Abstract
During the last few years there has been a growing concern among Christians with the Holy Spirit, both in the work of professional theologians and in the more popular writings of those involved in the Charismatic Movement. Despite this trend, however, there has been little attempt made recently by philosophers of religion to analyse the concept of a spirit. Of course, there are obvious reasons for this reluctance, stemming mainly from two important trends in recent theology: Bultmann’s work on demythologising, and the anxiety of many Christians to avoid a Dualistic account of man. The former has led many Christians to simplify their ontology by rejecting belief in angels, devils and other such spirits as part of an outmoded view of the world. As Bultmann said in a famous passage,
It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of daemons and spirits.1
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Richard Swinburne,The Existence of God .(Oxford, 1979), p.8
Paul Edwards, ‘Difficulties in the Idea of God’, in E. Madden, R. Handy and M. Farber (eds), The Idea of God ( Springfield, Illinois, 1968 ), p. 48.
Antony Flew, The Presumption of Atheism (London, 1976), p.141.
Immanuel Kant, Dreams of a Spirit Seer Acad. ed. Vol.n, pp.319, 1321.
Geoffrey Lampe, God as Spirit (Oxford, 1977).
R. Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament (London, 1952 ), Vol. I, 5514, 38.
See E. Schweizer (ed.), Spirit of God (London, 1960), pp.82f.
Ian Crombie, in B. Mitchell (ed.), Faith and Logic (London, 1957), pp.31–83.
See Kai Nielsen, ‘On Fixing the Reference Range of God’, Religious Studies n (1966–7), pp.21–5, and M. Durrant, The Logical Status of God’ (London, 1973), p.13.
Keith Ward, The Concept of God (Oxford, 1974), p.215.
C. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul (London, 1933), pp.258f.
David Hume, Dialogues on Natural Religion VI, Kemp Smith edn, p.171.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1984 Patrick Sherry
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sherry, P. (1984). The Spirit of God. In: Spirit, Saints and Immortality. Library of Philosophy and Religion. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06835-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06835-7_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-06837-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-06835-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Religion & Philosophy CollectionPhilosophy and Religion (R0)