Jaroslav Pelikan joked that if Dante's hell had a circle for church historians, the damned would be forced to thoroughly study all commentaries on the filioque. Yet, the text considered, ably edited by Myk Habets, places this discussion within the ecumenical dialogue in the hopes of furthering study of the being of God and the gains within intrachurch relations. Habets opens the text arguing that “if genuine ecumenical progress is to be made, it will be based upon theological agreement concerning the core mysteries of faith” (1). While agreement is not achieved in the text, progress certainly is.
The text is divided into three sections. The first, “The Filioque in Context: Historical and Theological,” includes three essays reviewing the history, theology, and current state of the question. Each essay is well written and researched and will provide faculty with rich resources for use in classes on the Trinity or historical theology.
The second section of the text contains five essays from different ecclesial perspectives. Each essay will interest ecumenists and theologians who study a particular tradition, but placing the essays side by side unearths valuable ore. These essays, while discussing the work on the filioque done by the World Council of Churches, do not include compromised theology. Readers can contrast the theological positions of Orthodoxy, Calvinism, Pentecostalism, and noncreedal theology. What we find is the different weight given to different historical voices and periods as well as the significance of biblical narratives. Frank Macchia's essay, written from a Pentecostal perspective, comes the closest to an examination of the biblical perspectives on the divine relations, but it also demonstrates that the difficulty surrounding the theology of the procession of the Spirit exists because no biblical authors addressed a topic theology cannot ignore.
After looking to the past and at the present, Habets has his authors, including himself, look forward for new possibilities. Robert Jenson pens a quick but deep essay criticizing Christian theology for not acknowledging the “personal leverage” of the Holy Spirit. Thomas Weinandy critically employs the work of Thomas Aquinas to argue for the theological significance of the Spirit's act in defining, simultaneously, the Father and the Son. Kathryn Tanner muddies the water by returning to the biblical texts, not for information on the immanent relations, but to insist that the economic relations of the salvific acts of the Incarnation and Pentecost are the true sources of theology. Habets has the last word as he wrestles with fundamental theology, theological method, and process theology.
The value of the investigation into the filioque is best articulated by David Guretzki. He highlights that there is a “new ecclesiastical mood, a new irenicism” (42) to this conversation. In many ways, the tone and attitude found in the discussion of such a dividing issue are a testament to the great work done over these last decades—by individual ecumenists, dialogue consultations, and the theological community.
My concerns with the text are minor. There is a decent amount of Greek text, which is necessary in such a technical debate, yet will be found intimidating to many undergraduate (and some graduate) students. Habets invited great authors and organized an excellent argument. His editing hand could have been heavier in that many of the essays repeat the same history of the dogmatic conflicts of the fourth and eleventh centuries. The work of T. F. Torrance is appropriately a thread through many of the essays, but the treatment of his work lacks consistency.
Readers who approach this book with the hopes of a solution to the filioque question will finish it disappointed. Authors argue for its deletion, its retention, its modification, and other clever “solutions.” None would be universally acceptable. Yet, many of the essays end with a prayer for a future without intra-Christian division encouraged by clarity about the spiration of the third person of the Trinity. Both goals may be elusive, but their pursuit is noble and in keeping with God's will.
