The Holy Spirit has long been considered the exclusive possession of Christianity. The Church's trinitarian creeds exert a great influence, carefully and precisely defining the Holy Spirit in specifically Christian terms. But history isn't always so tidy. In The Holy Spirit before Christianity, John R. Levison leads readers back five hundred years before Jesus Christ and the church, back to the period of Israel's sojourn in Babylonian exile and their return to the land of promise. Levison argues that this crucial juncture in Israelite history witnessed unprecedented theological development that did not merely set the stage but even anticipated later Christian expressions of the Spirit. The prophet Haggai and the author of Isaiah 56-66, in their search for ways to grapple with the tragic events of exile and to articulate hope for the future, took up old exodus traditions of divine agents--pillars of fire, an angel, God's own presence--and fused them together under the language of God's Spirit. Since it was the Spirit of God who led Israel up from Egypt and formed them into a holy nation, now, the prophets assured, the Spirit of God would lead and renew those returning from exile. The revolutionary notion of God's Spirit, as expressed in Haggai and Isaiah, originated a full millennium before the era of the church councils that defined the Spirit's personhood and role in Christian faith. The insights of this book demand a full investigation--and reformation--of the origin and shape of our understanding of the Holy Spirit.

zlib/Religion & Spirituality/Judaism/John R. Levison/The Holy Spirit Before Christianity_17306996.pdf

Levison, John R.

United States, United States of America

PS, 2019

With his latest book, The Holy Spirit before Christianity , John R. Levison again changes the face and foundation of Christian belief in the Holy Spirit. The categories Christians have used, the boundaries they have created, the proprietary claims they have madeall of these evaporate, now that Levison has looked afresh at Scripture.
In a study that is both poignant and provocative, Levison takes readers back five hundred years before Jesus, where he discovers historys first grasp of the Holy Spirit as a personal agent. The prophet Haggai and the author of Isaiah 5666, in their search for ways to grapple with the tragic events of exile and to articulate hope for the future, took up old exodus traditions of divine agentspillars of fire, an angel, Gods own presenceand fused them with belief in Gods Spirit. Since it was the Spirit of God who led Israel up from Egypt and formed them into a holy nation, now, the prophets assured their hearers, the Spirit of God would lead and renew those returning from exile.
Taking this point of origin as our guide, Christian pneumatologybelief in the Holy Spiritis less about an exclusively Christian experience or doctrine and more about the presence of God in the grand scheme of Israel's history, in which Christianity is ancient Israel's heir.
This explosive observation traces the essence of Christian pneumatology deep into the heart of the Hebrew Scriptures. The implications are the priority of Israelite tradition at the headwaters of pneumatology means that Christians can no longer hold stubbornly to the Holy Spirit as an exclusively Christian belief. But the implications are hopeful as well, offering Christians a richer history, a renewed vocabulary, a shared path with Judaism, and the promise of a more expansive and authentic experience of the Holy Spirit.

With his latest book, The Holy Spirit before Christianity, John Levison again changes the face and foundation of Christian belief in the Holy Spirit. The categories Christians have used, the boundaries they have created, the proprietary claims they have made - all of these evaporate, now that Levison has looked afresh at Scripture.

2021-09-13