The Significance of Spirit Christology: Frank D. Macchia s Pentecostal Critique of the Pneumatology of Donald G. Bloesch = The Significance of Spirit Christology: Frank D. Macchia s Pentecostal Critique of the Pneumatology of Donald G. Bloesch

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Spirit Christology is one of the oldest theological attempts by the Christian church to understand how Jesus Christ is both divine and human. Although it is deeply rooted in the biblical tradition as well as in the thinking of the earliest apologists, Spirit Christology was often considered to be in danger of falling into adoptionism. In contrast, Logos Christology became, without major objections, the prevalent Christological standpoint of the early church and the churches in the following generations partly because of its strong affirmation of the divine origin of Jesus Christ. Recently, however, Spirit Christology has come back to the theological discussions as a major Christological and pneumatological option for the twenty-first century Christian theology. In keeping with the rediscovery of the significance of Spirit Christology, the Pentecostal theologian Frank D. Macchia criticizes the pneumatology of the evangelical theologian Donald G. Bloesch for lacking a pneumatological fullness.
As both theologians acknowledge, Macchia and Bloesch have more agreements than disagreements: Both envision a trinitarian Christology and both suggest a complementary relationship between Logos and Spirit Christologies. Nonetheless, Macchia finds that Bloesch's subordinationist pneumatology repeats the shortcomings of the Reformed understanding of the Spirit when it excessively connects the work of the Spirit to the work of the Son. Pentecostal theology has never lost the vision of a Christ-centered theological thinking. This does not mean, however, that Pentecostal pneumatology suggests Christomonism. Spirit Christology fully acknowledges the Spirit-Son relationship without making it the sole field of ministry of the Spirit.