The Lord Is the Spirit. John A. Studebaker
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Название: The Lord Is the Spirit

Автор: John A. Studebaker

Издательство: Ingram

Жанр: Религия: прочее

Серия: Evangelical Theological Society Monograph Series

isbn: 9781630876852

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СКАЧАТЬ id="ulink_d6cfc864-b2c7-543c-967f-ae75bcc914b4">With his insistence on the concept of theopneustia Barth nullifies any purely philosophical hermeneutics. Pneumatology is from now on to afford him a specifically Christian tool of interpretation which corresponds to his trinitarian teaching and to his Christology.155

      The Veracious Authority of the Spirit—Definition and Storyline

      In response to enlightenment humanism, which granted supreme authority to the human intellect and moral conscience, modern theologians began searching for ways to define and establish a Christian understanding of authority, to establish that Christianity was indeed the highest form of rationality or the most rational system, and to determine the ultimate methodology in the determination of truth. Though many theologians attempted to employ the doctrine of the Spirit in their methodologies, they often became victims of “modern” reductionism. In particular, the Spirit’s veracious authority—his work with respect to the determination of truth—seems to be essentially reduced to a work of humanization (Schleiermacher), human or enlightened rationality (Henry), or personal encounter (Barth). Borrowing from Kantian philosophy—which divides the “noumenal” realm of spiritual knowledge from the “phenomenal” realm of experiential knowledge—Schleiermacher reduces the Spirit’s work to religious experiences, and particularly to the role of interpreter of religious experiences within the Christian community. The Spirit has authority only in that he helps the interpreter to get behind the printed words to the author’s wider social context, and then relate to that context as a manifestation of universal life. The Spirit’s veracious authority to inspire the written Word of God as a historical document, however, begins to be questioned. Schleiermacher’s “liberal” followers reduced the Spirit to humanity’s highest religious or moral aspirations and the Spirit’s authority to a moral authority that allows believers to enter the Church community and function as moral beings.

      Henry, however, seems to have reduced the Spirit’s authority to the authority of the Word of God. Henry is typical of “modern” evangelical theologians who tend to bypass the discussion of theological method—and the Spirit’s place in that discussion—and move directly to the task of constructing theological systems (as though the process of moving from the ancient biblical text to the contemporary affirmation of doctrine and theology was self-evident). According to Grenz and Franke,

      Whereas Schleiermacher neglects the Spirit’s inspiration of the Word, Henry reduces the need for the Spirit’s illumination of the Word. Such erroneous tendencies tend to neglect the history of theology as well as the Spirit’s role as teacher with respect to the Word of God and the historical Church. Ramm’s pattern of authority, once again, provides the needed balance:

      Ramm holds that “veracious authority” is spoken “not only of the one who possesses truth but also of one who aids in the determination of truth,” and makes a vital link between the Spirit and such an authority:

      In the history of theology, our pattern of divine authority is repeatedly demonstrated in terms of adherence to a veracious authority granted to the Word of God by the veracious Spirit. The New Testament carries the authority which Jesus delegated to his apostles and which the Holy Spirit held over the inspired writers.