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Welcome, Holy Spirit: A Theological and Experiential Introduction
As the renowned scholar Thomas Oden noted, No subject of Christian teaching is more prone to fanaticism and novelty and subjectivism than that of the Holy Spirit. The Bible's own metaphors for the Spirit are as elusive as they are evocative--wind, oil, flame, water, dove--making pneumatology a mysterious study. But shying away from the topic is no solution. Gordon Smith encourages us to seek both fresh understanding and fresh experience of the Spirit through openness to learning more, no matter what our theological tradition. In this way, as we hold biblical convictions firmly but gracefully, the guiding principles of discernment and humility will help us intentionally live Spirit-responsive lives day by day. Welcome, Holy Spirit is a much-needed master class with a trustworthy and encouraging teacher. How can we cultivate an understanding of the Holy Spirit that helps us experience the presence of the Spirit in worship, in witness, in joy and sorrow, in seasons of blessing and times of difficulty alike, all the while honoring the fullness of the Trinity? An attentiveness to the Spirit need not replace Christ as the focus of our lives and worship but can rather bring us truly into the presence of the living and ascended Lord. It is to this end that we pray, Welcome, Holy Spirit.
192 pages, Paperback
Published October 5, 2021
15 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Gordon T. Smith
30 books36 followersGordon T. Smith is the president of Ambrose University and Seminary in Calgary, Alberta, where he also serves as professor of systematic and spiritual theology. He is an ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and a teaching fellow at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the author of many books, including Courage and Calling, Called to Be Saints, Spiritual Direction, and Consider Your Calling.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 26, 2022
This is one of the most theologically balanced and articulate books on the Holy Spirit that I’ve read in a long time. It’s the best treatment on the Holy Spirit that I’ve read since J.I. Packer’s book, In Step with the Spirit.
Thank you Gordon T. Smith for your excellent work. The global Church is going to be reaping the fruit of this for a long time coming.
Thank you Gordon T. Smith for your excellent work. The global Church is going to be reaping the fruit of this for a long time coming.
February 10, 2022
Summary: Beginning with the metaphors for the Holy Spirit, articulates a theology of the Holy Spirit that spans theological traditions and invites readers to be receptive to a deeper experience of the Spirit’s work.
When we confess “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” we often have little idea of what we are confessing. Gordon T. Smith thinks there are four important questions to ask about the Holy Spirit: the relation of the Spirit and Jesus, the relation between the Spirit and the created order, the relation between the Spirit and the scriptures, and the relation between the Spirit and the church.
In this work, Smith articulates a theology of the Holy Spirit that seeks to span the major traditions of Christianity in answering these questions. He goes further. He invites us to consider our own tradition, experience, and what it might mean to welcome the Holy Spirit into our lives in a deeper and transforming way.
He begins by reviewing our metaphors for the Holy Spirit as wind or breath, oil or anointing, fire, running water, and hovering dove. He notes that all of these are images of movement and life. The images emphasize the dynamic rather than static character of the Spirit, but do not fully capture the personal character of the Spirit’s being.
He turns to two chapters on the Spirit in specific books of the Bible. He looks at the link between the ascension and Pentecost in Luke and Acts. We often focus on one at the expense of the other and make it all about Jesus but fail to live in the power of the Spirit, or all about the Spirit but leaving Jesus “in the rearview mirror.” He then turns to the gospel of John and exploring the person of Holy Spirit and the Triune God and both the wisdom and heresies of the early church.
He then moves back to creation and the interesting idea of materiality infused with the breath of God and the hope that the one who brought creation to life will also be the one by whom creation is renewed. He concludes the chapter beautifully by inviting those of us who walk in the Spirit to tend the garden. From bringing life to creation, Smith turns to the work of the Spirit in bringing us to new life in Christ and how this might be reflected in our rites of initiation. He notes the two views of the coming of the Holy Spirit as either a two stage process, or integral with new life in Christ. Rather than argue for one or the other, he argues for incorporating rites of Spirit initiation along with water baptism. Along with this, our catechesis ought to prepare new believers for the work of the Triune God in their lives, including continuing receptivity to the Spirit’s indwelling fullness. In an interlude chapter, he warns against idolizing experience rather than the transformative work of the Holy Spirit in the ordinary practices of our lives.
Smith traces this process and the importance of casting vision for growth toward maturity, realizing we are both dependent on the grace of the Spirit to grow and that the ultimate fulfillment of this comes when we meet Christ face to face. We learn step by step to walk in the Spirit and pray in the Spirit, attending to the Spirit’s promptings in our life. This takes us into the question of the Spirit and the Word. He invites us into reading the Spirit-inspired text with both careful study and dependence on the Spirit for illumination, being neither wooden biblicists nor sentimentalists.
Finally he considers the Spirit and the church, both local and global. He articulates a Spirit ecclesiology that emphasizes unity, the ordered expression of the Spirit’s gifts in worship that occurs in song, word, and sacrament. He presses home the work of the Spirit in discerning church governance and that we ought be open to the immediacy of the Spirit’s guidance. He suggests some intriguing ideas of what it means for the Spirit to go before the church in mission and the need to be attentive to the Spirit’s presence in the cultures and even other religions that we engage. While in every situation there will be discontinuity between gospel and culture, we are also wise to look for how the way has been prepared. The Spirit can give discernment, pointing toward Christ, expressing the winsome fruit of his presence, and helping us to “remember the poor.”
As Smith summarizes, all this is a call to both intentionality in understanding the person and work of the Holy Spirit and receptive attentiveness to welcome Him into our lives. This book is a wonderful primer that helps accomplish what it advocates. Smith, as always, writes with clarity and precision and warmth, constantly moving from theological truth to implications for the life of the believer and the church. There is ecumenicity at its best, focusing both on common ground truths we may all embrace, and complementary insights from different traditions, including that of Pentecostalism, and his own tradition in the Christian and Missionary Alliance, reacquainting a new generation with some of the works of A. W. Tozer. In all of this, Smith’s intent would be for us to understand how we may experience the work of the Spirit as we grow in holiness, learn to pray, worship and work with God’s people, and engage in God’s mission. I concluded the book with his prayer, “Welcome, Holy Spirit!”
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
When we confess “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” we often have little idea of what we are confessing. Gordon T. Smith thinks there are four important questions to ask about the Holy Spirit: the relation of the Spirit and Jesus, the relation between the Spirit and the created order, the relation between the Spirit and the scriptures, and the relation between the Spirit and the church.
In this work, Smith articulates a theology of the Holy Spirit that seeks to span the major traditions of Christianity in answering these questions. He goes further. He invites us to consider our own tradition, experience, and what it might mean to welcome the Holy Spirit into our lives in a deeper and transforming way.
He begins by reviewing our metaphors for the Holy Spirit as wind or breath, oil or anointing, fire, running water, and hovering dove. He notes that all of these are images of movement and life. The images emphasize the dynamic rather than static character of the Spirit, but do not fully capture the personal character of the Spirit’s being.
He turns to two chapters on the Spirit in specific books of the Bible. He looks at the link between the ascension and Pentecost in Luke and Acts. We often focus on one at the expense of the other and make it all about Jesus but fail to live in the power of the Spirit, or all about the Spirit but leaving Jesus “in the rearview mirror.” He then turns to the gospel of John and exploring the person of Holy Spirit and the Triune God and both the wisdom and heresies of the early church.
He then moves back to creation and the interesting idea of materiality infused with the breath of God and the hope that the one who brought creation to life will also be the one by whom creation is renewed. He concludes the chapter beautifully by inviting those of us who walk in the Spirit to tend the garden. From bringing life to creation, Smith turns to the work of the Spirit in bringing us to new life in Christ and how this might be reflected in our rites of initiation. He notes the two views of the coming of the Holy Spirit as either a two stage process, or integral with new life in Christ. Rather than argue for one or the other, he argues for incorporating rites of Spirit initiation along with water baptism. Along with this, our catechesis ought to prepare new believers for the work of the Triune God in their lives, including continuing receptivity to the Spirit’s indwelling fullness. In an interlude chapter, he warns against idolizing experience rather than the transformative work of the Holy Spirit in the ordinary practices of our lives.
Smith traces this process and the importance of casting vision for growth toward maturity, realizing we are both dependent on the grace of the Spirit to grow and that the ultimate fulfillment of this comes when we meet Christ face to face. We learn step by step to walk in the Spirit and pray in the Spirit, attending to the Spirit’s promptings in our life. This takes us into the question of the Spirit and the Word. He invites us into reading the Spirit-inspired text with both careful study and dependence on the Spirit for illumination, being neither wooden biblicists nor sentimentalists.
Finally he considers the Spirit and the church, both local and global. He articulates a Spirit ecclesiology that emphasizes unity, the ordered expression of the Spirit’s gifts in worship that occurs in song, word, and sacrament. He presses home the work of the Spirit in discerning church governance and that we ought be open to the immediacy of the Spirit’s guidance. He suggests some intriguing ideas of what it means for the Spirit to go before the church in mission and the need to be attentive to the Spirit’s presence in the cultures and even other religions that we engage. While in every situation there will be discontinuity between gospel and culture, we are also wise to look for how the way has been prepared. The Spirit can give discernment, pointing toward Christ, expressing the winsome fruit of his presence, and helping us to “remember the poor.”
As Smith summarizes, all this is a call to both intentionality in understanding the person and work of the Holy Spirit and receptive attentiveness to welcome Him into our lives. This book is a wonderful primer that helps accomplish what it advocates. Smith, as always, writes with clarity and precision and warmth, constantly moving from theological truth to implications for the life of the believer and the church. There is ecumenicity at its best, focusing both on common ground truths we may all embrace, and complementary insights from different traditions, including that of Pentecostalism, and his own tradition in the Christian and Missionary Alliance, reacquainting a new generation with some of the works of A. W. Tozer. In all of this, Smith’s intent would be for us to understand how we may experience the work of the Spirit as we grow in holiness, learn to pray, worship and work with God’s people, and engage in God’s mission. I concluded the book with his prayer, “Welcome, Holy Spirit!”
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
May 6, 2022
A good primer on practical aspects of the spirit's work in our life. I particularly enjoyed how Smith explains the Spirit in relation to the Father and the Son (chapter 2). Reading and meditating on how both the social and economic dynamic of the trinity is critical for people who long for renewal in churches. Cool programs or better business plans are bland and boring because of their blatant pragmatism. I like how he described living in the spirit as following the flying prowess of the golden eagle on 105. He didnt use the phrase static soaring for some reason, but it is allowing the natural winds to lift one (or a community) to soar in the current of God's wind. Me and my friends in high school called this kind of move while skiing, the spread eagle. :) Not a bad goal.
May 20, 2022
A good introduction to the Holy Spirit. I like the way Gordon Smith roots his introduction biblically, theologically, ecumenically, and globally, with attention to the ways different believers have understood and responded to the Spirit.
February 19, 2022
Hardly any theological subject has such diverse writings than those addressing the Holy Spirit. Pick up the first five or six books on the Holy Spirit that you come across and as you peruse them you may wonder if they are even talking about the same subject! Who the Holy Spirit is, what His importance is, how we should view Him, how we might imbibe Him into our lives, apparently, finds little agreement among Christian people. If nothing else, that suggests that there is need of thoughtful works on the Holy Spirit. Enter here Gordon T. Smith as he throws his hat into the ring.
To be honest, I had more trouble than usual in deciding how to rate this book. My trouble is that on some pages there is the most remarkable theological insight while on others I found myself asking the question, are you kidding? Though I had trouble, I think I might suggest how you can know in advance whether you will like this book or not. I’ll assume that you want good theology, so the whole thing hinges on how ecumenical you are. Are you convinced that being ecumenical is the most important thing in this day? You will love this book. If you are skeptical of being too ecumenical, then, perhaps, not so much.
I wasn’t very far into the book as I was enjoying some of his theological insights before I was thinking in the back of my mind, wow, this guy is really ecumenical. To be honest, he went fullbore in the last two chapters. Let me give an example. In the last chapter he commends the Presbyterian Church of Canada for coming up with “an extensive theological framework for engaging expressions of aboriginal spirituality including especially those that were typically of indigenous prairie belief systems.” He listed things like “the pipe ceremony, the sun dance, the powwow, the sweat lodge, the medicine wheel, and the smudge ceremony.” A little later on he made a wonderful statement that, “we must, of course, be radically Christocentric and orthodox – intentionally Trinitarian.” I love that last statement! But how could the earlier statement not be a direct contradiction to it? To be fair, he gives a detailed explanation of his reasoning. It didn’t add up to me. In my view, he went a field too far, or maybe two or three fields too far. Again, if you think being broadly ecumenical is the best way to advance the gospel in our day, you may find this riveting.
To try to give the full picture, he does write with an engaging style and comes across as likable. He doesn’t overly talk about himself, but there are a few clues that give you insight to him as a person. He grew up in a charismatic setting. He currently is part of the Christian Missionary Alliance. Along the way, he came to value liturgy too. Maybe that explains why he has more than average desire for everyone to respect each other, but I diverge with him when he says to fit their practices into orthodoxy. Respect is one thing. Syncretism is another.
Though his ecumenicalism was a glaring fault in my view that even weakened the book, I must admit still enjoying some of his theological observations. I usually read with a pencil in my hand and in the front of the book I will write the page number of special pages that really spoke to me. I just checked and I had 14 such pages notated and that is a little above average for an 180-page book. The aforementioned faults notwithstanding, this isn’t the usual fluff that clutters bookstore shelves on the Holy Spirit.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
To be honest, I had more trouble than usual in deciding how to rate this book. My trouble is that on some pages there is the most remarkable theological insight while on others I found myself asking the question, are you kidding? Though I had trouble, I think I might suggest how you can know in advance whether you will like this book or not. I’ll assume that you want good theology, so the whole thing hinges on how ecumenical you are. Are you convinced that being ecumenical is the most important thing in this day? You will love this book. If you are skeptical of being too ecumenical, then, perhaps, not so much.
I wasn’t very far into the book as I was enjoying some of his theological insights before I was thinking in the back of my mind, wow, this guy is really ecumenical. To be honest, he went fullbore in the last two chapters. Let me give an example. In the last chapter he commends the Presbyterian Church of Canada for coming up with “an extensive theological framework for engaging expressions of aboriginal spirituality including especially those that were typically of indigenous prairie belief systems.” He listed things like “the pipe ceremony, the sun dance, the powwow, the sweat lodge, the medicine wheel, and the smudge ceremony.” A little later on he made a wonderful statement that, “we must, of course, be radically Christocentric and orthodox – intentionally Trinitarian.” I love that last statement! But how could the earlier statement not be a direct contradiction to it? To be fair, he gives a detailed explanation of his reasoning. It didn’t add up to me. In my view, he went a field too far, or maybe two or three fields too far. Again, if you think being broadly ecumenical is the best way to advance the gospel in our day, you may find this riveting.
To try to give the full picture, he does write with an engaging style and comes across as likable. He doesn’t overly talk about himself, but there are a few clues that give you insight to him as a person. He grew up in a charismatic setting. He currently is part of the Christian Missionary Alliance. Along the way, he came to value liturgy too. Maybe that explains why he has more than average desire for everyone to respect each other, but I diverge with him when he says to fit their practices into orthodoxy. Respect is one thing. Syncretism is another.
Though his ecumenicalism was a glaring fault in my view that even weakened the book, I must admit still enjoying some of his theological observations. I usually read with a pencil in my hand and in the front of the book I will write the page number of special pages that really spoke to me. I just checked and I had 14 such pages notated and that is a little above average for an 180-page book. The aforementioned faults notwithstanding, this isn’t the usual fluff that clutters bookstore shelves on the Holy Spirit.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
May 19, 2023
Really approachable contribution to pneumatology. I appreciated the emphasis on ecumenism, because so many denominations miss out on community building through interpretative differences. Also, this was personally a great reminder to seek out books that enhance my theological knowledge that are not always necessarily written from the perspective of my own denomination. We can all learn and positively take away as much from Episcopalian, baptist, Methodist and Lutheran authors.
Will be working on building stronger habits of intentionality and greater discernment.
“We then engage our world with courage and wisdom and discernment. We name a new reality and then respond by asking what is required of us now, I’m the situation that presents itself, not how we might wish it were.
Will be working on building stronger habits of intentionality and greater discernment.
“We then engage our world with courage and wisdom and discernment. We name a new reality and then respond by asking what is required of us now, I’m the situation that presents itself, not how we might wish it were.
January 20, 2024
This was a very good book though a bit slow in the middle. It reads more like an argument and why his point of view is correct. Only the final short chapter deals with experiential aspects, which is what I was hoping for from the start. Probably not one I’ll reference a lot, but glad I read it.
September 11, 2022
Not the easiest read but I was going to push through it. Until the author wrote that the Holy Spirit was into environmental justice. That needed the book to me.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews