Pneumatology and Theology of the Cross in the Preaching of Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt: The Holy Spirit Between Wittenberg and Azusa Street

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Thisbook identifies the impasse between classical Protestant and contemporary charismatic and Pentecostal pneumatologies as a fundamental theological problem. Its goal is to contribute a constructive pneumatological proposal for moving beyond this impasse, based on the resources of the theology of Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt (1842-1919). The disagreement is over the question of unmediated experience of the Holy Spirit. Luther's rejection of enthusiastic' pneumatologies on the basis of a narrow concept of the mediation of the Word and a pessimistic anthropology became Protestant orthodoxy. In relation to classical Protestantism, the primary theological distinctive of charismatic theology is its strong affirmation of unmediated experience of the Spirit in Christian life and worship. The Pentecostal movement's rapid growth in the past century has brought this difference to the fore. Christoph Blumhardt's theology, which integrates pessimistic anthropology and unmediated experience, is well-suited to exploring the impasse between the two theological traditions.

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Dr Zahl not only gives what is likely to remain for some time the authoritative interpretation of Christoph Blumhardt's seminal theology, but he also engages deeply with understandings of the Holy Spirit in Luther and Pentecostalism. In addition he contributes a lively, convincing and constructive proposal on discerning the Holy Spirit in twenty-first century Christian life and thought. -- David Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity and Fellow of Selwyn College, University of Cambridge, UK.
Can a bridge be found between classical Protestantism and charismatic Pentecostalism, the most significant Christian movement in recent decades Simeon Zahl persuasively argues Christoph Blumhardt's charismatic theology of the cross provides just such a bridge. An important book on a central and unresolved problem. -- Miroslav Volf, Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology, Yale University Founding Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture, USA.
Reviewed in the Religious Studies Review.
Reviewed in Religious Studies, Vol. 37, Issue 3.

Author Bio

Simeon Zahl studied at Harvard University and the University of Cambridge, where he received his doctorate. He is currently an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, UK.