We Believe in the Holy Spirit
Joel C. Elowsky
InterVarsity Press
<p>"The Spirit blows where it pleases," Jesus said to Nicodemus. "You 
hear its sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is 
going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."</p>

<p>The Spirit, like the wind, is hard to pin down. Any discussion of the
 Spirit is fraught with the difficulty of speaking about something or 
someone who defies definition and who purposely averts attention from 
himself toward someone else. So it is with the Spirit. And so it is with
 the church's reception of and conversation about the Spirit, even in 
its early centuries. It is hard to pin down, and the church's voice on 
the Spirit has been about as loud as the whisper of the wind that 
indicates the Spirit's presence.</p>

<p>The church's teaching on the Holy Spirit is perhaps what Nicolas 
Berdayev has called "the last unexplored theological frontier." In these
 latter days of the church, this "final frontier" is receiving 
increasing attention. The rise of the Pentecostal movement, the engaged 
witness of the Orthodox churches, which have historically been more 
sensitive to the role of the Spirit, coupled with the fact that people 
in general are looking for a deeper and more relational faith, perhaps 
help explain in part the increased attention the Spirit is getting.</p>

<p>It is appropriate then that the base camp of this exploration be 
established in the early understanding of the church on these matters. 
Following the outline of the succinct third article of the Nicene Creed,
 Joel Elowsky opens up to us vistas of the Holy Spirit with expertly 
selected passages from ancient Christian writings.</p>

<p>This portion of the Creed, apart from the filioque, is largely 
uncontroversial. The full deity of the Spirit is highlighted not so much
 by theological definition as by the emphasis on worship and action. 
While the Creed itself does not speak directly of the work of the Spirit
 in justification, sanctification and the like, the early church 
theologians nevertheless had much to say on these issues. Here we see 
clearly how the Spirit is "giver of life."</p>

<p><b><i>The Ancient Christian Doctrine Series:</i></b> This exciting five-volume series follows up on the acclaimed Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture
 to provide patristic commentary on the Nicene Creed. The series renders
 primary Greek, Latin, Coptic and Syriac source material from the church
 fathers in lucid English translation (some here for the first time) and
 gives readers unparalleled insight into the history and substance of 
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to original language sources as well as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan 
Creed in Greek, Latin and English (ICET version), this series 
illuminates key theological essentials in the light of classic and 
consensual Christian faith and makes an excellent resource for preaching
 and teaching.</p>