SPIRIT AND CREATION: Articles

Author: Bonting, Sjoerd L.

Source: Zygon, Volume 41, Number 3, September 2006 , pp. 713-726(14)

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Abstract:

The theology of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is not only a rather neglected but also a very diffuse subject. The neglect stems from the priority that was given in the early centuries to Christology. The diffuseness of pneumatology may well be a result of the bewildering variety of ways in which “spirit” or “Spirit” (Hebrew ruach, Greek pneuma) appears in the Bible. I attempt to bring the various activities ascribed to the Spirit under one heading, transmission of information, and then to see what can be learned from modern science about the role of the Spirit in creation. I suggest a distinct role of the Spirit in creation, jointly with but different from that of the Logos. Other occasions of a concerted action of Spirit and Logos are seen in the birth of Christ and the eschatological event. All of this leads to a trinitarian definition of creation.

Keywords: creation; creative agent; eschatology; information; Logos; pneumatology; Spirit; Trinity

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2005.00770.x

Affiliations: 1: Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry, Radboud University, Nijmegen, and an Anglican priest-theologian in the Diocese in Europe. His address is Specreyse 12, 7471 TH Goor, the Netherlands;, Email: s.l.bonting@wxs.nl.

Publication date: 2006-09-01