The Spirit Of Augustine’s Early Theology

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 35 (2013) 87-156

Chad Tyler Gerber, The Spirit of Augustine’s Early Theology (Ashgate Studies in Philosophy & Theology in Late Antiquity; Surrey/Burlington: Ashgate, 2012). xii + 215 pp., $89.95 hardcover.

In The Spirit of Augustine’s Early Theology Chad Gerber provides a valuable pneumatological overview of one of western Christianity’s greatest thinkers. Gerber highlights Augustine’s innovation and continuity with the broader patristic tradition by exploring Augustine’s ear- lier writings at Cassiciacum (386-387 C.E.) and moving through his Roman writings (387-388 C.E.) and Thagastan writings (389-391 C.E.). As the study progresses the reader gets a glimpse of how vast is the topic of Augustine’s pneumatology. Like a guide at a great historical site Gerber knows his way around the area extensively, leading his audience with clarity and insight.

Pentecostal and charismatic readers will find three aspect of this work particularly rewarding. First, Gerber places Augustine’s pnetumatology within the context of its scrip- tural foundations. Examples abound of Augustine’s reception and expansion on biblical themes related to pneumatology. Second, the patristic heritage is referenced frequently, highlighting Augustine’s interaction with his theological predecessors and contemporaries. Third, data is analyzed within a rich theological framework providing language and con- cepts for the contemporary theologian to use in bringing Augustine’s voice to bear in the modern world.

Pentecostal and charismatic readers should not expect to find information in this book about Augustine’s understanding of the charismata or other external, experiential dimen- sions of life in the Spirit. These topics are not addressed in the study. The study does do a great job looking at pneumatology broadly defined. Gerber demonstrates that Augustine’s pneumatology undergirds his view of redemption, approach to Trinitarianism, and theology of creation. Each of these three areas merits further exposition.

The Spirit is closely involved with the redemption of each believer through “cognitive, affective, behavioral, and sacramental” means. Gerber writes: “the Spirit illumines the ‘eyes’ of the mind, stirs the soul to thirst and seek, empowers us to avoid evil and receive divine rewards, and washes us of sin and feeds us the bread of life” (p. 121). We can recognize in these themes that Augustine’s pneumatology reflects the concerns of both the New Testa- ment and broader patristic literature.

Augustine’s Trinitarian theology reflects his distinct approach to pneumatology: “the Spirit subsists as the love conjoining the Father and the Son” (p. 148). This way of approach- ing pneumatology locates the Spirit’s “economy” in the Spirit’s “eternality.” The Spirit is not only the love “conjoining” the Father and the Son but also the love fostering communion between God and human beings. The Spirit “infuses” God’s love into human souls blessing and transforming them. This “love-pneumatology” takes fuller expression in Augustine’s later writings, but is present in an “incipient” form in his earlier works.

It is not only human beings that benefit from the work of the Spirit but also broader cre- ation: the Spirit maintains all things in the “cosmic order” in “their proper places” and “preserves” their “forms.” This “order-pneumatology” highlights the Spirit’s capacity to har- monize the diversity of humanity and broader creation without compromising particularity and distinctness. Augustine understands this “holding together” in “composite unity” as a

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013 DOI: 10.1163/15700747-12341280

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 35 (2013) 87-156

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Trinitarian enterprise: “the Spirit completes and sustains all that the Father has formed through the Son” (p. 200). Just as the Spirit points to the Father and Son in the gift of love to humanity so also does the Spirit point to the Father and the Son in the gift of unity.

In addition to providing valuable insight into Augustine’s early pneumatology, Gerber addresses the controversial issues of Augustine’s relationship with Neoplatonic philosophy. Previously, Olivier du Roy and R. J. O’Connell suggested that Augustine’s pneumatology depended heavily on Plotinus’ philosophy of the third hypostasis. This reading of Augustine poses problems for understanding his early work as firmly rooted within the pro-Nicene patristic tradition. For Gerber, if Augustine adopted Plotinus’ understanding of the third hypostases without qualification for his pneumatology, then Nicene concerns for the coeter- nality of the Spirit with the Father and the Son as well as the substantial distinction between the divine essence of the Spirit and the created essences of human spirits would be obscured. He points out the shortcomings in this Neoplatonic reading of Augustine’s pneumatology by demonstrating that the Catholic community in Milan (the community providing Augustine early catechesis and formation in the Catholic tradition) interacted with Neoplatonism in a very intentional and selective way (i.e., preserving helpful language and concepts from Neo- platonism but rejecting those things contrary to the Nicene heritage). Thus, Gerber’s under- standing of the early Augustine identifies him as pro Niceneand scrupulous in his use of Neoplatonic material.

The Spirit of Augustine’s Early Theology is a valuable work for theologians, historians, ecu- menists, and patristic scholars within Pentecostal and charismatic traditions and beyond. The work is technical at times in it interpretation of the primary sources, but offers extensive explanation of all of the major facets of Augustine’s early pneumatology. This book will appeal primarily to audiences engaged in graduate, doctoral, or other forms of advanced research. While being very informative, this book also honors the “spirit” in which Augustine approached pneumatology: as a journey progressing ever more deeply into the mystery of God. One can perceive Gerber’s passion for his readers to both understand and experience the realities about which Augustine writes: to be informed and transformed by the Spirit.

Reviewed by Jacob D. Dodson

Minister, Mennonite Church USA, Wooster, Ohio [email protected]

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