Christian theurgy and divine indwelling

Abstract

This article discusses Charles Stang’s understanding of a Pauline and Pseudo-Dionysian concept of deification prayer, and the role of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer, in light of both Neoplatonic metaphysics of participation and Paul’s understanding of the term “spirit”. It argues that this can be understood through a concept of divine indwelling, explicated theurgically through the Neoplatonic conception of the One of the soul. While the Christian and non-Christian Neoplatonic traditions diverge on the nature of this indwelling, particularly as it relates to divine revelation, it serves the same function for both. A theurgic perspective helps us not just discover parallels and divergences between Christianity and Pagan Platonism, but also provides us with a language and a metaphysics which helps us explicate the work of the Holy Spirit.