Revelation and the Spirit

The theme of this study is the relationship between the doctrine of revelation and pneumatology. How can we conceive of the relation between the self-revelation of God and our knowledge of that self-revelation? This is an important question given the postmodern abandonment of any normative understanding of truth and the mushrooming of alternative forms of spirituality. The task of Christian mission in the context of popular pluralism raises the question of the relationship between truth and experience. The focus of the work is a critical comparison between two contemporary Lutheran theologians, Wolfhart Pannenberg and Eberhard Jungel. By contrasting these influential writers clear distinctions are drawn between an approach based on metaphor and metaphysic. Both approaches are deemed to be deficient in their construction and it is argued that some of these problems emerge from a common Lutheran heritage. It is further argued that Trinitarian pneumatology might be better advanced by giving greater weight to the concepts of participation and communion. In doing so, some contribution is made towards long-standing pneumatological questions, including the personhood of the Holy Spirit and the distinction between God as Spirit and the Holy Spirit. Graham Watts has provided a useful service to the theological readership by giving us this careful, critical and comparative study of Jungel and Pannenberg, focused on the doctrines of revelation and the Spirit. Drawing on the important contemporary critics, notably Jenson, Dalferth, Schwoebel, Torrance and Gunton, he teases out some interesting interpretative insights and gives readers helpful and accurate exposition in so doing. --Timothy Bradshaw, Regent's Park College, Oxford, UK The tendency of much writing on the Spirit has been to fall either into abstruse, amorphous speculation or overly subjective accounts of religious experience. This book obviates both failings. It is a theologically profound but also highly focused treatment of the concrete reality of the Spirit in God's Self-disclosure. This is an invaluable resource for academics, students and theologically engaged ministers alike. --Alan J. Torrance, Chair of Systematic Theology, St Mary's College, University of St Andrews, Scotland Both Pannenberg's and Jungel's theologies pose a considerable challenge for the theological enquirer. Graham Watts has done a great service as with lucidity and facility he clarifies the thinking of these two contemporary theologians, displays the significance of their respective theological work and enables readers to benefit from their profound theological insight. This is a skillful and coherent piece of work which will add to more general theological appreciation of their contribution and will enrich many. --Nigel G. Wright, Principal, Spurgeon's College, London, UK Graham Watts is minister at Albany Road Baptist Church, Cardiff, and, since 1997, has been a distance learning tutor in Christian Doctrine for Spurgeon's College.