Cheryl M. Peterson
Baker Academic Press, 208 pages
Published March 19, 2024
A recent Facebook post for Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leaders posed a request: Please recommend a single book on the Holy Spirit. This resonated with church leaders who recognize the need for a deeper understanding of the life-giving and transforming work of the Spirit. Books by Frederick Dale Bruner, Jürgen Moltmann, Amos Yong and others were recommended. Should we add Cheryl M. Peterson’s newly published, The Holy Spirit in the Christian Life, to this list?
Peterson’s theology of the Holy Spirit begins with the understanding that we live in the age of the Spirit, and there is a growing awareness of and appreciation for spiritual matters. The Holy Spirit is a person, not just a force or a power, and God’s dynamic personal presence. We experience God’s presence as Spirit for us as we are justified to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We experience God’s presence as Spirit in us as we are sanctified and transformed. We experience God’s presence through us as the Spirit empowers with spiritual gifts to serve in the world. We experience the Holy Spirit in the means of grace, including Word and sacrament, and also in other ways, such as worship, speaking in tongues, and laying on of hands for healing.
In addition, Peterson carefully distinguishes between the agency of the Holy Spirit and of humans. Only God justifies; any hint or suggestion of human agency must be rejected. Sanctification and our empowerment to serve are also the result of the Spirit’s agency. But these works of the Spirit invite our cooperation. With these distinctions, Peterson upholds the Protestant standard of justification by grace through faith (without works righteousness) and challenges us to exercise our agency when we trust in and partner with the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life.
Because Peterson gives us theological concepts and language that clarify who the Holy Spirit is and how the Holy Spirit works in our lives, let’s put The Holy Spirit in the Christian Life on our list of recommendations. But let’s also realize that this is not exactly the book we are looking for. It’s a scholarly work of systematic theology written primarily for Lutheran pastors, with Martin Luther as a dialogue partner. To Peterson’s credit, she includes numerous voices — Reformed, Pentecostal, charismatic, classic and contemporary, gender diverse and racially diverse. The academic nature of the book, however, makes it more reserved than we might hope for in a book about the Holy Spirit.
The book we need now is robust and exciting, offering language and categories to understand the Holy Spirit’s connection to lived, human experience, as well as descriptive language and powerful stories that connect us with the Spirit. The book we seek emphasizes the Holy Spirit as fire and ignites us for new life and mission! This book highlights the Holy Spirit as light, and we crave revelation and insight! There’s a great deal to learn from Peterson’s The Holy Spirit in the Christian Life. Yet it leaves us hoping for an even more gripping book to recommend to colleagues — and enjoy for ourselves.
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