Fresh Air: The Holy Spirit for an Inspired Life

by Jack Levison

In the Bible, the Holy Spirit staggers us with its unexpectedness. The Holy Spirit is not just about speaking in tongues, spiritual gifts or “fruits”—but also about our deepest breath and our highest human aspirations. Popular teacher Jack Levison brings a scholar’s knowledge of this complicated biblical topic to a wide audience that crosses all denominational boundaries. His new book aims to do nothing less than clarify 2,000 years of confusion on the topic of who the Holy Spirit is, and why it matters. Provocative and life-changing, Fresh Air combines moving personal anecdotes, rich biblical studies, and practical strategies for experiencing the daily presence of the Holy Spirit. In brief chapters, the book finds the presence of the Holy Spirit where we least expect it—in human breathing, in social transformation, in community, in hostile situations, and in serious learning. Fresh Air will unsettle and invigorate readers poised for a fresh experience of an ancient, confusing topic.

Genres: Theology, Biblical Studies, Spirituality, Christian Living, Christian

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Jack Levison has a passion for ideas and an obsession with writing. Eugene Peterson called his book, Fresh Air: the Holy Spirit for an Inspired Life, “a rare and remarkable achievement,” and Scot McKnight, author of The Jesus Creed, considers Filled with the Spirit as “the benchmark and starting point for all future studies of the Spirit.” His latest books launch into what is for many readers foreign territory: The Holy Spirit before Christianity (Baylor University Press, 2019) and A Boundless God: The Spirit according to the Old Testament (Baker Academic, 2020). To support his writing obsession, Jack has received grants from the National Humanities Center, the Lilly Fellows Program, the Louisville Institute, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Rotary Foundation, the International Catacomb Society, the Sam Taylor Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Jack holds the W. J. A. Power Chair of Old Testament Interpretation and Biblical Hebrew at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. He lives in Dallas with his wife of 37 years, Priscilla Pope-Levison, associate dean for external programs and professor of ministerial studies at Perkins. His two adult children, Chloe and Jeremy, live in Dallas, as well, and are the source of considerable levity.

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I picked up Fresh Air: The Holy Spirit For an Inspired Life and saw endorsments from N.T. Wright, Eugene Peterson, Walter Brueggemann, Scot McKnight, William Willimon and Phillyis Tickle I g0t excited. I am always on the hunt for a good book on the Holy Spirit so seeing this one endorsed by some of my favorite authors made me want to take up and read.  Much of what is written on the Holy Spirit has an 'anything goes' feel to it with low-level discernment, but these people don't endorse those books. So I had high hopes that this book would thoughtfully present the reality of the Spirit in a way that was fresh, insightful, inspiring and eye-opening. I was not disappointed.

Jack Levison is professor of New Testament at Seattle Pacific University. He's written an engaging book with each of the chapters profiling  people from the Bible and illuminating aspects of the spirit's activity. Through out the book he speaks of the   'holy spirit' rather than "Holy Spirit" because he is trying to be attentive to the way the biblical language functions (he is not denying the Trinity). The Greek word pnuema and the Hebrew ruach both mean wind, breath or spirit (ruach means wind fifty times in the Hebrew Bible, but the rest of its nearly four hundred occurrences refer to the spirit from God). Levison wants to preserve the way a single word in the Hebrew or Greek 'could encompass stormy winds and settled souls, the rush of the divine and the hush of human holiness(17).' And so he attends to where he hears the spirit in the text and shows us the way God's spirit is powerful and unsettling,  life-giving and good.

Levison does not always go to the most common passages people use when speaking of the spirit. But each of the people he profiles and the passages he chooses reveal who this spirit is. Here is a taste of some of the things I learned as I read this book  and the biblical passages it alludes to:

With Job I reflected on how life is a gift and God's spirit sustains us all (yes, all).  Job is confident that though he is on the verge of death, he still has life from the spirit-breath of God is in him.
From Daniel we learn that the gift of the spirit's wisdom comes from a lifetime of decisions and habits (i.e. Daniel's resistance to royal rations, his repudiation of royal ambition, his rejection of power, practice of prayer and simplicity, etc.).
Simeon's spirit-inspired-song was not just ejaculatory praise but bears the evidence of someone who has studied and searched the scriptures for a lifetime. Simeon unfolds for us Isaiah's expansive and inclusive vision.
Joel's dream (the one that is  recounted by Peter at Pentecost) speaks of a day when the spirit is not poured into individuals only but is poured out on all flesh and all societies. It is a radically inclusive vision that is not fully realized in Acts.
Chloe's complaint to Paul (reported in 1 Cor. 3) was of the divisiveness in the Corinthian church.  Paul's tells the Corinthians about the way that the spirit inhabits communities.
Levison takes us to Ezekiel's valley of dried bones and discusses the spirit's promise of restoration for the exiled and broken community of Israel. He contrasts this with the Spirit's work in the healthy thriving church of Antioch (who sent Paul and Barnabas out) where the Christians exhibited a love of learning, an ear for prophecy, were nurtured by the practices of worship and fasting, were extremely generous, had multicultural leadership and in all these things, were a source of grace. The spirit is at work in communities which feel dead and lifeless as well as in lively ones.
The spirit is not always gentle. The same spirit that descended like a dove on Jesus at his baptism, propelled him into the wilderness for a time of testing.  Levison also notes that in Mark's gospel, the only time that Jesus promises the spirit to the disciples was so that they could testify when facing severe persecution (but not escape!). The spirit will lead us to the heart of our vocation (just like it did Jesus) but this doesn't mean that what the spirit brings is always easy.
Levison talks about Peter's Pentecost sermon and Paul's passages on spiritual gifts and tongues in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 (this is where many treatments on the Spirit begin). In this chapter he contrasts the craziness of revivalism and snake handlers with the somewhat subdued mainline perspective and the book of Common Prayer. He concludes that there is no evidence in the Bible that we should avoid spiritual experiences but that the thrust of these passages also compels us to engage the Biblical text so that we could see more clearly the ways the spirit is moving in us. Levison's vision of the spirit makes room for both spontaneity and serious study.

I loved the solid exegesis and the many insightful gems I found in this book (I didn't share all of them, Elihu plays the foil for the first three chapters). My one small complaint is that Levison never got around to treating my own 'go to' passages on the Holy Spirit (John 14-16, 20). But I do love that the passages he chose to focus on are often neglected ones (and he put a fresh spin on some old favorites).

I would recommend this book for anyone who want to understand more of the spirit (or Spirit). This is a popular level book and is accessible for most people (he has an earlier  scholarly volume  called Filled With the Spirit). Levison is an great teacher and opens up these passages in exciting ways (often sharing stories of his own family life to illustrate his points). In each chapter you read several passages of scripture so I read this devotionally and really found that it helped nourish my spirit during a busy week. This one gets a high recommendation from me.

I received this book from Paraclete Press in exchange for this review. This is my fair and honest review.

[Kenneth Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

My initial review of this book seemed strident and incomplete, as I thought more about it. It is a worthy attempt at demystifying the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and is very powerful in the area of application. By the end of the book the reader is very clear as to the author's vision of what a life might look like, should it be truly empowered and filled by the Holy Spirit and even how a blessed, Spirit-led culture might look, too. The author is an excellent writer, and share anecdotes from his own experience in a thoughtful, kindhearted manner that preserves and clarifies the assertion that his is making.
The main areas that I found disappointing were that, while there are instances of very creative interpretation found in the book (see the author's discussion of what Spirit-filling looked like in the life of Daniel, for example), the author's conclusions (say, that Daniel was consistently filled with the Spirit, since the book refers to his spiritual qualities four times)were not conclusive and irrefutable, but seemed speculative and perhaps novel. I also felt that the fact of the personal nature of the Holy Spirit as an equal member of the trinity was not given adequate treatment. Also, despite a vigorous defense of his reasons for doing so, the author's style of writing of the Holy Spirit only in lower case letters seemed distracting and contrived.
While this book did not satisfy my desires for a theological treatment of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, it presented a refreshing look at the possibilities for Christianity, and the world, should the Holy Spirit be welcomed and obeyed by God's people!

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short Review: a readable, biblical account of the work on the spirit in Christian the life. I thought it was good and devotionally focused. Each chapter started with several scriptures that the author wanted the reader to read and become familiar with. Then the chapter discussed one way the Spirit works in the life of a Christian.

My full review is at http://bookwi.se/fresh-air-the-holy-s...

[Josiah Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Levinson traces the Holy Spirit though the Scriptures, beginning with a Hebraic study of Ruach, and runs with that all the way down to the simple things that the Holy Spirit accomplishes in our own lives. This book is a mixed bag, quite good at times and quite awful at others. There are a lot of denominational presuppositions that Levinson brings to this book, which is truly unavoidable, but the ones he brings are not the good ones. Levinson has a pentecostal background and as such a lot of what he teaches here has those doctrines interspersed. I grew up in the charismatic church which is as close as you can get to pentecostal without being apostolic. And so much of what he spoke on here in this book was familiar territory - territory that I foreclosed on long ago. Now Levinson isn't the type of pentecostal, we are told, that gets on the ground and barks like a dog (despite quoting some Kenneth Hagin in this treatise), he is that middle-ground pentecostal that speaks in tongues, but "not other tongues" he is quick to caveat. These pentecostal happenings are outworkings of the Holy Spirit, we are told, and the major conclusion that I drew from his pentecostal musings is that what I am experiencing having left that tradition for a different one, is that I am not letting the Holy Spirit be free in my life. Or maybe even more direct, he is not even present. This is perhaps one of the greatest dangers of listing what the Holy Spirit does in a Christian's life, is that it ends up being a list of things he does/doesn't do in *your* life.

In any event, the first half of this book I really enjoyed. He played the biblical foundation for the work of the holy spirit in scripture quote aptly. The second half of the book where he delineated the work of the holy spirit in the believers life was all over the place. The first half of the book carries this to it's three star rating, but I cannot recommend chapter 5 and following fully.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best books on the Holy Spirit I've ever read. Levison, an academically trained and credentialed expert on the biblical idea of the Holy Spirit, does provocative work here. The most notable (and to some, disturbing) element of which is his insistence on writing "Holy Spirit" as "holy spirit." I'll leave it to readers to determine if his reason for this is satisfactory or not. In correlation to this, Levison seems to treat the Holy Spirit more as a divine presence than a divine personality. This traces back to an old debate in church history, and Levison does nothing in the book to dissuade his readers that he thinks that the Spirit is anything more than a spiritual force. This may be repelling to some. Reader beware.

However, aside from the "pneumatological" controversies that present themselves here, Levison's teaching on the meaning and application of the Spirit's work in our lives is some of the best I've read. He offers a sane and sober view of the Bible's portrayal of the Spirit's activity, and the obscure connections that he makes between the Spirit's work in different characters and different epochs in biblical history are nothing short of fascinating. You'll find ample (and fresh) material here for very practical and very relevant teaching on the Spirit's function for any Bible studies or sermons you may be presenting.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent and biblically grounded exploration of "ruah" and "pneuma." Levison identifies himself as someone with one foot in mainline Protestant culture and one in Pentecostal culture, and I do think that the book would be helpful to anyone in either of those groups seeking to broaden their perspective and understanding of the spirit-breath of God.

Theologically speaking, the insight I found most helpful was Levison's emphasis on the breadth of God's spirit-breath as inspiring and generating life in all things and all people, a reality all too often overlooked by a common kind of positivistic Christian conception that considers the spirit-breath of God to be the exclusive possession of Christ-followers. Levison's writing on simplicity and long-term faithfulness as the fertile ground for the growth of a rich spirituality was also a helpful corrective to some of the more charismatic overemphases.

[Darrell Kohr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Fresh Look at Worship

Fresh Air does indeed take a new and considered look at worship as shown to us by the early Christian church. I would like to see all such enticements to things in a new way be so carefully researched and provided with such a firm foundation of premise.
However, I left this well laid out book unconvinced that it offered a new hope. I did not see how a mix of proficy and teaching would cure the woes of today's church or what a church that embraced his solution would look like. The book felt unfinished.

[Tristan Sherwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book! It doesn’t say it all, but, with wonderful insight into the scriptures, it says what needs to be said to get us thinking afresh about the directions the Spirit is calling us to.

[Dennis Henn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Levison is bright and makes frequent, thorough, references to Scripture. He encourages us to engage Scripture with him. Though a seminary professor, he writes in a very accessible style for lay readers. He lays out this book in eight chapters based on biblical characters' experiences with the Holy Spirit. He looks at Job, Daniel, Simeon, Joel, Chloe, Ezekiel, Peter, Jesus, and Paul. All of that is good. I mostly agreed with his observations in the last four chapters and mostly disagreed with his observations from the first four. He chose not to capitalize holy spirit and explained why. His reasoning left me to understand the Holy Spirit not in a Trinitarian way but as God's vital life force (breath) that pervades every human regardless of their relationship to God through Jesus.
This is not a Charismatic book. He only briefly touches on Pentecostalism/Charismatic trends in a couple places.

[Jeff Bjorgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very insightful book with lots of real world application. Levison appeals to areas of Scripture that are not often taken into consideration when discussing a theology of the Holy Spirit. He has something to say and he does it well. He is persuasive in areas that need more attention (such as the inclusiveness of the Holy Spirit--poured out on all flesh), and surprises in areas that I hadn't thought of or known about before (such as the emphasis of the Holy Spirit driving Jesus out into the wilderness. In fact, the chapter entitled "Jesus' Test" is worth the price of the book). This book was strongly endorsed by respected authors like N.T. Wright, Scot McKnight, and Eugene Peterson, and deservedly so; thoughtful, well-researched and practical books on the Holy Spirit are rare. This book deserves a spot on your bookshelf.

[Lee Bertsch · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some wonderful moments of fresh air in this book, e.g. the way he dealt with the story of Jesus baptism followed by his time in the wilderness. How do we make sense of the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus gently like a dove one moment and then violently thrusting Jesus out into the wilderness to be confronted by evil personified? Levison makes good sense of that, but you will have to read it for yourself to find out what sense! There were other parts of the book that left me baffled, like his explanation of why he insists on using lower case to refer to the holy spirit. Thus the downgrade to three stars.

[Wendy C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though provoking book on the Holy Spirit. I found myself reading and re reading portions and being discerning yet open. A definite worthy read and I like to be challenged to look at things in new ways. This book will do that for you. I have a keen interest in the Holy Spirit and have been reading Holy Spirit books for almost a year and a half. This ranks as fresh and good.

[Brian LePort · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life-changing. See my multi-part review w. Daniel James Levy: http://nearemmaus.com/2012/11/17/book...

[Sue Whitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

quoting Phyllis Tickle, "If there is such a thing as poignant Christian midrash, this surely is it."

[Deidre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, it's an easy read with great thoughts and teachings on the holy spirit.