I am somewhat perplexed at the way many contemporary
Christian writers whose works I am reading who are longer using
a capitalised S in their references to the Spirit. One that does this rather
surprisingly is N. T. Wright, for example in his recent tome on Paul where he
constantly refers to the Spirit as spirit. One of my colleagues at Laidlaw
recently published a book and followed the same pattern. Why are these writers
doing this? I am intrigued. What does this say about their view of the Trinity?
Or am I missing something? Is there a nuance here I have not discerned such as
sometimes they capitalize and sometimes they don’t? If there is, it is
interesting because when God is mentioned whether it be as Lord, the Almighty,
etc, most use the capital. Similarly, when Jesus is mentioned by name or as
Christ, or Lord, or even Saviour, most use the capital. I must say I don’t like
this new trend, I find it irritating and cuts at the heart of belief in the
Trinity.
Note: Forgive me for the long blog, but this one really got me going! Last Sunday night on TV One's Sunday aired the report A.J. The Messiah. The program was the story of A.J. Miller in Queensland in Australia, who, unlike most of us, genuinely believes that he is Jesus. Miller appears at one level to be a normal Aussie bloke, in his early thirties, longish brown hair, unshaven, good looking, articulate and charismatic. Yet, unlike anyone I know but in the manner of other Messiah-claimants, he says without inhibition, "I am actually Jesus." He claims to remember vividly his former life and death including his experience of crucifixion. The memories supposedly began when he was 2 years old and realised later that he was Jesus around 33. In the program he writes on a white-board, "I am Jesus. Deal with it"—to applause from his congregation. He has disciples, some of whom claim to have been with him 2000 years ago including Mary Magdalene who is his "soul-ma...
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