The Holy Spirit in Christian Theology

Many have long considered this "introduction to the doctire of the Holy Spirit: a standard in its field. In answer to their requests Dr. Hendry has enlarged it with two new chapters. These two chapters deal with the essential offices of the Holy Spirit, both as they are indicated in the ancient creeds, and in context dictated by the strong ecumenical movement. This revised edition, like the original, deals with the problems of "what must be the basic pattern of a Christian doctrine of the Holy Spirit in five specific relations: the Holy Spirit and Christ; the Holy Spirit and God; the Holy Spirit and the Church; the Holy Spirit and the Word; and the Holy Spirit and the human spirit. Dr, Hendry shows the basic identity of the mission of the Spirit with the mission of Christ. Among the author's conclusions are these: that the Spirit is, in an exclusive sense, the Spirit of Christ... and the earthly ministry of Christ must be completes before the Spirit comes; that the Spirit is in the Church only when it is a Church of the Word, and the Spirit is in the Word only when the Word is in the Church; that "the Holy Spirit does not annihilate our spirits, but bears witness with our spirits... does not destroy the freedom of our spirits, but restores it by changing their false freedom from God into that true freedom for God, which is the glorious liberty of the children of God." In addition to these conclusions Dr. Hendry also gives a broad picture of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit that includes a treatment of Pauline and Johannine ideas on the understanding of the Spirit in relation to God, the meaning of the Trinity in the light of Karl Barth's interpretation; the Roman Catholic evangelical-Protestant, and spiritualist emphases on the subjective experience of the Spirit; a critique of the post-Reformation theology concerning Scripture; and the implications of the current philosophical exegetical and theological interpretations.