Recognizing the Spirit

An Ecclesial Pneumatology

Kathryn L. Reinhard (Author)

Online Access / Resources

Recognizing the Spirit

An Ecclesial Pneumatology

Kathryn L. Reinhard (Author)

Online Access / Resources

Hardback ~~$146.50~~ $131.85 Ebook (PDF) ~~$131.85~~ $105.48 Ebook (Epub & Mobi) ~~$131.85~~ $105.48

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Description

Boldly tackling the question of how to negotiate diversities in identity and practice within the unity of ecclesial relationship, this book constructs an ecclesial Pneumatology capable of addressing modern issues of church conflict and separation.

In a time of “ecumenical winter” and intra-ecclesial fracturing, the ecclesial crises of our time are at root a problem of “recognition.” Here, ecumenical recognition is supplemented with insights from Continental philosophy, literary theory, and Augustinian Pneumatology. Ultimately, this book follows the work of Eberhard Jüngel to propose a correspondence between the existence of the church and the existence of the triune God, in that both exist as “a communion of mutual otherness.”

If God is who Christians say God is––if the Spirit is and does the work that Augustine and Jüngel say it does––then Christians are incorporated into a Body whose shape we are not free to determine. God's primary recognition of believers in the church affects a secondary recognition that, despite the very real harm Christians do perpetrate against one another in our performative divisions, should make us question the extent to which we can every truly do without one another.

Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Ecclesial Recognition
2. Philosophical and Biblical Recognition
3. The Identity of the Church and the Existence of God: Correspondences and Concerns
4. Recovering the Spirit in the West
5. Pneumatological Recognition
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Product details

Published	Feb 19 2026
Format	Hardback
Edition	1st
Pages	320
ISBN	9781978708761
Imprint	T&T Clark
Dimensions	229 x 152 mm
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

Kathryn L. Reinhard

Kathryn L. Reinhard is assistant professor of reli…

In a time of polarization and attempts to eliminate diversity, what could be more important for ecclesiology than to think through how diversity and recognition belong together and contribute to shaping a church that manifests an alternative reality? This book offers resources for this critical task by investigating classical and contemporary resources, showing how a contemporary theology of the Spirit opens up a new vision of the Church.

Jan-Olav Henriksen, Professor of Systematic Theology, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society, Norway, and author of Desire, Gift, and Recognition: Christology and Postmodern Philosophy
In our time of increasing tensions and polarization, the need for respect and appreciation of other persons and groups is of paramount importance. Kathryn L. Reinhard argues that the theory of recognition offers ways to live together in a plural world. She shows how the event of intersubjective recognition is deeply rooted in the Christian faith and can be embraced with an ecclesially sensitive account of the Holy Spirit.

Risto Saarinen, Professor of Ecumenics, University of Helsinki, Finland
In the bleak ecumenical winter, Kathryn Reinhard marshals fresh resources for renewed hope. Grounded in unexpected resources, the oft-forgotten Holy Spirit and Augustin's much-maligned pneumatology, her learned account of recognition bids us to recognize each other, in all our differences, as bound together by the Spirit of the Father-loving Son. Nowhere could be more secure, but nowhere could be more full of surprises, since the Spirit blows where she wills.

Eugene R. Schlesinger, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Santa Clara University, US
In Recognizing the Spirit, Kathryn L. Reinhard offers a groundbreaking contribution to the growing body of literature on ecumenical stock-taking in this period following the decline of the bilateral dialogues. Drawing from sources both classical and modern, she makes a compelling case that the reintegration of ecclesiology and pneumatology can help historically-divided churches overcome longstanding doctrinal impasses. Reinhard points a promising way forward for ecumenical theology and practice.

R. David Nelson, Director, Baylor University Press, US