God the Spirit

by Michael Welker, John F. Hoffmeyer (Translator)

Welker sees Spirit as conflicted territory in a world alive with experiences of the Spirit, searchings for Spirit, and skepticism about the Spirit. In a work that fuses the best of Continental theology with American process thought, he looks first to the problem of religious experience in today's world and inchoate experiences of the power of the Spirit.

Genres: Theology

376 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2004

Reviews

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many Christians lack a deep and broad biblical theology of the person, life and work of the Holy Spirit. Welker employs a realist biblical theology to illuminate the Spirit as attested by the scriptures. His is a liberationist approach that is still necessarily limited by his own position as a cis hetero male German professor of theology, though he employs humility throughout and points again and again to the public powerlessness of the Messiah as the one on whom the Spirit rests. For me, his work with the Hebrew scriptures, including the "unclear experiences of the Spirit's power" in the book of Judges and I Kings, is brave and interesting and relevant. For example, he included a section on the discernment of "evil spirits and lying spirits" and prophetic knowledge given by the Spirit.

I used this book as one of my primary background resources for creating a 13-session Bible study on the Holy Spirit. Spending 6 weeks on the Old Testament texts, as guided by Welker's work, has provided a depth and richness to the attestations of the Spirit in the New Testament texts.

[Jeremy Garber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Welker provides an excellent, systematic look at the mentions of the Spirit in the Hebrew and Christian Bible and their implications for communities today. Welker rejects abstract and mystical “inexplicable” understandings of the Holy Spirit and provides an overview of the varied, complicated, and yet detailed and real pictures of the Spirit working both in the world of Scripture and in our world today. Welker works within what he describes as “realistic theology,” “a theology that is related to various structural patterns of experience and that cultivates a sensitivity to the differences of those various patterns.” Welker’s realistic theology displays intriguing similarities to the philosophical work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, insisting on a complex and ever-changing understanding of the Spirit – and that complexity and change are characteristics of the Spirit itself. Nonetheless, Welker insists, not any old change will do. Spirit-led change is characterized by the intersection of the knowledge of God, justice and mercy – and you can’t have any one of the three without the other two. A community infused by the Spirit of God will display love, a “free self-withdrawal and self-giving for the benefit of other creatures.” Welker backs up his theological assertions with the full range of Scriptural investigations from Samson up to the Pauline church. A dense read, well-written but definitely technical; excellent for professional theologians and possibility upper-level graduate seminars. At the bottom, if the church would take seriously Welker’s (biblical) notion of the Spirit that infuses a community with love to make a difference in the here in now, a lot more people would be both spiritual and religious.

[J.I. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welker's program is to give a biblically oriented systematic theology of the Holy Spirit that, by using the postmodern emphasis on pluralism, brings unity in the biblical and Christian witnesses to the experience of the Holy Spirit by emphasizing the multiplicity of accounts. In this 'realistic theology' the Spirit is not described as the universal abstract numinous life force, but as a concrete life-giving force field that, concentrated in the Messiah and subsequently his followers, strives toward the well-being of all human beings and all of creation in altruistic self-withdrawal. It's a great book that provides helpful material toward the construction of a new hermeneutical approach.