David H. Jensen, The Lord and Giver of Life: Perspectives on Constructive Pneumatology (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2008), xvii + 189 Pps., $24.95; and Daniel J. O’Leary, Already Within: Divining the Hidden Spring (Blackrock: Columbia Press, 2007), 143 Pps., $21.95.
Both of the titles currently under review deal with the Spirit’s intersection with everyday life – that is, life lived in the daily ‘grind’. Both books are broadly ecumenical in that they see the Spirit as the uniting factor in the church catholic. They both also attempt to interpret the winds of the Spirit to see where they are moving in order to join the Spirit therein. The first title is an edited volume and explores a diversity of topics, whereas the latter volume is written by one author and is more reflective in orientation. Therefore, most of this review will focus on the former and not the later. In what follows, some of the contents of each title will be elucidated, as well as a suggestion for its usage.
David H. Jensen is Associate Professor of Constructive Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He has brought together a collection of essays, written by well-known scholars such as John B. Cobb Jr., Sallie McFague, Roger Haight, Eugene F. Rogers Jr., and Amos Yong, in order to reflect on the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to some of the world’s most pressing issues and problems. The book offers a corrective to disembodied depictions of the Spirit by exploring how doctrine is shaped by issues that face one’s embodied life in the churches, as well as one’s life in the world. The title brings together contemporary issues and classical resources in a dialectical manner, which is an obvious strength. Among some of the topics covered herein is the Spirit’s activity in the reading of Scripture, the reality of religious pluralism, the growing ecological crisis, the growth of consumerism, and issues of empire.
Jensen leads the volume off with a survey of biblical, patristic, medieval, and modern resources that argues that the Spirit seeks bodies in the struggle for life. Haight suggests that the best way to approach other religious traditions is, perhaps, through a Spirit-Christology. Yong reflects on the practice of hospitality, and offers a way to move beyond seeing exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism as the only approaches to religious diversity, and notes that the Spirit who gives life is evident in hospitality shown toward strangers. Rogers highlights that the spirit works alongside, in addition to, and in excess of the physical, and invokes the language of paraphysicality. McFague focuses on the environmental crisis facing (post)modernity and offers an ecological vision of the Spirit, as well as a sacramental model of the universe. Cobb’s concluding chapter proposes that the transformed mind wrought by the Spirit will no longer pursue wealth above the expansion of the kingdom of God.
Daniel O’Leary is a Roman Catholic priest, author and teacher in the Diocese of Leeds, UK. As curate and parish priest, he has worked in parishes for almost thirty years. He taught theology and religious education in St Mary’s University College in London before being appointed Episcopal Vicar for Christian Formation in Leeds. He holds Masters degrees in theology, spirituality and religious education. Already Within is a collection of O’Leary’s contributions to The Tablet over several years. The emphasis of the book is that of realising the presence of the ever-present Spirit in the ordinary moments of our lives. Nothing goes to waste, O’Leary stipulates – every event, even mistakes and sins – are all part of the bigger story of God for our lives. The articles, arranged in months and themes, refer to an extremely wide range of issues, and all the pieces begin with real life situations that the author then uses to indicate the presence of an unconditionally loving God in the midst of one’s entire life.
The first title under review, though potentially useable as a devotional, is more ‘scholarly’ in orientation, and could be well-used in a Pneumatology course offering in seminary. I could easily see the latter title being used for a spiritual formation course in a seminary environment. Collectively, both titles are representative of the resurgence of pneumatological reflection in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Bradford McCall, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA