The Spirit, the Affections, and the Christian Tradition

327 Pages·2016·1.11 MB·English

by  Dale M. Coulter

The Spirit, the Affections, and the Christian Tradition

THE SPIRIT,
THE AFFECTIONS,
AND THE CHRISTIAN
TRADITION
Edited by
DALE M. COULTER AND AMOS YONG
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
Copyright © 2016 by University of Notre Dame
All Rights Reserved
Published in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Coulter, Dale M. (Dale Michael), 1970– editor.
Title: The spirit, the affections, and the Christian tradition /
edited by Dale M. Coulter and Amos Yong.
Description: Notre Dame : University of Notre Dame Press, 2016. |
Include bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016032989 (print) | LCCN 2016033475 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780268100049 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 0268100047 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780268100063 (pdf) |
ISBN 9780268100070 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Emotions—Religious aspects—Christianity—
History of doctrines.
Classification: LCC BV4597.3 .S66 2016 (print) |
LCC BV4597.3 (ebook) | DD 248.2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016032989
ISBN 9780268100063
∞ This paper meets the requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
This e-Book was converted from the original source
file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any
formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged
to contact the publisher at [email protected].
To
Stanley M. Burgess
who envisioned a renewal of Christian history
through a historiography of renewal

CONTENTS
Preface ix
Introduction: The Language of Affectivity and 1
the Christian Life
Dale M. Coulter
CHAPTER 1 Blessed Passion of Love: The Affections, the 29
Church Fathers, and the Christian Life
Robert Louis Wilken
CHAPTER 2 Redeeming the Affections: Deconstructing 41
Augustine’s Critique of Theater
James K. A. Smith
CHAPTER 3 The Beauty of Holiness: Deification of the Passions 65
in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Bradley Nassif
CHAPTER 4 Holy Tears: A Neglected Aspect of Early Christian 87
Spirituality in Contemporary Context
Michael J. McClymond
CHAPTER 5 The Transformative Role of Emotion in the 113
Middle Ages: Deliverance from Lukewarm Affections
Elizabeth A. Dreyer
CHAPTER 6 Aquinas on Sanctifying the Affections: 143
Participating in the Life of the Spirit
Craig A. Boyd
viii Contents
CHAPTER 7 Letting Go of Detachment: Eckhart’s Gelassenheit 161
and the Immanence of the Spirit
Sharon L. Putt
CHAPTER 8 The Bondage of the Affections: Willing, Feeling, 181
and Desiring in Luther’s Theology, 1513–1525
Simeon Zahl
CHAPTER 9 “Movements of the Heart”: Blaise Pascal 207
(1623–1662) on Affections
Klaas Bom
CHAPTER 10 “But to know it as we shou’d do”: Enthusiasm, 231
Historicizing of the Charismata, and Cessationism
in Enlightenment England
Paul C. H. Lim
CHAPTER 11 Orthokardia: John Wesley’s Grammar of the 259
Holy Spirit
Gregory S. Clapper
CHAPTER 12 Jonathan Edwards on the Affections and the Spirit 279
Gerald R. McDermott
Conclusion: The Affective Spirit and 293
Historiographical Revitalization in the Christian
Theological Tradition
Amos Yong
List of Contributors 303
Index 305
PREFACE
This collection derives from ongoing discussions between the editors
about how to develop the theoretical underpinnings of renewal Chris-
tianity for the study of Christian history and the history of Christian the-
ology. Each of us has either taught in (Amos) or continues to teach in
(Dale) the relatively new and emerging field of renewal studies, uniquely
situated at Regent University School of Divinity. Regent University itself
is deeply shaped by neo-pentecostal and charismatic renewal, leading in
2003 to the establishment of a PhD program in the School of Divinity
with a methodological focus on renewal and renewal movements in the
history of Christianity.
Because of the history of the institution in which this program is
situated, its central focus has always been the global pentecostal and char-
ismatic renewal. Yet the seminary is also explicitly transdenominational,
broadly evangelical, and even ecumenical in its ethos, including faculty
and students from Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox traditions. What
binds together faculty and students is a shared commitment to promot-
ing the renewing work of the Holy Spirit.
Hence, while renewal studies surely includes the pentecostal and
charismatic movements derived from the Azusa Street revivals at the
beginning of the twentieth century, it is also much more than that. The
faculty has adopted an explicitly methodological definition of renewal for
its programmatic self-understanding.
The Regent University School of Divinity Ph.D. program under-
stands Renewal Studies as a methodological approach to global Chris-
tian engagement with discourses in the academy, church, and world
as informed by critical reflection derived from charismatic move-
ments and their practices throughout the history of God’s people.
ix