The theme of this study is the relationship between the doctrine of
revelation and pneumatology. How can we conceive of the relation between
the self-revelation of God and our knowledge of that self-revelation?
This is an important question given the postmodern abandonment of any
normative understanding of truth and the mushrooming of alternative
forms of spirituality. The task of Christian mission in the context of
popular pluralism raises the question of the relationship between truth
and experience. The focus of the work is a critical comparison between
two contemporary Lutheran theologians, Wolfhart Pannenberg and Eberhard
Jungel. By contrasting these influential writers clear distinctions are
drawn between an approach based on metaphor and metaphysic. Both
approaches are deemed to be deficient in their construction and it is
argued that some of these problems emerge from a common Lutheran
heritage. It is further argued that Trinitarian pneumatology might be
better advanced by giving greater weight to the concepts of
participation and communion. In doing so, some contribution is made
towards long-standing pneumatological questions, including the
personhood of the Holy Spirit and the distinction between God as Spirit
and the Holy Spirit. Graham Watts has provided a useful service to the
theological readership by giving us this careful, critical and
comparative study of Jungel and Pannenberg, focused on the doctrines of
revelation and the Spirit. Drawing on the important contemporary
critics, notably Jenson, Dalferth, Schwoebel, Torrance and Gunton, he
teases out some interesting interpretative insights and gives readers
helpful and accurate exposition in so doing. --Timothy Bradshaw,
Regent's Park College, Oxford, UK The tendency of much writing on the
Spirit has been to fall either into abstruse, amorphous speculation or
overly subjective accounts of religious experience. This book obviates
both failings. It is a theologically profound but also highly focused
treatment of the concrete reality of the Spirit in God's
Self-disclosure. This is an invaluable resource for academics, students
and theologically engaged ministers alike. --Alan J. Torrance, Chair of
Systematic Theology, St Mary's College, University of St Andrews,
Scotland Both Pannenberg's and Jungel's theologies pose a considerable
challenge for the theological enquirer. Graham Watts has done a great
service as with lucidity and facility he clarifies the thinking of these
two contemporary theologians, displays the significance of their
respective theological work and enables readers to benefit from their
profound theological insight. This is a skillful and coherent piece of
work which will add to more general theological appreciation of their
contribution and will enrich many. --Nigel G. Wright, Principal,
Spurgeon's College, London, UK Graham Watts is minister at Albany Road
Baptist Church, Cardiff, and, since 1997, has been a distance learning
tutor in Christian Doctrine for Spurgeon's College.
