Getting Real

Pneumatological Realism and the Spiritual, Moral, and Ministry Formation of Contemporary Christians

Gary Tyra

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781498292313
  9781498292337
• eBook ISBN:
  9781498292320
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Some reputable sociological research indicates that a surprising number of evangelical churchgoers are living out a version of the Christian life that's more informed by the values of the surrounding culture than by the discipleship teachings of Jesus and his apostles. Viewing the cause of this disturbing trend in the church to be a "discipleship deficit" that's exacerbated by a "pneumatological deficit," Gary Tyra has written a book that addresses both. In this work, Tyra encourages evangelical Christians of all stripes to become more fully aware of the tremendous difference it makes when the Holy Spirit is experienced in ways that are real and existentially impactful, rather than merely theoretical, conceptual, and/or ritualistic. Intended to be read by church leaders as well as by students in Christian colleges and seminaries, the message here is that the cure for the ministry malady currently confronting us is the recovery of a robust, fully Trinitarian doctrine of the Spirit. A pneumatological realism, says Tyra, combined with an understanding of just how important a spiritual, moral, and missional faithfulness is to a genuine Christian discipleship, can revitalize the lives of individual Christians and churches, making it possible for them to reach their post-Christian peers for Christ!

Part One: Theological and Ministry Foundations

1

Pneumatological Realism: Theological Corrective/Ministry Cure

No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.

—Acts 19:2

Blank stares, quizzical looks, even indications of frustration: these are some of the ways people have tended to respond when made aware of what this new book is about. “Pneumatological realism,” they’d say. “What’s that? Is that even a thing?”

Well, yes, it is a thing—a very important thing. Indeed, I’m convinced that the cultivation of an ecclesial environment that’s earmarked by a realist rather than non-realist understanding and experience of Christ’s Spirit is one of the most significant endeavors the leaders of local churches can undertake.

The goal of this chapter is to help the reader better understand what I mean when I refer to pneumatological realism and why I’ve become such an outspoken advocate for it. Though I’ve endeavored to make the discussion as accessible as possible, and provide several illustrative figures toward that end, some of the ideas presented here may strike some readers as a bit obscure. Given the academic nature of the chapter’s subject matter, this is to be expected. Still, I want to encourage those without formal theological training to hang in there. There is some important foundation-laying going on here, and I’d like to think that once completed, everyone reading this chapter will find that some important theological and ministry dots have been connected.

Pneumatological Realism: The Nature of the Notion

At the risk of oversimplifying things, I’ll begin by indicating that, in theology, pneumatology is the area of study relating to the Holy Spirit. In philosophy, realism is the position which holds that “objects of sense perception or cognition exist independently of the mind.”14 In other words, philosophical realism contends that there is a “there” there; reality exists independently of our awareness or perception of it. So, the realist answer to the proverbial question about a tree falling in the uninhabited forest is: yes, such an event does indeed create the vibrations necessary for a sound to be heard, regardless of whether there’s an ear nearby to perceive it.15 Put all this together and a very rudimentary, initial definition for pneumatological realism might go like this: Speaking theologically, pneumatological realism contends that the Holy Spirit is not simply an idea, concept, or abstract theoretical notion. Rather, he is a very real, personal, divine entity—the third person of the Trinity—who can be interacted with in a real, interpersonal, phenomenal,16 existentially-impactful (life-story shaping) manner.

Once again, this is an oversimplification, but it’s a beginning that I’ll build on as we go. And, lest you conclude that pneumatological realism is a fanciful notion that only I’m concerned about, I’ll point out straightaway that, while one could probably count on one hand the number of theologians who’ve referred to the concept in an explicit manner, others have done so.17 Indeed, before I elaborate any further on my understanding of what a pneumatological realism is and why it’s so important to the life of the church, I’ll briefly survey here two other representative versions of the notion: one put forward by a German systematic theologian named Wolfhart Pannenberg, and the other proffered by an American spiritual theologian named John Coe. Along with me, both Pannenberg and Coe conceive of pneumatological realism as a necessary corrective to a problem plaguing contemporary Western theology and practice. We differ some, however, in what we consider that problem to be. Thus, my survey of our respective takes will pay special attention to the theological/ministry malady each of us considers pneumatological realism to be an indispensable solution for.

Pneumatological Realism vs. Christian Gnosticism

Though he didn’t use the term extensively, Pannenberg did refer in his systematic theology to a “pneumatological realism”—one that had been previously alluded to by fellow German theologian Otto Weber.18 Admittedly, the practical ministry implications of pneumatological realism weren’t at the forefront of Pannenberg’s treatment of it. Nevertheless, his somewhat controversial take on the notion has proved to be an important development in the history of modern theology.

According to Pannenberg, Weber’s concern had been to overcome the “common inclination” of theologians to refer to the Spirit in an overly ethereal/theoretical manner. Weber took issue with the tendency of theologians to “speak docetically of the Holy Spirit, making him a stopgap that always comes in where questions that are posed remain open.”19

A little background is in order here, even if it is, once again, an oversimplification. Gnosticism refers to a teaching that posed a serious threat to the Christian faith during a critical era of its emergence—the second and third centuries AD. A central theme in gnosticism is the notion of saving gnosis or “knowledge.” Thus, the gnostics viewed Christ as a divine messenger—an angelic bearer of an esoteric knowledge—rather than as an incarnate God-man whose suffering and death on the cross possessed an atoning significance. Coinciding with this take, “[o]ne of the key doctrines at the heart of Gnosticism was that Jesus only appeared to be human, but really was not. The name for this teaching is Docetism from the Greek words: dokesis–“semblance” or “appearance,” and dokein–“to seem.’”20 It’s because a docetic view of Jesus, denying as it does Jesus’ full humanity, creates huge problems for a biblically-informed and theologically coherent understanding of his twin ministries of revelation and redemption, that the early church fathers felt the need to label it a heresy and to argue against it in a very vociferous manner.21 What Weber seems to have been concerned about is the tendency of some contemporary theologians to speak docetically of the Holy Spirit—that is, to refer to the Spirit as if he’s simply a useful theoretical concept rather than an ontologically real, personal, divine entity who, himself, plays a critical role in redemption drama.22

For his part, Pannenberg too was concerned about an insufficient, reductionist treatment of the Spirit which limited his role in the Christian drama to helping believers arrive at a saving knowledge of Jesus. According to Pannenberg,

Theology has often neglected the relation between the soteriological operations of the Spirit in believers and his activity as both the Creator of all life and also in its eschatological new creation and consummation. This is particularly true of the theology of the Christian West, whose views of the work of the Spirit have concentrated on his function as the source of grace or faith.23

Pannenberg was convinced that to speak of the Holy Spirit as “just an emanation of Jesus Christ,”24 and to limit his activity to simply providing “cognitive divine help” in understanding the Christ-event,25 was not only much too reminiscent of the Gnostic focus on an esoteric saving knowledge, but was also marginalizing and reductionist. It was in response to this concern that Pannenberg argued for “a much broader and more biblical doctrine that emphasizes the Spirit’s all-pervasive, creative presence in creatio...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part One: Theological and Ministry Foundations
• Part Two: The Spirit and the Threefold Faithfulness God Desires and Deserves
• Part Three: Getting Real about Getting Real
• Appendix: From Sola Scriptura to the Sacramental Sermon: Karl Barth and the Phenomenon of Prophetic Preaching
• Bibliography