Immanence and the Holy Spirit

About a month or so ago Pentecost was coming up and I asked my fiance to explain the history behind it. He explained that in the Book of Acts, the Apostles got together to celebrate the then Jewish holiday of Pentecost. They were feeling discouraged and didn’t know what to do next in since the ascension of Jesus. A wind came into the room, and flames appeared above their heads. They began speaking in different languages- ones that they couldn’t speak normally. Since people from all around the Jewish Diaspora of the time were there, various individuals understood Greek, Aramaic, Turkish and other tongues they were speaking. “How could this be happening?” They wondered. These were signs of God’s presence. God was trying to tell them not to give up- that He/She is always with them, and to continue with Christ’s mission.

Perhaps it is precisely because of the subtle and internal nature of the Holy Spirit it celebrates, Pentecost of all major Christian holidays has not been secularized. In the Trinitarian concept of the Christian God, the Person of the Holy Spirit is the most immanent- or present in this world. I realized that the concept of the Holy Spirit is closest to the way Pagans often view the Divine- especially the Goddess. In Gnostic thought, the Holy Spirit was also seen as feminine- as Sophia, the personification of Wisdom. This also reminds me of the Shekhinah, the feminine aspect of the Jewish view of God- who is also quite immanent- God was said to have sent the Shekhinah to “dwell among” the people of Israel.

Pagans tend to emphasize divine immanence while Christians tend in general to view God more transcendently. However this is not always the case. Christian mystics, sects such as Quakers (not all of whom see themselves as Christian) and others see God more as immanent. Pentecostals out of all Christians emphasize the Holy Spirit the most, and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit like speaking in tongues, healing etc. Strangely, despite their usually conservative theology, it is the Pentecostals in practice who are the most spiritually ecstatic. (Likewise with the Jewish sect of Hasidism).

*These ideas have been percolating in my mind for a while and I wondered if it was too late for a Pentecost-themed post but then on glancing at the Religion Calendar in the newspaper I realized that it was Eastern Orthodox Pentecost next Sunday. So I guess you could say this post is on Orthodox Standard Time!