The Holy Spirit before Christianity by John R. Levison

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Holy Spirit before Christianity by John R. Levison Timothy Rucker john r. levison, The Holy Spirit before Christianity (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2019). Pp. xiii + 258. $39.95. Jack Levison’s stimulating new book is an outstanding example of careful and creative exegesis. L. anchors the seedbed of pneumatological thought to the exodus—especially the deliverance through the sea in Exod 14:19–20—and he explores how Isa 63:7–14 and Hag 2:4–5 evidence the historical emergence of pneumatology: the spirit as divine agent for protection, presence, guidance, rest, and hope. L. then questions the Christian monopoly on pneumatology—specifically in the Hebrew Bible—and he challenges the value of the term “hypostasis.” L. convincingly argues his thesis through exemplary readings of passages about the exodus, Isa 63:7–14, and Hag 2:4–5, but his exclusion of Exod 14:21 proves shortsighted. In chap. 1, L. recounts Hans Leisegang’s initial study on pneumatology (Der Heilige Geist: Das Wesen und Werden der mystisch-intuitiven Erkenntnis in der Philosophie und Religion der Griechen [Leipzig: Teubner, 1919]). Leisegang assumed that the religious origin of the Holy Spirit preceded Christianity, and L. finds Leisegang’s study appealing because “he wrested pneumatology from the grasp of Christianity and set it instead in the context of other, earlier religious traditions” (p. 2). In contrast with Leisegang, who hypothesized that the origin of pneumatology lay in Greek thought, L. finds the origin of pneumatology in (post-)exilic Jewish thought: namely, the creative reinterpretation of the divine [End Page 487] agents of the exodus in Isa 63:7–14 and Hag 2:4–5. L., therefore, suggests that Christians should proactively collaborate with Jews in the study of pneumatology. In chap. 2, L. examines the following divine agents of the exodus: the pillars, the angel, and the presence-face of God. L. judiciously surveys the varying accounts of these divine agents with an eye toward the spirit in Isa 63:7–14 and Hag 2:4–5. L. repeatedly refuses to harmonize the data, and his conclusions are remarkably careful and nuanced. Ultimately, L. concludes that these divine agents indicate God’s presence in the exodus. In chap. 3, L. turns his attention to the lament of Isa 63:7–14. He persuasively demonstrates “that the Hebrew of Isa 63:8–9 is a better representative of the original text than the Greek” (p. 37), and he details how the “angel of his presence” (Isa 63:9) is an amalgamation of the pillars, angel, and presence-face of the exodus. This amalgamation then takes on a remarkable identity for L.: “his holy spirit” (Isa 63:10). In other words, the divine agents of the exodus become “his holy spirit.” In chap. 4, L. highlights the oddity of the spirit “standing” in Hag 2:4–5. L. demonstrates that some in the postexilic era creatively reappropriated the spirit in various ways and that the spirit is far from absent. L. discerns that the “standing” (Hag 2:5) equates the spirit with the pillars of the exodus, which “stood” between the Egyptians and the Israelites (Exod 14:19–20). This identification shares similarities with “the angel of his presence” (Isa 63:9) being identified as “his holy spirit” (Isa 63:10–11). In chapter 5, L. argues that “hypostasis” is an inadequate term for the spirit in the Hebrew Bible and that pneumatology should be a joint enterprise between Jews and Christians. After reviewing the limited impact of Isa 63:7–14 and Hag 2:4–5 on the pneumatology of Second Temple Judaism, L. argues that Galatians 4 and Romans 8 develop the pneumatology of Isaiah 63. L. then concludes the main portion of his book by suggesting that those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven because the Spirit has been equated with the exodus traditions of the angel, and the angel will not forgive those who rebel. L. offers only an endnote of thought on Eph 4:30, and something on Acts 5:3, 9 would have been welcome. The overall contribution of this study is limited, however, by the exclusion of Exod 14:21...