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The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit: Trinitarian Pneumatology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2009

J. Moltmann  and
Margaret Kohl
J. Moltmann
Affiliation:
Liebermeisterstr. 12 D-7400 Tübingen West Germany
Margaret Kohl
Affiliation:
Siegstätter Weg 11 D-8011 Forstinning West Germany
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Extract

‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.’ This is an ancient form of benediction very generally used in the Christian church. I should like to take it up here, asking what is meant by ‘the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’? Does the divine Spirit enter into community with us human beings? Does he admit us into his ‘community’ with the Father and the Son? Why does the benediction not talk about divine sovereignty and absolute human dependence in connection with the Holy Spirit? Why does it so emphatically use the word ‘fellowship’ instead?

Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , August 1984 , pp. 287 - 300
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1984

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References

page 287 note 1 Moltmann, J., The Trinity and the Kingdom of God, trans. Kohl, Margarel (London: SCM Press; New York: Harper & Row, 1981). I am here developing further some ideas put forward there.Google Scholar

page 290 note 2 Greg. Naz., Or. 31, 11.

page 290 note 3 Augustine, De trinitate, XII c. 5. Also Thomas Aquinas, S.Th., I, q. 93 a.4. Cf. also the comments of Mayr, F. K., ‘Trinitätstheologie und theologische Anthropologie’, ZThk 68 (1971), pp. 427–477.Google Scholar

page 291 note 4 Schmaus, M., Die psychologische Trinitätslehre des hl. Augustinus (Münster, 1927), p. 199.Google Scholar

page 291 note 5 ibid., pp. 222f; cf. Mayr, F. K., ‘Augustins Kritik der Analogie zwischen Trinität und menschlichcr Familie in De Trinitate XII’, Révue des Études Augustiennes 19 (1971).Google Scholar

page 293 note 6 This discussion is very well described in Krusche, W., Das Wirken des Heiligen Geistes nach Calvin (Göttingen, 1957), pp. 33ff.Google Scholar

page 292 note 7 Quoted in Krusche, op. cit., p. 41.

page 293 note 8 For criticism of this view cf. Bφrresen, K. E., Subordination et equivalence. Nature et rôle de femme d'apres Augustin et Thomas d'Aquin (Oslo & Paris, 1968)Google Scholar; Ruether, R., New Woman — New Earth: Sexist Ideologies and Human Liberation (New York: Seabury Press, 1975).Google Scholar

page 293 note 9 Staniloae, D., ‘The Holy Trinity: Structure of Supreme Love’ in his Theology and the Church (New York, 1980), pp. 73–108Google Scholar; Osthathios, G. Mar, Theology of a Classless Society (London, 1979; Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1980), esp. 92ff.Google Scholar

page 293 note 10 On the concept of the charismatic church cf. Eichholz, G., ‘Charismatische Gemeinde’ ThEx 77 (1959)Google Scholar; Moltmann, J., The Church in the Power of the Spirit, trans. Kohl, Margaret (London: SCM Press; New York: Harper & Row, 1975)Google Scholar. In eucumenical discussions it is always only the mutual recognition of ministries which is talked about as condition for the church's unity. Why is the fellowship of the congregations not also brought into the discussion as a condition for unity?

page 295 note 11 Chenu, M.-D., ‘Die Neubelehung der trinitarischen Grundstruktur der Kirche’, Concilium 17 (1981), pp. 453–460.Google Scholar

page 295 note 12 Zinzendorf, Nikolaus Graf, Hauptschriften, II (Hildesheim, 1963), pp. 33ff.: The first address in Pennsylvania.Google Scholar

page 295 note 13 Many of the homilies ascribed to Macarius appear to be the work of Symeon: cf. the extensive historical study by 1Dörries, H., Die Theologie des Makarios/Symeon (Göttingen, 1978).Google Scholar

page 295 note 14 For further evidence cf. Murray, R., Symbols of Church and Kingdom. A Study in Early Syriac Tradition (London, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1975), pp. 142ff., 312ff.Google Scholar

page 296 note 15 Schmid, H., Die Dogmatik der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche, 7th ed. (Gütersloh, 1893), I: De scriptura sacra, pp. 18ffGoogle Scholar. Also the comments of Barth, K., Church Dogmatics I/1, trans. Bromiley, Geoffrey (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975). §4, PP. 120ff.Google Scholar