Date of Award
2010
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
First Reader
Lyle D. Beirma
Second Reader
John Bolt
Third Reader
Mary L. Vanden Berg
Fourth Reader
I. John Hesselink
Abstract
With the rise of Pentecostalism in the early twentieth century and the charismatic movement from the middle of the century until recently, a resurgence of interest in the Holy Spirit and Christian spirituality in both theology and the church's life has become evident. Along with the increase of interest in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the twentieth century, there are criticisms of the treatment of the doctrine in church history, including in the Reformed tradition, for having neglected the Holy Spirit in both theology and the church's life. These criticisms have helped to incite a burgeoning interest in pneumatology within Christendom. Critical studies of the treatments of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in church history have been laboriously conducted. However, there have not been many studies on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in Reformed orthodoxy, particularly in its confessional standards. The purpose of this dissertation is to bridge this gap in the history of scholarship. To achieve that purpose, this dissertation explores and provides a systematic account of the person and some aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit presented in the major Reformed confessions and catechisms of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The first part gives an overview of the themes of the doctrine of the Spirit that have already been commonly identified by scholars, such as the Spirit in relation to Scripture, the Trinity, Christ (chapter 2), and to salvation, the church, and the sacraments (chapter 3). The next three parts deal with the themes of the doctrine that have not received adequate treatment: the Spirit in relation to creation and providence (chapter 4), the church's unity, diversity of spiritual gifts, and mission (chapters 5 and 6), and social responsibility (chapter 7). In each part the dissertation does a critical analysis of some of the major Reformed confessions and catechisms of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, both of the structure of the confessional documents and of the content of articles that teach, explicitly or implicitly, the aspect of the work of the Holy Spirit discussed in that chapter.
Recommended Citation
Adhinarta, Yuzo, "The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Major Reformed Confessions and Catechisms of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries" (2010). CTS PhD Doctoral Dissertations. 2.
https://digitalcommons.calvin.edu/cts_dissertations/2