The latest in the series of online short courses provided by the Scottish Episcopal Institute looks at the Holy Spirit within the Trinity, and is led by Anna-Claar Thomasson-Rosingh, Director of Studies at the Institute.
The course is made up of three roughly thirty-minute video’s with questions for reflection or discussion. We will explore our theology of the Holy Spirit; we will study pneumatology, which is the official theological term for talking of the Holy Spirit.
16 September 2024: Biblical Paths
In the first session we will discover how the bible speaks of the Holy Spirit. We will start with historically one of the oldest texts in the New Testament that brings together the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in Romans 8. We will then trace back through our bibles to a study of the story of Pentecost and the Spirit in the Gospels. We will look especially at the relationship between Jesus and the Spirit. Finally, we will look at the Spirit in creation as we find it in the Old Testament.
23 September2024: Images and Icons
In the second session we will have a look at how the Spirit is portrayed in art and iconography and how that symbolises the Spirit’s relationship to the Father and the Son, most of these images are of the Trinity. We will look at and analyse pictures from very early on in Christian history to pictures that are made today even some by AI. We will examen images that are anthropomorphic (where the Holy Spirit is imagined as a human being) and those that are completely abstract, and ideas that lie between.
30 September 2024: Doctrine and Ethics
In the third session we will explore the pneumatology of St. Basil the Great from 4th century Cappadocia. He was part of a bitter dispute about the role of the Holy Spirit within the Trinity. His voice within that 4th century debate has determined the clause about the Holy Spirit in (what is known to us as) the Nicaean Creed and therefore influenced our thinking about the Spirit significantly. We will also think together about what influence these ideas of the Spirit might have on our behaviour. What does all this mean for how we live our lives.
The course can be joined at the above links from 7pm on each appointed day. Those who wish to use these resources for corporate study in church groups are welcome to request a downloadable version of the resources by email to the SEI.
SEI Short Course: on the Holy Spirit within the Trinity
