Holy Power, Holy Presence

Book excerpt: Western theology is frequently criticized for not having a fully developed pneumatology. According to these critics, preoccupation with Christology and an excessive focus on the nature and unity of God have come at the expense of a full theology of the three persons. While admitting that there is some truth to these criticisms, Elizabeth Dreyer maintains that those who level them base their conclusions on a narrow range of texts and thus fail to establish a true neglect of the Holy Spirit. Medieval authors offer a wealth of creative language and insight that speaks to the role of the Holy Spirit in contemporary spirituality and contributes to a renewed pneumatology for the twenty-first century. Book jacket.