The Holy Spirit and Worship
Transformation and Truth in the Theologies of John Owen and John Zizioulas
by Elizabeth A. Welch
A fresh approach to the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian devotion, drawing upon the writings of two contrasting theologians.
The Holy Spirit has become an object of greater attention in Trinitarian theology, and indeed in the broader life of the Church, since the rise of Pentecostalism at the beginning of the twentieth century. Different understandings of the Holy Spirit have had different impacts on worship; here, Elizabeth Welch examines four surprising overlaps in the thought of two radically different traditions of the church about the relationship between the Holy Spirit and worship. These traditions are represented by John Owen, from seventeenth-century England, and John Zizioulas, from contemporary Greece. Welch explores in turn the common themes of the personal and relational nature of the triune God, the immediacy of the encounter with God through the Holy Spirit in worship, the role of the Holy Spirit in leading people into truth, and the transformative nature of worship that draws people into sharing God’s purpose for the world. In each, the insights of Owen and Zizioulas shed new light on the ongoing debate in the Church today.
Elizabeth A. Welch is a minister and former Moderator of General Assembly in the United Reformed Church in England. She represented the URC on the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, (1991-1998), co-chaired the International Reformed Anglican Dialogue (2015-2020), and chairs the Society for Ecumenical Studies, UK.
- By (author) Elizabeth Welch
"Welch reveals unexpected convergences between John Owen (Reformed) and John Zizioulas (Orthodox), widely separated in time and in ecclesial tradition, in her dynamic, relational, and transformative theology of the Holy Spirit in worship. Both liturgy and theology will be enriched by the study of this book." Paul Avis, Durham University and University of Exeter "Throughout this book, Elizabeth Welch makes fresh and stimulating connections and illuminates central ecclesiological themes common to East and West. This is an original, thought-provoking, and profoundly irenic book." Nicholas Sagovsky, King's College London "What connects a seventeenth-century English Puritan with a twentyfirst-century Greek Orthodox theologian? The Holy Spirit! Insightful and stimulating, there is much here which promotes the quest to renew Christian worship and reinvigorate ecumenical dialogue." Robert Pope, Westminster College, Cambridge
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