Phyllis Tickle’s latest book, “The Age of the Spirit: How the Ghost of an Ancient Controversy is Shaping the Church,” is near the top of my stack of books I hope to read soon. In a recent interview about this book with Jonathan Merritt, Tickle shared that the trend is toward a “greater experiential intimacy” with the Holy Spirit. Tickle says:
Additionally, we’re seeing a need to experience the Spirit everyday and a belief in the accessibility of the Spirit. Most Christians 100 years ago would have prayed to Jesus. Today, people are actually praying to the Spirit with regularity. So, there is greater engagement with the Spirit in a way that would not have been true in years past.
So What?
The world has been shifting from modern to postmodern for some time. The postmodern emphasis on the experiential suggests a Christianity that is increasingly experiential. Given such, a trend toward “greater experiential intimacy” with the Holy Spirit is what one would expect.
- Think about your congregation’s typical Sunday morning worship service. Would an objective outsider observer find that more emphasis is given to God the Father/Parent, God the Son/Child, or God the Spirit?
- In what ways have you experienced greater experiential intimacy” with the Holy Spirit in recent years?