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This paper considers at least some of the pneumatological dimensions of redemption through a particular focus on what Bernard Lonergan called “the just and mysterious law of the cross,” with an eye towards the subversion of notions of redemptive violence. Elements of Lonergan's trinitarian theology, and particularly the way in which the missions of the Word and Holy Spirit elevate human beings to share in the life of the Trinity through charity — the same charity that informed Christ's redemptive act, and which is given to the redeemed in and as the Holy Spirit — provide the fundamental theological basis. This is further refined by M. Shawn Copeland's womanist appropriation of these categories, calling for a eucharistic solidarity, which keeps alife the dangerous memory of the lynched Jesus, thereby undercutting any recourse to sacral violence, while also recognizing the reality of violence within history and the redemption enacted in history.
The last months have witnessed a worldwide spike in antisemitic and Islamophobic violence as communities are scapegoated for events thousands of miles away. This reality demands a response from theologians, especially given our historical complicity in such violence. Queer and political theologians have begun addressing scapegoating violence, but their proposals do not explain theology’s significance beyond the ecclesial community. I argue for a political theology that deploys practices of mourning to position the church (as Christ’s body) against the political powers responsible for victimization. The goal is twofold: first, that religious communities liberate themselves from the privilege enabling them to enact scapegoating violence; and, second, that believers would be formed into people who stand in solidarity with, or even in front of and in defense of, other victims. Normed by Christ and trained by the eucharist, Christians “complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” by suffering for others’ sake.
Contextual theology, by drawing attention to the ways in which context affects theology, has critically reshaped the way we do and think about theology. From a contextual perspective, theology is merely speculative or naively subjective unless theologians acknowledge the contextual underpinnings of their work. But the concept of “context” itself warrants critical examination as well. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork with Adivasi (indigenous) Christians in India, this paper offers a critique of the way context functions in contextual theology and proposes a new way of understanding the revelatory capacity of our contexts. Building upon the work of Kathryn Tanner and Kevin Hector on the mediation of the Spirit, I argue that the Spirit works through our negotiation of diverse perspectives on context. My emphasis is on the disruptive potential of the Spirit, who draws us into relationship with others who interpret and engage with our contexts in different ways.
In conversation with Amos Yong, Ashon T. Crawley, Keri Day, and J. Kameron Carter, I present my own account of an ethical pneumatology describing the Spirit's work to bring upheaval to communities suffering under injustice. In support of that account, I trace the pneumatologies at play in the Azusa Street Revival. Yong notes that phenomenological pneumatologies were utilized to sanction white supremacist attacks against Azusa, while ethical pneumatologies were cited by Azusa’s leaders to justify the countercultural character of their worship. Crawley contends that where Azusa did affirm aesthetics, it was in the privileging of incoherence— through the gift of glossolalia—so that persons and communities might be liberated from the settler colonial logics developed to justify white supremacist dominance. By engaging these analyses, I consider the ongoing entanglement of aesthetic pneumatologies with white supremacy and articulate how ethical pneumatologies can better resist the same.