The Spirit, the Affections, and the Christian Tradition ed. by Dale M. Coulter and Amos Yong (review)

This stimulating volume is bookended by contributions from the two editors. Dale Coulter, associate professor of historical theology at Regent University (VA), provides an introductory chapter that orients the reader while Amos Yong, professor of theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, completes this study with suggestions for additional research. The marrow of this book contains twelve chapters that offer a chronological tour of the study of affections from the patristic period to the eighteenth century. The stated goal is to create a "renewal historiographic lens" through the study of affectivity (1). This focus, reflective of the history of Pentecostalism, includes an appreciation for and recovery of "popular religiosity" and "folk theologies" (2). In consideration of the vocabulary of affectivity the authors in this collection stress the distinction between affectivity and emotion (essentially a later development at the beginning of the nineteenth century), whereby the affections are deeper in nature and more connected with the will. Within this dynamic conversation, the passions, which have often been understood as diseases of the soul, are also examined. The Holy Spirit is operative throughout this discussion as the "intersection between divine affectivity and human affectivity" (7).

The first three chapters explore affectivity through the patristic writers of the Christian East and West. Robert Louis Wilken provides a succinct treatment of Origen's, Gregory of Nyssa's, and Maximus the Confessor's writings on love that highlight the interplay between agape and eros. Wilken summarizes the early understanding that "Knowledge without passion does not bind one to God" (37). James K. A. Smith engages Augustine's critical assessment of the theater and demonstrates how it can be redeemed to recover a richer exposition of affectivity through the action of the Holy Spirit. Bradley Nassif deftly examines the deification of passions through St. John Chrysostom's Divine Liturgy. Central to his argument is how baptism, the Eucharist, Scripture, icons and dogmatic hymns (Nassif's language) form the affections of the worshiper. Nassif helpfully grounds this through the theological foundation of union with Christ and the Holy Spirit. Michael J. McClymond's expansive chapter employs holy tears as the lens through which affectivity can be studied in both the East and West and from the patristic era to the present. He concludes this fascinating chapter by asserting, "Unless we weep and grieve, we will never experience the deep joy that God offers" (103).

The next three chapters concentrate on the medieval period. First, Elizabeth A. Dreyer reviews the contribution of Hadewijch of Brabant's bridal mysticism, elevating the topic of sacred eros, and Bonaventure's emphasis on Christ's humanity, revealed through his wounds of love. In both cases the affections are elevated in ecstatic delight. Next, Craig A. Boyd merges Aquinas's dual themes of desire and appetite with love and charity. He asserts that the human freedom of expressing affections must be guided by the rational soul that is always held accountable for those desires. Sharon L. Putt concludes this trilogy of medieval chapters with her study of detachment in Meister Eckhart. His treatment of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38–42) reverses the frequent tendency of elevating Mary. Instead Martha's detachment creates greater approbation since she "represents the perfection of a life of action born from contemplation" (173).

The next cluster of chapters surveys three representatives of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Simeon Zahl explores Luther's famous principle of the bondage of the will and perceives parallels to the bondage of affections. Significantly, Zahl reminds readers that to focus only upon the affections restricts the much broader spectrum of Luther's vocabulary, including desire, voluntas (usually rendered as "will"), and the heart. Building on the centrality of the heart, Zahl corrects the mistaken impression that Luther, not John Wesley, was the originator of "heart religion" (199). In his chapter on Blaise Pascal, Klaas Bom continues with the priority of the...