Understanding Spirit — Introduction

Can we arrive at an understanding of the Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, in a way that includes both biblical and extra-biblical ideas about creation, life, spiritual reality and universal consciousness?

“Spirit,” or “pneuma” in Greek, means air, wind, breath. The ripples of droplets of water in a flat field of clouds can be seen as an image of how science now defines reality as ripples of energy in a vast quantum field.

Does the Holy Spirit get the attention it deserves? The Pentecostal forms of Christianity certainly focus attention on the Third Person of the Trinity, but what about the rest of Christianity, including theology? If most believers do not attend much to the Third Person, what about non-Christians? When religion or faith is touched at all in our culture, the discussion focuses mostly on spirituality. Despite the name Spirit, little seems to be about this person sharing identity with God.

In working toward what I am calling a Theology of Unity, the Holy Spirit has come to play a central and irreplaceable role. One reason for that is the interest in incorporating as much of the wisdom and truth to be found in non-Abrahamic faiths as possible, particularly eastern religions and philosophy. But do this while retaining orthodox biblical teaching.

Those interested in spirituality and science (on Medium as elsewhere there appear to be many) tend to focus on Buddhism, the Tao, Hinduism and other eastern beliefs rather than traditional theism or Christianity. One exception is the moderate interest in Christian mystics, particularly…