The Pathos of Theology as a Pneumatological Derivative or a Poiemata of the Spirit? A Review Essay of Reinhard Hutter's Pneumatological and Ecclesiological Vision of Theology

Reinhard Hutter is a leading theologian who has made important contributions to ecclesiology, pneumatology, and Christian rationality, but his most fundamental one is to the nature of theology and theological method. What makes his work of particular interest to Pentecostals is its attempt to give theology a pneumatological and ecclesiological ground. He suggests that the pathos of theology is doctrina and core church practices; theology receives its character and content from church doctrine and practices. Although successful in respect to his ecclesiological program, his proposal does not give theology a direct pneumatological ground and pathos. Nevertheless, his notion that theology receives its pathos from church doctrine and practices can be adapted to suggest a pneumatological pathos of Christian experience and theology. The result is a proposal that the Holy Spirit conditions the pathos of Christian experience and theology, which provides a theological and explicitly a pneumatological pathos not only for Pentecostal experience and theology but also for the role of Pentecostal experience in developing a uniquely "orthopathic" ecumenical contribution to Christian theology.