Spirit(s) in contemporary Christian theology

an interim report of the unbinding of pneumatology

Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen

pp. 29-40

in: Amos Yong, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Kirsteen Kim (eds), Interdisciplinary and religio-cultural discourses on a spirit-filled world, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

Abstract

The contribution of the present chapter to this interdisciplinary, intercultural, and interreligious reflection on the loosing of the spirit(s) comes from the resources and perspective of systematic/constructive theology. The chapter seeks to discern and critically assess the state of Christian pneumatology in the beginning of the third millennium, in order to, first, diagnose its promise and omissions, and, second, help locate the current volume's contributions in the wider matrix of theology. Two foundational insights guide my investigation. First, there are exciting and exhilarating developments under way that point to what can be regarded as nothing less than the transformation of Christian pneumatology. Second—here comes the bad news!—it seems to me that by and large "mainline" Christian pneumatologies are still imprisoned in what may be called a "unitive" pneumatology, that is, they only speak of one spirit, the Spirit of God, and leave out of consideration other spirits, powers, energies. What is needed could be called a "plural" pneumatology: it is mindful of the meaning, role, and effects of other spirits vis-à-vis, along with, and as opposed to the Spirit of God.