Holy Spirit After Acts of the Apostles
What is a good list of sources on the Holy Spirit in the early church after the book of the Acts of the Apostles? I am looking for the different manifestations of the Spirit like the dove when Jesus was baptized. I have read Gregory of Nazianzus's Five Theological Orations, Augustine of Hippo's On the Trinity, Cyril of Alexandria's On the Unity of Christ, Early Christian Doctrines by Kelly, and The Spirit of God Short Writings on the Holy Spirit by Yves Congar. From my reading it seems that throughout the first three centuries of Christianity, no theologian held to the doctrine that the one God is tripersonal and consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as equally divine persons.
Comments
-
From my reading it seems that throughout the first three centuries of Christianity, no theologian held to the doctrine that the one God is tripersonal and consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as equally divine persons.
The Doctrine of the Trinity wasn't articulated as such until the 4th century (Council of Nicaea, 325 AD, and First Council of Constantinople, 381 AD). In retrospect, proto-mentions of it can be found as far back as the writings of St. Paul (most notably 2 Cor 13:14: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all"), but it isn't surprising that no theologian wrote about the tripersonal God prior to the Nicene Creed.
0 -
Adding to Rosie, and probably not helpful here ...
But https://www.logos.com/product/135823/encyclopedia-of-ancient-christianity is a nice post-NT source for writers, doctrines, non-orthodox, Western and Eastern, and so forth developments. Wide-ranging. I enjoyed the Holy Spirit article especially on the treatment by the herodox, slowly deifying the Holy Spirit (for some an early angel).
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
0 -
A few other sources you might want to look into:
Mina Fouad Tawfike & Emad Atef Ezzat Hanna, Trinitarian Perspectives in the Apostolic Fathers: An Investigation (Resource Publications, 2023).
I. Howard Marshall, “The Holy Spirit in the Pastoral Epistles and the Apostolic Fathers,” in The Holy Spirit and Christian Origins: Essays in Honor of James D. G. Dunn, ed. Graham N. Stanton, Bruce W. Longenecker, and Stephen C. Barton (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004), 257.
Graham N. Stanton, “The Spirit in the Writings of Justin Martyr,” in The Holy Spirit and Christian Origins: Essays in Honor of James D. G. Dunn, ed. Graham N. Stanton, Bruce W. Longenecker, and Stephen C. Barton (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004), 321.
Anthony C. Thiselton, The Holy Spirit—In Biblical Teaching, through the Centuries, and Today (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2013).
Harold Mare, "The Holy Spirit in the Apostolic Fathers," Grace Journal 13.2 (1972): 3-12. [PDF available online; see link]
Jesse Kennedy Colbert, "From Pouring to a Triad: Images of the Holy Spirit in the Apostolic Fathers and Early Apologists," PhD Dissertation, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2021. [Preview only available at that link; have to pay to get the whole thing, or maybe you have access to ProQuest or can order this document through your library.]
Ernest R. Buchanan, "The Holy Spirit and the God of Israel: A Pneumatology of Divine Identity," ThD Dissertation, La Salle University, 2021. [Whole thing available online through La Salle University Digital Commons.]
Johannes van Oort, "The Holy Spirit and the Early Church: Doctrine & Confession," HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 67:3 (December 2010):164-172. [Full text available online.]
0 -
There are two basic resources that should be in every Bible student's library to help track down early references to doctrine:
- Bercot, David W., ed. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs: A Reference Guide to More than 700 Topics Discussed by the Early Church Fathers. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998.
- Jurgens, W. A., trans. The Faith of the Early Fathers. Vol. 1–3. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1970–1979.
In addition, the Catholic Topical Index provides early references. Athanasius of Alexandria is a major figure in the Nicene Trinitarian debate.
My "holy trinity of reference books": Jurgens, Ott, and Denzinger ... the evidence I'm Verbum not Logos at heart.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
0 -
With all respect, the "doctrine of the Holy Spirit" was enacted on in Acts 2 and was talked about by Peter on Pentecost in Acts 2:38. The Holy Spirit is talked about in most books of the New Testament. Do a search on "Holy Spirit" and this can be seen.
One of the works of the Holy Spirit was to prove God's message to man or to prove some men was speaking God's message. This was done through the Holy Spirit performing what we call "miracles" or "signs and wonders" to show this.
A couple of good books for this is "The Holy Spirit" by Goebel Music, "The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit" by Jimmy Jividen.
xn = Christan man=man -- Acts 11:26 "....and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch".
Barney Fife is my hero! He only uses an abacus with 14 rows!
0 -
I read the request as basically post-Biblical references. For Biblical references:
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
0 -
Yep... some people ask questions that open the door to all the different ideologies and theories each of us have. [8-|]
xn = Christan man=man -- Acts 11:26 "....and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch".
Barney Fife is my hero! He only uses an abacus with 14 rows!
0 -
Where would you start within reading of Athanasius of Alexandria?
0 -
DMB are you willing to post a snippet of the article on the Holy Spirit from the Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity? I would love to read it. I aslo own Stanton and Marshall's work Rosie. Thanks for that listing.
0 -
... are you willing to post a snippet of the article on the Holy Spirit from the Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity
Here's a screen copy, so you can see the article breakdown (TOC has to take up half the screen, to see it, unlike Kindle). The whole thing is quite extensive, and as I mentioned includes the non-orthodox developments. Unfortunately, the bulk of discussion is the western church, which was less 'spirit' based:
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
0 -
open the door to all the different ideologies and theories each of us have.
One needn't walk through all open doors.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
0 -
Where would you start within reading of Athanasius of Alexandria?
Probably On the Incarnation and the Against Arians
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
0
