Gifts Of Spirit Research Articles

LO SPIRITO MANIFESTATORE, NELLA PNEUMATOLOGIA DI PAVEL N. EVDOKIMOV

L’uomo nuovo, l’uomo pneumatico, è al centro della riflessione teologica di Pavel N. Evdokimov (1901-1970). Argomenta che l’azione dello Spirito Santo non tanto è comprensibile con una analisi esclusivamente og­gettiva dell’agire di Dio in relazione all’uomo. Egli ritiene si tratti di riconoscere l’importanza dell’accoglienza dei doni dello Spirito dentro un duplice movimento: l’uomo vive prima una fase di conversione, e di lotta, a cui segue un movimento di ascesi che scaturisce dall’aver accolto i doni dello Spirito Santo. Santificandoci, lo Spirito Santo trasmette “qualcosa” della sua propria natura perché noi si possa compiere la volontà del Padre. Lo Spirito Santo imprime nell’uomo il suo Soffio vitale e, senza confusione, si fa co-soggetto della nostra vita in Cristo. L’uomo che è stato risoffiato dal Figlio del suo stesso Spirito, diventa immagine di Cristo nel mondo; respira del suo stesso soffio, della sua stessa vita.

From the Same Spirit: Receiving the Theological Gifts of Transgender Christians

AbstractTransgender Christians bear four transformative gifts to the body of Christ. They celebrate that humans are God's created co‐creators, and that God creates with and through them. Second, gender non‐conforming Christians have learned to steadfastly love (hesed) themselves as they love God and the world. Next, transgender Christians witness that humans are a coherent unity of body‐mind, not a mind in a body. Finally, transgender followers of Jesus welcome the Holy Spirit's gifts of plurality, newness, unity, and freedom.

An essay on giants of mankind

Great people are relentless in creation on the planet, exalted magicians of words, thoughts and deeds. An extraordinary man of excellence can bring immeasurable good to his race, faith, country or civilization. We should not forget that the man is a building block of creation and that sometimes he is not aware of how much of his creative zeal and fruitful energy is hidden in his spiritual flight and profound thoughts. Fortunately, the giants of the world (Aristotle, Hegel, Heidegger, Dostoevsky and Shakespeare) had timely recognized their gift and dedicated their valuable life to fertilize it. Nothing that God has given to the Man is without a reason. Nothing is given with the bad intention that gifts of spirit should die, unfertilized, overlaid and empty, when the person physically leaves this world. That exceptional value of the One is meant to be passed as the most precious gift on to new generations open to fruitful new knowledge. The Serbian race throughout its eventful and turbulent history and painful existence has delivered rich gifts of beauty, spirit, wisdom and struggle for freedom to the world heritage. Studenica is the place where St. Simeon Mirotocivi (the one who spreads peace) laid foundations of our state, and Saint Sava, the first light and dawn among the Serbs, christened our race for ever.

Konsensökumene? Differenzökumene? Ökumene der Profile?

Has the search for »consensus« in the dialogues of the Christian churches turned out to be a dead end street? Should the churches not rather start to emphasize their own respective »profile« more strongly? The paper examines Ulrich Körtner's thesis that recently a »paradigm change« »from ecumenism of consensus to ecumenism of differences« has taken place. According to Körtner, the plurality of denominations is at the same time a negative result of sinful selfishness, as it is a positive expression of the variety of creation and the polyphony of the Holy Spirit's gifts. Thus, neither simply conserving denominational identity, nor trying to overcome the separation of churches is good or bad in itself. Ecumenical dialogues, as Körtner puts it, should aim at leading churches to acknowledge that they need each other »to become whole« , and to find so much common ground, that they can share Holy communion. The search for visible unity of the »people of God« , however, according to Körtner, is limited by the fact that the Jews necessarily are part of this people. With reference to the dialogues of the churches, nevertheless, the paper interprets Körtner's concept as rather continuing than overcoming the idea of »ecumenism of consensus«.

Pneumatological Perspectives for A Theology of Nature: The Holy Spirit in Relation to Ecology and Technology

AbstractHow does the relationship of the Holy Spirit to creation guide theology of nature? This paper will propose that, on a cosmological level, the Spirit, as the ‘Giver of Life’, produces kinship among creatures, that the Spirit suffers with creation’s suffering and as his perfecting work is frustrated, and that the Spirit gifts certain aspects of technological culture. The presence of the Spirit in nature causes us to respect nature, nevertheless, the Spirit may guide people to shape nature in ways that are consonant with the Spirit’s life-giving work.