Two of my favorite doctrines converge (Creation & the Holy Spirit) in Creator Spirit: The Holy Spirit and the Art of Becoming Human by Steven Guthrie. This book appropriates a theology of creation with a robust understanding of the Spirit and then applies it to Art. Guthrie wields constructive theology, integrating theology across disciplines, with ease. This is one of the best books I have read on the Holy Spirit.
While familiar with much of his helpful explanations of these doctrines, I found his application of these doctrines in the realm of Art, insightful and compelling. His prose moves the reader along in hopeful anticipation of yet, another intellectual and inspiring gem. The ease with which he floats between, for instance, John Coltrane, Plato, and Jurgen Moltmann win me over.
Appreciating More Than Art
Now, this is not stuffy theology, though some theological background is needed. The lofty touches down on the mundane, where we stand in Art Galleries gazing at something we know not how to interpret. Guthrie sweeps across Art criticism and history to provide us with handles for art appreciation (though his work is much more than that). Have you ever wondered whether Art should absorb your attention or redirect it beyond itself? Guthrie helps us here, citing primary sources. While expressionists want us to experience emotion, and Tolstoy wants us to experience the profound humanity in art, Guthrie insists that art is meant to point us, not ultimately to mystery or to its medium, but to God himself. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, who himself is remaking humanity into the form, not of mystery, but of the very image of God.
Knowing the Spirit
In all his constructive efforts, even the non-artist can benefit from this book. Guthrie provides a remarkably concise and stirring theology of the Spirit in chapter two, the same chapter which exegetes John Coltrane’s The Love Supreme (which I listened to with new ears today). His primary interlocutor, church father Athanasias, provides insight into the person and work of the Spirit as the re-humanizing Person of the Godhead. The goal of the Spirit is to re-humanize us after the image of the true human–Jesus Christ. I found Athanasias’ comment regarding the descent of the Spirit upon Jesus insightful: “This did not take place for the advancement of the Word but for our sanctification, so that we may share in his anointing…” In other words, the Spirit did not come upon Jesus because he was divinely insufficient, rather, it was so that Jesus, in his humanity, could become the prototypical new human who is indwelt with the Spirit of God, to become the true human. Of course, this was also an expression of the approbation of God as Jesus succeeded where Israel failed in passing through the watery judgment, to receive the favor and fellowship of God as the one, true Israelite who would lead the people of God out of the slavery of their sin into a new land of salvation. But he did this as the ultimate Man, possessing the power of the Spirit, just as his posterity, the Church does. Oh that we would commune with the Spirit in fellowship and in power to display the new humanity we have possessed by faith to the world, not in bold arrogance but in bold compassion and worship!
Chapters on the communal shape of singing, creativity, and vocation continue to push theology into practice with inspiring twists and turns that, themselves, embody the work of the creative Spirit radiating through Guthrie’s new humanity. This book is not for everyone, but it is about everyone. It is a theological, philosophical, artistic work that brings the reader along with insight and inspiration, grasping more deeply what God has accomplished and is accomplishing in Christ through his Spirit in every follower of Christ.