Rediscovering The Holy Spirit (god’s Perfecting Presence In Creation, Redemption, And Everyday Life)

By (author) Horton Michael
Short description/annotation:
In Rediscovering the Holy Spirit, author, pastor, and theologian Mike Horton introduces readers to the neglected person of the Holy Spirit, showing that the work of God''s Spirit is far more ordinary and common than we realize. Horton argues that we need to take a step back every now and again to focus on the Spirit himself.
Description:

For the Spirit, being somewhat forgotten is an occupational hazard. The Holy Spirit is so actively involved in our lives that we can take his presence for granted. As they say, familiarity breeds contempt. Just as we take breathing for granted, we can take the Holy Spirit for granted simply because we constantly depend on him. Like the cane that soon feels like an extension of the blind man’s own body, we too easily begin to think of the Holy Spirit as an extension of ourselves.

Yet the Spirit is at the center of the action in the divine drama from Genesis 1:2 all the way to Revelation 22:17. The Spirit’s work is as essential as the Father’s and the Son’s, yet the Spirit’s work is always directed to the person and work of Christ. In fact, the efficacy of the Holy Spirit’s mission is measured by the extent to which we are focused on Christ. The Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity who brings the work of the Father, in the Son, to completion. In everything that the Triune God performs, this perfecting work is characteristic of the Spirit.

In Rediscovering the Holy Spirit, author, pastor, and theologian Mike Horton introduces readers to the neglected person of the Holy Spirit, showing that the work of God’s Spirit is far more ordinary and common than we realize. Horton argues that we need to take a step back every now and again to focus on the Spirit himself—his person and work—in order to recognize him as someone other than Jesus or ourselves, much less something in creation. Through this contemplation we can gain a fresh dependence on the Holy Spirit in every area of our lives.

Table of contents:
Introduction Chapter 1: Lord and Life-Giver Chapter 2: The Spirit and History Chapter 3: Spirit of Christ Chapter 4: The Age of the Spirit Chapter 5: The Gifts that He Gave Chapter 6: How the Spirit Gives His Gifts Chapter 7: The Spirit and the Bride
Biographical note:
Michael Horton (PhD) is the J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California, founder and editor-in-chief of Sola Media, and host of the White Horse Inn, a weekly roundtable podcast on theology and culture. He is the author of more than thirty books, including Justification (2 Vols.) in Zondervan Academic’s New Studies in Dogmatics and The Christian Faith.
Promotional headline:
You don''t have to agree with everything that Michael Horton says in this important book, but the main lines of his thought are certainly right and utterly transforming. The Holy Spirit is not "shy." Nor is he the member of the Godhead who fills in the bits and pieces of our experience that the Father and the Son neglected to take on. By displaying the sweeping work of the Spirit across redemptive history, Horton not only deepens our understanding of Scripture but our grasp of what it means to confess God as triune. And that calls us to deeper worship. -- D. A. Carson, Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Horton has given us a magisterial account of the person and work of the Spirit that is also a journey through the entire sweep of Christian doctrine. Along the way, he offers rich scriptural insights, engagement with key figures down the millennia and across traditions, and speaks into pressing contemporary concerns, drawing out the implications of a robustly scriptural and Trinitarian pneumatology for faith and life, worship and mission. -- Suzanne McDonald, Professor of Systematic and Histor