Phew! Where to start? The Spirit of Life is a systematic theological perspective on the Holy Spirit. Jürgen Moltmann describes his work as a “holistic pneumatology” (xiii). He invites readers to not only consider the Spirit through traditional theological perspectives, but also existentially as the “experience of affirmed and loved life” (xii).

Broadly speaking, the Spirit “is the life-force of created beings, and the living space in which they can grow and develop their potentialities” (84). This echoes the truth of passages such as Psalm 104:29–30 that describe the Spirit that proceeds from God as the fount of life. When the Spirit is withdrawn the living die, but when God sends his Spirit, creation ensues.

Moltmann is famous for his articulation of the social doctrine of the Trinity, and that perspective is developed in The Spirit of Life. “In the Trinity,” writes Moltmann, “the divine Persons, in their mutual differences of being, are there for one another, and correspond to one another” (137). This sociality is then reflected in human existence. “If the Trinity is a community, then what corresponds to it is the true human community of men and women” (160).

As you might anticipate, Moltmann’s German theology is dense and meticulous. Chapters cover every doctrine from ecclesiology to eschatology, creation to sanctification. That said, there are passages of stunning beauty on almost every page. (My pencil got a workout creating marginalia.)

The final pages of The Spirit of Life record an ancient hymn to the Spirit. I can’t think of a better way to end these comments:

Come, O creator Spirit, come,
And make within our hearts thy home;
To us thy grace celestial give,
Who of thy breathing move and live.
…
May we by thee the Father learn,
And know the Son, and thee discern,
Who art of both; and thus adore
In perfect faith forevermore. (300)

Moltmann, Jürgen. The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation. 1991. Fortress, 2001.