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This book explores the role of emotions and affections in the Christian tradition from historical and theological perspectives, especially related to the work of the Holy Spirit. Although historians and scholars from a range of traditions—including Wesleyan, Pentecostal, and Pietist—have engaged these issues, there has yet to be a sustained examination of the role of emotions and affectivity across the Christian tradition. By retrieving the complex discussion about affectivity in Christian tradition and bringing its many voices into dialogue within a contemporary ecumenical context, the contributors also point toward a number of new research trajectories. The essays underscore the need to understand the shift in Western views of emotion that began in the late eighteenth century. They also explore in detail the vocabulary of affectivity as it has developed in the Christian tradition. As part of this development, the contributors reveal the importance of pneumatology in Western as well as Eastern Christianity, calling into question the idea of a pneumatological deficit advanced by some constructive theologians and addressing the relationship between affectivity and the pedagogical strategies that enable persons to cooperate with the work of grace in the soul. Finally, several essays explore the relationship between the erotic, the ecstatic, and affectivity in religious belief. This volume will interest scholars and students of historical theology, of emotions in theology, and of Christian renewal or charismatic movements.
“It must be noted that Coulter and Yong’s overarching goals for this volume are far grander than a handful of essays about the affections, as important as these may be. Instead, what they envision is a first step in a much larger project to vastly expand the scope of renewal theology beyond pneumatology and the history of the twentieth- century Pentecostal revival.” —Catholic Library World
“By retrieving the complex discussion about affectivity in Christian tradition and bringing its many voices into dialogue within a contemporary ecumenical context, the contributors also point toward a number of new research trajectories.” —Studies in Spirituality
"The Spirit, the Affections, and the Christian Tradition is a collection of essays concerning the role and understanding of emotion throughout the history of Christian thought. These essays were contributed by academics representing a variety of disciplines, including historians, philosophers, and biblical scholars. Each chapter focuses upon a different historical era or historical figure, ranging from the first century with Saint Paul to Jonathan Edwards in the eighteenth century. . . . In recent years, academia has begun to recover the role and value of the emotions, and this book fills a lacuna concerning the affections in Christian thought." —The Pneuma Review
“In a period of theological publishing in which proposed edited volumes are often passed over by publishers, University of Notre Dame Press is to be applauded for choosing to print this substantive treatment of the role of the Spirit in Christian formation.” —Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care
"This volume makes an original and substantial contribution to the related fields of history of Christianity and historical theology. The twelve essays gathered here present a compelling and interesting case for what Yong calls 'a renewalist historiographic method' in these disciplines. This is an indispensable collection for scholars and students alike." —Franklin T. Harkins, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry
"Consideration of the contributions—and obstacles—of affectivity to authentic Christian life was a central theme in earlier Christian theology, but has been marginalized in much of the modern Christian West. This volume is a welcome indicator of renewed interest, across the ecumenical spectrum, in this theme. It is also a model of cross-disciplinary and broad-ranging engagement with the theme that promises to enrich theological anthropology, pneumatology, and beyond. Highly recommended." —Randy L. Maddox, William Kellon Quick Professor of Wesleyan and Methodist Studies, Duke Divinity School
"When Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley described the renewal of the heart, they did so in terms of holy affections. As this book amply demonstrates, they were drawing on a rich tradition. By examining how an array of significant theologians have understood the affections throughout history, these essays not only correct modern misunderstandings and provide fresh insights, but give us a glimpse of Christianity itself as a story of renewal. This is an indispensable resource for all historians and theologians who study and seek renewal." —Henry H. Knight III, Donald and Pearl Wright Professor of Wesleyan Studies, Saint Paul School of Theology
Dale M. Coulter is associate professor of historical theology at Regent University.
Amos Yong is professor of theology and mission at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Preface
Introduction: The Language of Affectivity and the Christian Life by Dale M. Coulter
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Blessed Passion of Love: The Affections, the Church Fathers, and the Christian Life by Robert Louis Wilken
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Redeeming the Affections: Deconstructing Augustine’s Critique of Theater by James K. A. Smith
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The Beauty of Holiness: Deification of the Passions in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by Bradley Nassif
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Holy Tears: A Neglected Aspect of Early Christian Spirituality in Contemporary Context by Michael J. McClymond
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The Transformative Role of Emotion in the Middle Ages: Deliverance from Lukewarm Affections by Elizabeth A. Dreyer
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Aquinas on Sanctifying the Affections: Participating in the Life of the Spirit by Craig A. Boyd
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Letting Go of Detachment: Eckhart’s Gelassenheit and the Immanence of the Spirit by Sharon L. Putt
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The Bondage of the Affections: Willing, Feeling, and Desiring in Luther’s Theology, 1513–1525 by Simeon Zahl
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“Movements of the Heart”: Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) on Affections by Klaas Bom
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“But to know it as we shou’d do”: Enthusiasm, Historicizing of the Charismata, and Cessationism in Enlightenment England by Paul C. H. Lim
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Orthokardia: John Wesley’s Grammar of the Holy Spirit by Gregory S. Clapper
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Jonathan Edwards on the Affections and the Spirit by Gerald R. McDermott
Conclusion: The Affective Spirit and Historiographical Revitalization in the Christian Theological Tradition by Amos Yong
List of Contributors
Index