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Permalink: http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/781
Fulcrum Subjects: Mission / Spirituality Discuss this Article on the Fulcrum Forum See the 3 comments on this article
The Holy Spirit: Capturing the Imagination of the Culture
by Graham Tomlin
On March 14th-15th this year, St Mellitus College is hosting a conference entitled ‘The Holy Spirit in the World Today: Capturing the Imagination of the Culture’.
On March 14th-15th this year, St Mellitus College is hosting a conference entitled ‘The Holy Spirit in the World Today: Capturing the Imagination of the Culture’. Main Speakers include: PROFESSOR FRANCESCA MURPHY Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, USA PROFESSOR TOM GREGGS Professor of Historical and Doctrinal Theology at the University of Aberdeen DR STEPHEN HOLMES Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology at the University of St Andrews DR JULIE CANLIS Author of “Calvin’s Ladder: A Spiritual Theology of Ascent and Ascension” Bookings are being handled by the HTB Conferences department: The Christian story offers a magnificent, rich and deep account of God, the world and our place in it. And yet over the past century or so, that story has ceased to capture the imagination of many in our culture. How might the gospel ignite the imagination of the fast-changing culture of the twenty-first century? This two-day conference, based in St Mellitus College’s new London centre will explore these connections between pneumatology and missiology with the help of both established and emerging theological voices. It will blend worship, prayer and deep thinking around these issues, and is intended for all with an interest in theology and its significance in the contemporary world. What kind of theology is needed to do this work of re-capturing the cultural imagination in the twenty-first century? Perhaps more than most, it is a theology of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit used regularly to be called the ‘forgotten member of the Trinity’. No longer. The last forty years or so has seen a whole host of theological work on Pneumatology from Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Pentecostal theologians, at the same time as what many would call an outpouring of the Spirit on all kinds of churches around the world. Karl Barth, towards the end of his life, famously dreamed of a theology which would be focused on the Holy Spirit rather than on Christology, but which he, like Moses, was only allowed to see from afar. Now is a time to imagine what such a theology might be like, not just because of the crises faced by the church, but also the world. Contemporary societies desperately need cohesion and a deep sense of common life and purpose. The fragmentation of the former eastern bloc in the 1990s, the religious conflicts that have shaken global confidence since the rise of militant Islam, the continued growth in the gap between rich and poor, all make us painfully aware of division and disharmony. The search is not just for a common set of values (probably impossible to find in an irreversibly pluralist society like ours), but a deeper common spirit, a sense of kindness, peace, patience, gentleness towards one another. These of course are the classic Christian gifts of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is for Christians the source of all community and cohesion. At almost every church service Christians invoke the ‘fellowship of the Holy Spirit’ along with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God. The New Testament emphases the Spirit’s work in drawing what would otherwise be dissonant chaos into varied unity. The unity of the Spirit is not uniformity but harmony in difference – precisely what a divided world and church needs. Then there is the ecological crisis. David Attenborough recently said: “I’m no longer sceptical. I don’t have any doubt at all. I think climate change is the major challenge facing the world today.” One of the central themes in biblical Pneumatology is that the Spirit ‘broods over the creation’ (Gen 1.2) and ‘renews the face of the earth.’ (Ps 104.30). The experience of the Spirit is a foretaste, deposit or firstfruits here and now of the new creation, the world that one day will come. The bold Christian claim is that the Holy Spirit is the hope for the future of the earth – that we are not alone in our attempts to save the planet. We are working with the Spirit of God who gives life and power to renew a damaged earth. At the same time, the church, at least in western Europe, is also is dire need of a new start. Faced by scandals, moral and theological quarrels and numerical decline, if the church in this continent is to stand any chance of revival and renewal, it will need a fresh wave of the Spirit, yet one that breaks out of the narrow confines of the charismatic to infuse all traditions of the church. As Rowan Williams puts it: “It is the work of the Spirit that heals the Body of Christ, not the plans or the statements of any group, or any person, or any instrument of communion.” The church sorely needs a fresh breath of the Spirit who makes all things new. Theology also needs the Spirit. Everyone knows how theological study can become arid, divisive and dull. Theology in the Spirit, as the Greek Fathers, for example, always envisaged it, is different. Rather than an object of theological enquiry, the Spirit makes engaged, worshipful theological enquiry possible, by bringing us into relationship with the God into whom we enquire with our minds. In other words, if we are to take the theology of the Spirit with full seriousness, it engages us immediately in the realm of encounter – the intimate closeness of being brought into the life and love at the heart of the Trinity, not just in theory but in practice and experience - so that our theology gets done within that experience, not outside of it. A theology of the Spirit will be a matter of the heart as well as the mind. Jürgen Moltmann once wrote: “The relation of the church to the Holy Spirit is the relation of epiklesis, continual invocation of the Spirit and unconditional opening for the experiences of the Spirit who confers fellowship and who makes life truly worth living." This sounds exactly what the church and the world needs today. If we are to re-capture the imagination of the culture we will need both a theology of the Spirit who inspires such creativity and also the presence and power of that same Spirit. This conference will help us re-connect with that theology, but also the very Spirit that inspires and indwells the church, through a blend of study, discussion, worship and prayer.
Graham Tomlin is the Dean of St Mellitus College Discuss this Article on the Fulcrum Forum Forum Posts About This Article:Posted by: Roger Hurding Thursday 14 February 2013 - 02:29pm Thank you Graham for your introduction to what looks like a timely and stimulating conference that poses the question, 'What kind of theology is needed to do this work of re-capturing the cultural imagination in the twenty-first century?' and adds, 'Perhaps more than most, it is a theology of the Holy Spirit.' Imagination is a neglected aspect of knowing. So often, we major on analytical cognition as we engage with scripture and the needs of he world around us. Our theology is cerebral and carefully reasoned, perhaps, sadly, neglecting the unpredictable wind of the creative Spirit. Brueggemann makes the point well in his The Bible and Postmodern Imagination: 'By imagination, I mean very simply the human capacity to picture, portray, receive, and practice the world in ways other than it appears to be at first glance when seen through a dominant, habitual, unexamined lens. More succinctly, imagination as the quintessential human act is a valid way of knowing.' In the context of the Wisdom literature, Ellen F Davis writes, 'Too often we consider imagination to be frivolous, a nice "extra", but hardly a necessary part of the human endeavour.' She argues that the 'sages understand that living a moral life requires that we continually strive to exercise a truthful imagination... Put most succinctly, this is what the book of Proverbs aims to help us cultivate in our various roles as parent, friend, teacher, neighbour, worker, boss, citizen.' Here, used imaginatively and guided by the Spirit, is raw material to help us live faithfully in the twenty-first century. Posted by: WATERANGEL Wednesday 13 February 2013 - 09:32pm This conference will help us re-connect with that theology, but also the very Spirit that inspires and indwells the church, through a blend of study, discussion, worship and prayer. I enjoyed reading this, and it certainly led me to think of how we connect in the spirit with God and with each other. but what occured to me is that, it is the spirit that leads us to seek and find, it is the beginning , it is the spirit which guides our way, it is the middle, and it is the spirit which brings us a conclusion, even if it is sometimes a conclusion which is open ended as in "hope of the things to come" The Spirit is the motivator, without spirit we are lost and have no direction, the spirit is different to emotion yet it brings about the same feelings, emotion appears to come from the inside out and the spirit seems to work from the outside in, which in turn brings about transformation. The spirit is like God it is beyond time and space, and yet it works within the confines of it, it will be interesting after this lecture to know whether the spirit is invited and enters into the lecture , I am sure it will be and it will, however the longevity of the spirits work may not be immediately apparent, but possibly a few hours , days or years down the line we will see or hear the results of that first inspiration of the spirit in someones life , and it might just might change the world,at one time people would have thought such a suggestion preposterous, they would have sent for the white coats or upped a psycotic medication of anyone who said such a thing, but if one man, such as say Saddam hussain or Bin laden or any other dictator for that matter can change the world forever, why cant the spirit change the world forever, just a dream? fantasy? or hope of things to come?. I asked myself the question is the spirit reckless? ie would the spirit lead any of us to do anything which endangered life, is it all about a gamble, its about faith, but is it a gamble? I have to say at this point in time i dont feel i can conclusively say, but i know if we work in and with the spirit in the world of risk assesment, the spirit should get a fair hearing. Angela 
Posted by: Jody
Wednesday 13 February 2013 - 04:26pm
Dear Friends we have just published Graham Tomlin's article advertising St Mellitus' conference 'The Holy Spirit: Capturing the Imagination of the Culture.' please use this thread for discussion. blessings, Jody |
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