Book Review: Joining the Dance

Marshall, Molly T., Joining the Dance: A Theology of the Spirit: Valley Forge, PA,

Judson Press, 2003, p. 161.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF AUTHOR

Molly T. Marshall is the retired president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary. At the time of the writing of this book Dr. Marshall was Professor of Theology and Spiritual Formation at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. She holds M. Div. and Ph.D. degrees from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. An ecumenical Baptist, she has served as campus minister, pastor, and theological educator. An ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches, she frequently lectures and preaches at conferences, universities, and churches.

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Preface: The study of Pneumatology is a daunting challenge. The role of the Spirit in the trinity of God and its role in the life of Christian communities have historically been regulated to a second place to the role of God and the role of Christ. The Scriptures says much about the Spirit, but there has been less emphasis on the role of the Spirit.

Chapter 1-Recovering the Spirit: Dr. Marshal shows how Trinitarian theology places emphasis upon God and Christ because Christ is central to concepts about salvation. We must include the Spirit in creation and salvation. I find this interesting because the apostle Paul writes much about the Spirit as the informing and empowering power that guides the life of the Christian. Dr. Marshall discusses the ancient idea of perichoresis to help us discover how the Spirit enables all creation to participate in the life of God. God and all creation are dancing together.

Chapter 2-Vivifying All Creation: The omnipresence of God removes the Spirit from specific locations to the Spirit’s presence in the life of God in all creation. The Spirit brings life to all things created. Today, we think of the Spirit as being in opposition to matter. The bible writers thought of spirit as the powerful life force of God. God is Spirit. Creaturely beings have a spirit. The Spirit of God evokes the spirits of all that are created. Dr. Marshal shares her beliefs about today’s concepts of “Creation Spirituality” and “Natural Theology,” and how these affect how we think about our human responsibility to everything in God’s creation.

Chapter 3-Gathering a People: Dr. Marshall examines the work of the Spirit in forming community. She examines the life of Saul and Sampson, two leaders that were empowered by the Spirit to do work. Their attitudes and work do not determine if the Spirit indwells them. In Ezekiel 37 dry bones are brought to life forming a living community. The Spirit at work in the life of the community is accomplished through corporate worship. The Spirit breaks down barriers to form a community inclusive of all people. The Spirit anoints the Messiah, empowering a human being with the Spirit of God to bring the message of God to people devoid of the Spirit.

Chapter 4-Empowering The Christ: Historically, interpreters of the Scriptures have not given full attention to the work of the Spirit in the life of people until the Messiah comes into the world. Through Christ we participate together in the life of God. Mary’s virginal conception is a divine-human action. The Spirit overshadows Mary whose “yes” works with the Spirit to accomplish God’s work. The ministry of Jesus is empowered by the Spirit. The Spirit brings both comfort and testing. The Spirit leaves the flesh in the death of Jesus. It gives new life through resurrection. Resurrection is not just a past event. It is also present and ongoing into the future.

Chapter 5-Birthing The Church: Prior to Christ the Spirit was experienced by individual leaders for specific purposes. The resurrected Christ gives birth to the church that includes all people equally through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The social order of Jesus in the church breaks down an entrenched social order that allows for exclusiveness and inequality. In Christian baptism the Christian does not merely imitate the baptism of Jesus. Rather, they become a participant in baptism with Him through the Holy Spirit. Through the communion all individuals become one through the shared body of Christ present in the Spirit. The Spirit initiates worship in prayer. The Spirit joins the mind of God to the mind of the person individually and collectively as one body in Christ. We learn our faith through songs. In singing the Spirit joins us in dance with God.

Chapter 6-Transforming Unfinished Presence: Dr. Marshall discusses the issue of spiritual formation. The Protestant reformation insistence of sole fide (faith alone) has prevented persons from seeing the need and the value of the person’s participation with the Spirit in matters of salvation. Attentiveness to the interior life is gaining ground in Protestant ecclesial communities. Seminaries are developing curricula with a new emphasis on what students are becoming. God is presence in every area of our life. We fall short of the glory of God when we refuse to turn toward the divine and reflect his presence. We go from glory to glory as we see more of the divine and become more like what we see.

Chapter 7-Winnowing The Harvest: Dr. Marshall discusses the winnowing of the Spirit. It is a fresh breath that helps us to discriminate between authentic and fraudulent claims for the activity of the Spirit. All have the gift of the Spirit, but there are different gifts of the Spirit. Our individual gifts are used by us for ministry even outside the church. There is no order of priorities for the gifts of the Spirit. All gifts are given for the common good of the community.

The Johannine language reminds the church that the “spirit” does not simply refer to the Spirit of God. The spirit of the Antichrist seeks to negate the importance of Christ. “There is the spirit of truth, and there is the spirit of deceit; hence Christians must “test” the spirits” (p. 123).

The Spirit is at work in liberating the oppressed. The Spirit’s work is not limited to the activities in the church. The Spirit is at work in political, economic, and social categories where hegemony structures are working to keep the have’s in power over the have not’s. The church must listen to those structures outside the church to discern when the Spirit is winnowing in those communities.

Chapter 8-Honoring Faith’s Promise: Dr. Marshall examines the ways in which the Spirit honors faith’s promise in liberating, recreating, and consummating all created reality. The focus on the study of eschatology has been too limited to the return of Christ to include both Pneumatology and Christology. Christ is the “first fruit” of resurrection. Resurrection is the rebirth of embodied persons, and it begins new life. Resurrection begins in this life because the Spirit indwells us beginning at baptism. Likewise, resurrection includes all created things in the world, and the Spirit is active in giving new life to all of creation.

Chapter 9-Participating In the Life of God: The triune God is open for the participation of all creation; all find identity through the overarching rhythm of life. Through the Spirit we are included in the dance. Dr. Marshall believes that too much emphasis has been given to the convicting power of the Spirit rather than the creative power. The Spirit calls for justice, seeks to transform a world plagued by violence and oppression.

CRITICAL EVALUATION

In nine chapters Dr. Marshall gives us fresh and sometimes new perspectives on the role of the Holy Spirit in the creative activity of the triune God. It is the Spirit that gives new life to all that is created. Dr. Marshall believes that the predominant patriarchal view of God limits our understanding of the Spirit, because the Father and the Son are given more emphasis than the Spirit.

There is a dance between the divine and creatures. The Spirit is also giving new life to systems and structures to bring about justice and inclusion of all people. Thus, there is a dance between the divine and all created things.

As a church leader, I have been helped most by Dr. Marshall’s insights in chapter seven. The Spirit continues to be the gift of God to all believers. The gifts of the Spirit are available to all people of the faith community. A person’s spiritual gift is not limited to ministry in the church. The Spirit gives gifts to be used outside the church wherever the Spirit is giving new life, new creation, and resurrection. This chapter was especially helpful to me because it gives validity to some of my beliefs about the Spirit that is not often shared, or at least emphasized, by others in the church. The Spirit gives us new life and invites us to dance with God in all the activities of the triune God.