Wednesday, July 16
Book X at last- just to get us started
Ok, so I am almost done book X, and thought I'd go ahead and get us going on some discussion here.
In Section 24 Augustine discusses the views of Porphyry and Plotinus vs. us Christians on the Holy Spirit. One thing that struck me was Augustine's suggestion that the Holy Spirit is "holding the middle place" between the Father and the Son. Is this how we are to understand the Holy Spirit? what does it mean for the Holy Spirit to hold a middle place...? I would have almost thought Jesus was the middle of the Father and Spirit, because we receive the Holy Spirit who lives in us as humans, and humans need Christ to approach the Father, so Christ seems more in the middle... hmm. and then Augustine says "we assert that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit not of the Father only, nor of the Son only, but of both." this sort of phrasing communicates a more foreign notion of the Spirit once again. I do not personally conceive of the Holy Spirit as a Spirit who "belongs" to the Father or Son or both, but simply as "belonging" to the Trinity itself. The distinction in my mind is perhaps subtle. But to say the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son seems to put the Holy Spirit on a "lower rung" in the Trinity, beneath the Father and the Son. Whereas I understand the Holy Spirit as "one" with the Father and the Son, not "of" the Father and the Son. Any ideas into what Augustine is saying? Or comments on my conceptions of the Holy Spirit?
In Section 24 Augustine discusses the views of Porphyry and Plotinus vs. us Christians on the Holy Spirit. One thing that struck me was Augustine's suggestion that the Holy Spirit is "holding the middle place" between the Father and the Son. Is this how we are to understand the Holy Spirit? what does it mean for the Holy Spirit to hold a middle place...? I would have almost thought Jesus was the middle of the Father and Spirit, because we receive the Holy Spirit who lives in us as humans, and humans need Christ to approach the Father, so Christ seems more in the middle... hmm. and then Augustine says "we assert that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit not of the Father only, nor of the Son only, but of both." this sort of phrasing communicates a more foreign notion of the Spirit once again. I do not personally conceive of the Holy Spirit as a Spirit who "belongs" to the Father or Son or both, but simply as "belonging" to the Trinity itself. The distinction in my mind is perhaps subtle. But to say the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son seems to put the Holy Spirit on a "lower rung" in the Trinity, beneath the Father and the Son. Whereas I understand the Holy Spirit as "one" with the Father and the Son, not "of" the Father and the Son. Any ideas into what Augustine is saying? Or comments on my conceptions of the Holy Spirit?
