Knowing the Triune God: The Work of the Spirit in the Practices of the Church

Rating:
Summary: How God's Holy Spirit is at Work in the Church and World...
Review: The title is a good starting place, since all Christians worship "One God in Three Persons". The various writers would have us remember the sometimes forgotten or neglected Third Person of the Trinity, namely the Holy Spirit. This season of the Church Year (the long green liturgical season that we call "Ordinary Time) is when we are to pay particular attention to what the Spirit is doing in and among believers.

The writers are a collection of leaders from a number of denominations, Catholic and Protestant, all professors or lecturers at leading theological institutions in the United States.

I found Dr. L. Gregory Jones' chapter on Baptism to be especially insightful. Dr. Jones, who is the Dean at Duke Divinity School, talks about the ongoing work of the Spirit, not limited to our baptism, but part of our lifelong Christian journey. About what happens after Baptism, he writes, "The primary concern of Augustine, and others in his position...was whether the people would continue to walk in the ways of light after this catechetical journey in to baptism had been completed." (page 159).

St. John's University professor Susan K. Wood, who writes about the act of worship, also has this helpful insight about how Jesus taught: "Parables, for example, reshape our imagination as they invite us to see the world and relationships in a new light. They do not articulate rules and principles, but give us something to `see'. They address our imagination at the same time they invert our usual way of seeing things." (page 107).

Also helpful is the section about the divisions writing the larger church. In a chapter called The Wounded Body, James Buckley talks about the joys and frustrations of the ecumenical movement-our longing as believers in Jesus Christ to be one, and yet our appreciation of each denomination's unique heritage and theological emphasis.

Suffice it to say that this is not a "light reading" book; rather it provides a depth of thought that may offer you some new insights into how God's Holy Spirit has been and is at work in the church and the world.

Rating:
Summary: How God's Holy Spirit is at Work in the Church and World...
Review: The title is a good starting place, since all Christians worship "One God in Three Persons". The various writers would have us remember the sometimes forgotten or neglected Third Person of the Trinity, namely the Holy Spirit. This season of the Church Year (the long green liturgical season that we call "Ordinary Time) is when we are to pay particular attention to what the Spirit is doing in and among believers.

The writers are a collection of leaders from a number of denominations, Catholic and Protestant, all professors or lecturers at leading theological institutions in the United States.

I found Dr. L. Gregory Jones' chapter on Baptism to be especially insightful. Dr. Jones, who is the Dean at Duke Divinity School, talks about the ongoing work of the Spirit, not limited to our baptism, but part of our lifelong Christian journey. About what happens after Baptism, he writes, "The primary concern of Augustine, and others in his position...was whether the people would continue to walk in the ways of light after this catechetical journey in to baptism had been completed." (page 159).

St. John's University professor Susan K. Wood, who writes about the act of worship, also has this helpful insight about how Jesus taught: "Parables, for example, reshape our imagination as they invite us to see the world and relationships in a new light. They do not articulate rules and principles, but give us something to 'see'. They address our imagination at the same time they invert our usual way of seeing things." (page 107).

Also helpful is the section about the divisions writing the larger church. In a chapter called The Wounded Body, James Buckley talks about the joys and frustrations of the ecumenical movement-our longing as believers in Jesus Christ to be one, and yet our appreciation of each denomination's unique heritage and theological emphasis.

Suffice it to say that this is not a "light reading" book; rather it provides a depth of thought that may offer you some new insights into how God's Holy Spirit has been and is at work in the church and the world.