The Lord Is The Spirit The Authority Of The Holy Spirit In Contemporary Theology And Church Practice

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 31 (2009) 105-160

John A. Studebaker, Jr., The Lord is the Spirit: The Authority of the Holy Spirit in Contempo- rary Theology and Church Practice. The Evangelical Theological Society Monograph Series 7. (Eugene, Ore.: Pickwick Publications, 2008). xiv + 392 pp. $45.00 paperback.

Desiring to avoid what he sees as contemporary misunderstandings of “Spirit,” John A. Studebaker, Jr., Adjunct Professor at Cornerstone University and Spring Arbor University and Executive Director of Bridge Ministries in Michigan, raises the question of the Holy Spirit’s authority. Studebaker contends that among the proliferation of recent scholarship on pneumatology, the Spirit’s authority — not to be confused with the Spirit’s power — remains largely unarticulated. He states that this is detrimental to both systematic and practical theology and that evangelicals need to recognize the fundamental importance of a theology of the Spirit’s authority, even to the extent of giving it place within theological prolegomena. Studebaker’s inquiry leads to considerations of the Spirit’s role within the larger pattern of divine authority, various aspects of the Spirit’s authority (e.g., “executo- rial,” “veracious,” and “governing”) and their relationship to the authority of Christ, as well as their implications for hermeneutics, church structure and guidance, and Christian spiri- tuality. He proceeds by examining relevant pneumatological debates in the history of theol- ogy, assessing some tendencies in current systematic theology in light of select scriptures, and addressing the import of the Spirit’s authority for church practices. Studebaker’s most consistent argument is that the Spirit is a “person” that cannot be reduced to human sub- jectivity or to an inanimate force or process within the world. In fact, this is a primary reason that he goes to such lengths to demonstrate from scripture that the Spirit acts authoritatively, usually in contrast to ﬁ gures like Jürgen Moltmann and Peter Hodgson, whom he curiously and with little elaboration labels “postmodern.” Decrying the overem- phasis on the Spirit’s immanence in their “panentheism,” Studebaker reasserts the Spirit’s transcendence — wishing to balance the two — by enlisting Colin Gunton, Paul Molnar, and T omas F. Torrance. While this engagement with the Spirit’s personhood is not prob- lematic in itself, it receives inordinate attention in a book devoted to the conceptual rela- tionship between “Spirit” and “authority.” Too frequently arguments return to the rather banal conclusion that the Spirit is a divine person who acts.

The book’s most praiseworthy feature is the large amount of space devoted to the study of biblical texts in the original languages, a stark contrast to the tendency within current systematic theology simply to state conclusions and oﬀ er scriptural citations parentheti- cally. Studebaker’s determination to lead the reader through his own detailed handlings of texts is highly commendable and all too rare in constructive theology. At the same time, the manner of his exegesis is questionable. While his chapter on hermeneutics reveals a more sophisticated understanding of the dynamic process of biblical interpretation (even employing a degree of speech-act theory), the exegetical approaches taken with the texts themselves — described as “grammatical-historical” and “critical realism” (p. 92) — suggest that Studebaker is searching inerrant texts for authorial intentions and objective meanings, sometimes by performing little more than word study. Studebaker’s treatments of pneuma- tological issues in the history of theology are also problematic, particularly early Christian theology. To cite some examples, Studebaker rehearses such theological generalizations as 1) the East emphasizes the three persons while the West emphasizes the one essence of God,

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 31 (2009) 105-160

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2) early Christian debates over the Son and the Spirit were centered on whether or not they are “divine,” and 3) a broad use of the term “Arian,” all of which have now been revised or given greater nuance by scholars (e.g., Lewis Ayres, Michel Barnes).

Another strength of the book is Studebaker’s successful attempt to transcend the reduc- tion of the Spirit to inspirer and illuminator of scripture by some Protestants. His discus- sions of practical theology in particular demonstrate a role for the Spirit that goes well beyond these limitations and includes the Spirit’s activity in the most basic aspects of Chris- tian spirituality. On the other hand, there is still a strong sense of the Protestant tendency to see the Spirit largely as a noetic principle that makes knowledge of Christ possible or as one who subjectively applies the objective work of Christ, especially in his discussions of the Spirit’s veracious and governing authority.

Further, Studebaker converses with a host of sources that strengthen his arguments, but this sometimes comes at the expense of clearly articulating his own voice. In short, the book still reads like a doctoral dissertation (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2003) and contains lengthy quotations on almost every page. The book would have beneﬁ ted from more extensive engagement with recent constructive pentecostal pneumatology. When he mentions pentecostal scholars, it is usually in order to approve of a more traditional hermeneutical posture or point of biblical interpretation (such as his afirmation of French L. Arrington’s description of the use of the Bible among pentecostals) or to criticize perceived error (as in his terse dismissal of Amos Yong’s theology of religions).

Nonetheless, pentecostals may beneﬁ t from reading the book, especially Studebaker’s description of pneumatology in relation to eschatology (chap. 4) and the work of the Spirit in Christian spirituality. T ey may also be encouraged to take up the question of the Spirit’s authority and relate it to their longstanding association of the Spirit with power, and they may ﬁ nd resources for a pneumatological theology, given the fundamental space Stude- baker wishes to make for the Spirit’s authority. Any engagement with the book, however, will have to be quite critical in light of the weaknesses mentioned above.

Finally, the book contains numerous typographical errors, especially in the Greek font. The ﬁ gure stated to appear on p. 222 is on p. 232. The book contains no indices.

Reviewed by Christopher A. Stephenson

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