternal relationship of Son and Holy Spirit in eastern thought, Andreas Andreopolis examines the account given by Patriarch Photios of Constantinople, who emphasized the movement of the Holy Spirit to rest on the Son, and hence on the Body of Christ. Gregory Collins compares the assessments of the filioque by Karl Barth (good), Vladimir Lossky (bad), and Sergei Bulgakov (indifferent). The latter’s view of the matter as theologoumen — more than opinion but less than dogma — coalesces with his conviction that the filioque does not constitute but rather reveals the causes of disunity: “the schismatic spirit and false dogma- tism on both sides” (180).
Fourthly, although many papers make links to contemporary concerns, two papers do so in notably explicit ways. Patrick Mullins traces Ambrose’s Marian typology of the church through its deployment in the documents of Vatican II. And Janet Rutherford uses her extended account of the Alexandrian pneumatology of Clement and Origen as a basis for recommending Christian Platonism today. Though I am not persuaded by her working assumption that “Christian theology has need of a philosophy that can take us forward afresh” (48) and that Christian Platonism is that “once and future philosophy,” her reasons for claiming this are bound to stimulate productive discussion. She recommends its capacity to highlight the “saving knowledge” thread of the tradition and to hold together divine prov- idence with human free will. Even more provocatively, she argues that in Platonism might be found a new rapprochement between science and theology, both of which contend with the inability of human observers to see fundamental realities from two perspectives at once. For quantum physics, electrons can be viewed as particles or waves while for theology the Trin- ity may be seen ontologically as a unity but in terms of operations as diversity (51); but while in each case both are affirmed to be simultaneously true, no human observer can grasp the conceptual account of how this is so. In Christian Platonism, both science and theology acknowledge that God is the only observer who sees everything at once.
This volume is recommended for theological libraries, and for reading lists in advanced courses on the Holy Spirit or the development of Trinitarian theology.
Reviewed by Jeremy M. Bergen
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Theology Conrad Grebel University College
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario [email protected]
2
Leave a Reply