<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The recent interest in exploring whether authoritative figures of the Reformed tradition employed a concept of <italic>theōsis</italic> or deification in their soteriology continues to grow. However, it is yet unclear how the supposed implicit Reformed doctrine of deification relates to the more explicit concept of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, many of the arguments for <italic>theōsis</italic> in the theology of John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, or T. F. Torrance seem to rely on confusing these two soteriological concepts. This makes it almost impossible to assess if it is <italic>theōsis</italic> or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (or some interesting combination) that is being appealed to in Reformed thinking. This paper makes a step towards unpicking the knot between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and <italic>theōsis</italic> in Reformed theology by offering five possible ways to demarcate these two concepts. It is concluded that the final ‘Mereological Demarcation’ is currently the most acceptable.</p></abstract>

The recent interest in exploring whether authoritative figures of the Reformed tradition employed a concept of theōsis or deification in their soteriology continues to grow. However, it is yet unclear how the supposed implicit Reformed doctrine of deification relates to the more explicit concept of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, many of the arguments for theōsis in the theology of John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, or T. F. Torrance seem to rely on confusing these two soteriological concepts. This makes it almost impossible to assess if it is theōsis or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (or some interesting combination) that is being appealed to in Reformed thinking. This paper makes a step towards unpicking the knot between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and theōsis in Reformed theology by offering five possible ways to demarcate these two concepts. It is concluded that the final ‘Mereological Demarcation’ is currently the most acceptable.

Demarcating Deification and the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Reformed Theology

Perichoresis

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The recent interest in exploring whether authoritative figures of the Reformed tradition employed a concept of theōsis or deification in their soteriology...

Demarcating Deification and the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Reformed Theology

Published Online: Jun 02, 2020

Page range: 77 - 98

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/perc-2020-0005

Keywords
deification, indwelling, Holy Spirit, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards

© 2020 Joanna Leidenhag, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Demarcating Deification and the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Reformed Theology

Published Online: Jun 02, 2020

Page range: 77 - 98

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/perc-2020-0005

Keywordsdeification, indwelling, Holy Spirit, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards

© 2020 Joanna Leidenhag, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
deification, indwelling, Holy Spirit, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards