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Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old TestamentAccessibleKNOWING THE HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH THE OLD TESTMENT Originally given as expositions at New Horizon in Northern Ireland, this book is an excellent treatment of the theme of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Here Chris Wright operates with the same conviction as his (also excellent) Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament: ‘If we want to have a fully biblical understanding of the Holy Spirit, as well as a biblical informed and biblical evaluated experience of his presence and power in our lives, then we need the Old Testament too’ (p.10). The book contains five accessible chapters: the Creating Spirit; the Empowering Spirit; the Prophetic Spirit; the Anointing Spirit; the Coming Spirit. Each one carefully unpacks the theme, while modelling biblical theology. In the chapter on the Creating Spirit, for instance, Wright points us to the Bible’s own interpretation of the Spirit and creation by engaging the Psalms, Job, Ecclesiastes and Romans. So many of our contemporary debates over the work of the Spirit arguably short-circuit the biblical picture by focusing almost exclusively on the NT; this can skew our perspective by removing these texts from their full context. The chapter on the Anointing Spirit is a great example as Wright urges a proper understanding of what it means to talk about ‘the anointing’. Here his application is wise, gentle and firmly rooted in a clear explanation of the church’s mission that is built on Christ’s foundational mission. All of these expositions teach biblical parts in ways that lay out the biblical whole. Highly recommended. David Gibson,
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