Seeking the Welfare of the City
Toward an Evangelical Appropriation of the Pneumatology of Colin Gunton for Public Theology
- Theology
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2025
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Publisher's Description
In the history of public theology, the Holy Spirit's role in creation has been underexplored. If the Holy Spirit is the agent of transformation in creation, why have so many theologians neglected the Spirit's activity in the context of public theology? One of the causes of such neglect derives from a long-held belief in dualism or its assumption. As a result, generally speaking, theologians have neglected the eschatological aspect of the Spirit's work over creation, and instead have devoted much of their attention to the immanent/spiritual aspect of the Spirit's work. Hence, a theology is needed that recaptures the eschatological aspect of the Spirit's work over creation, and Colin E. Gunton's pneumatology that is trinitarianly formulated and eschatologically conceived brings a fresh approach to public theology and moves us toward a full-bodied, holistic, and trinitarian public theology that takes into account the triune God. This study attempts to draw upon the resources uncovered in Gunton's pneumatology to outline applications for Christian engagement of the public square for the twenty-first century. The book concludes with criteria for discerning the Spirit's work in the public square to give us practical ways to see how the Spirit may be working in the public square for transformation.
Endorsements (2)
“Naomi Noguchi Reese has provided in this work a well-organized, deftly written analysis of Colin Gunton’s contribution to public theology. Gunton is one of the most important British theologians of the last century, and this important work is a most worthy systematic engagement with his theology.”
“In exploring the implications of pneumatology in Colin Gunton’s public theology, Naomi Reese develops a rich, trinitarian public theology of her own which enables the church to ‘see the world through the eyes of the eschatological Spirit.’ An important contribution to our understanding of Gunton’s theology in its own right, Seeking the Welfare of the City also points the way toward a genuinely trinitarian public theology.”
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