The Holy Spirit and kenotic loving power

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to offer an account of divine power in a way that emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit and simultaneously takes a feminist philosophical critique of power seriously. Inspired by relational theology and the theologies of, among others, Anna Mercedes, Jürgen Moltmann, and Thomas Jay Oord, we propose an understanding of kenosis as divine love-power for the radical Other. We understand divine power not in terms of omnipotence or unlimited might, but as kenotic, vulnerable love for the radical Other. This understanding presupposes the relational aspect of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit resides in us (1 Cor 3:16), and the Spirit does not work alone. The loving and empowering work of the Holy Spirit requires the world’s relational response. Divine power conceptualised in terms of love for the radical Other does not bear negative connotations of patriarchal power-over or power-to. Instead of negating the self, the Spirit’s kenotic loving power makes relationship possible, and thus also the self. We argue that this notion of kenotic power, seen most clearly in the Holy Spirit, suggests divine power worthy of worship also from a Christian feminist standpoint.