Choice Books on the Holy Spirit

To write of the Holy Spirit is to write of God, as the ecumenical creeds affirm; to write of his works is to write of the action of God through all of human history (he “convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment”) and throughout the history of the Church (he is the Paraclete in every Christian heart). Thus the compilation of a bibliography of books on the Holy Spirit is a task requiring great delimitation.

The present bibliography is limited in these respects:

1. It includes only works written in English or available in English translation. Thus such important books as Werner Krusche’s Das Wirken des Heiligen Geistes nach Calvin (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1957) are omitted.

2. It includes only separately published books on the person or mission of the Holy Spirit. Works of general dogmatics (e.g., Calvin’s Institutes, Barth’s Church Dogmatics), though containing sections on the Holy Spirit, are therefore excluded; and so are books which are devoted to other subjects but which touch on pneumatology (e.g., William Anderson’s Regeneration [London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1875]; and Robert Preus’s Inspiration of Scripture: A Study of the Theology of the Seventeenth Century Lutheran Dogmaticians [Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1957], which has a valuable chapter (pp. 50–75) on the relation between the work of the Holy Spirit and the doctrine of biblical inspiration).

3. It includes only works not previously listed in my bibliography of “100 Select Devotional Books” (CHRISTIANITY TODAY, V [September 25, 1961], 1070–72). Readers must consult that issue for such works as William Arthur’s Tongue of Fire, A. J. Gordon’s Ministry of the Spirit, Ruth Paxson’s Life on the Highest Plane, and Charles Williams’ Descent of the Dove.

4. It excludes for doctrinal reasons works orientated toward what Professor E. A. Burtt of Cornell has called “Constructive [i.e., subjective] Religious Empiricism” (e.g., H. Wheeler Robinson’s Christian Experience of the Holy Spirit); works of unreconstructed liberalism (e.g., T. Rees’s The Holy Spirit in Thought and Experience; E. F. Scott’s two books on the Holy Spirit; The Spirit, B. H. Streeter, ed.; H. P. Van Dusen’s Spirit, Son and Father); and anti-Reformation, non-evangelical treatments such as L. Dewar’s The Holy Spirit and Modern Thought.

Astute readers will note that, in contrast to my book list of devotional works for CHRISTIANITY TODAY, almost 50 per cent of the present bibliography consists of out-of-print titles (specifically, 27 of the 60 items are in this class). Every effort was made to concentrate on in-print titles, but it is an unhappy fact of mid-twentieth century life that many currently available books on the Holy Spirit are not worth bibliographical listing, and many of the truly classic books on pneumatology have been neglected since their original publication. It is hoped that a publisher with a flair for photolithographic reprinting will bring out a “Library of Classical and Devotional Pneumatology” to fill the gap.

Readers interested in purchasing in-print titles (identified by an asterisk) will find the addresses of United States publishers in Books in Print or in the Cumulative Book Index, and the addresses of British publishers in the Reference Catalogue of Current Literature. American prices have usually been given below; in some instances British prices are considerably lower, and the Christian bibliophile can benefit economically from an international orientation.

ATHANASIUS, Letters concerning the Holy Spirit, tr. by C. R. B. Shapland (London: Epworth, 1951). By the great fourth-century defender of the divinity of the Holy Spirit against Arianism. His letters deserve to be read today as a historical counteractant to the essentially Arian views of Unitarianism, religious liberalism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

¹BARCLAY, WILLIAM, The Promise of the Spirit (Westminster, 1960, $2.50; London: Epworth, 5s.). Barclay, author of A New Testament Wordbook and More New Testament Words and editor of the Daily Study Bible commentary series, as usual combines expert Greek scholarship with penetrating devotional insight.

²BARRETT, C. K., The Holy Spirit and the Gospel Tradition (Seabury, 1947, $3.50; and S.P.C.K.). Deals primarily with the Synoptic Gospels. Author holds inadequate doctrine of biblical authority, but his book is still of great value. Cf. his “The Holy Spirit in the Fourth Gospel,” Journal of Theological Studies, 1950, pp. 1–15, and R. Hoeferkamp’s article under the same title in Concordia Theological Monthly, September, 1962.

BARTH, KARL, The Holy Ghost and the Christian Life, tr. by R. B. Hoyle (London: F. Muller, 1938). Study of the Holy Spirit as Creator, Reconciler, and Redeemer. Cf. Barth’s sermon collection, Come Holy Spirit (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1934); and G. W. Bromiley, “The Spirit of Christ,” Essays in Christology for Karl Barth, ed. by T. H. L. Parker (London: Lutterworth, 1956).

³BICKERSTETH, EDWARD H., The Holy Spirit, His Person and Work (Kregel, 1959, $2.95). This nineteenth-century Anglican divine evidenced his spiritual depth in writing such hymns as “Stand, Soldier of the Cross.”

BIEDERWOLF, WILLIAM EDWARD, A Help to the Study of the Holy Spirit, 4th ed. (Revell, 1904). In the Introduction Dr. William G. Moorehead rightly praises this work for its “complete subjection to the authority of Scripture” and for its excellent bibliography.

⁴BOER, HARRY R., Pentecost and Missions (Eerdmans, 1961, $5). A doctoral study “concerned with the significance of Pentecost for missions.” Author is a theologian-missionary of the Christian Reformed Church to Nigeria.

BURTON, EDWARD, Testimonies of the Ante-Nicene Fathers to the Doctrine of the Trinity and of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost (Oxford, 1831). Still the standard work.

CANDLISH, J. S., The Work of the Holy Spirit (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, n.d.). A brief, lucid work, published originally in the series “Handbooks for Bible Classes and Private Students,” ed. by Marcus Dods and Alexander Whyte. Candlish was professor of systematic theology, Free Church College, Glasgow.

⁵CHAFER, LEWIS SPERRY, He That Is Spiritual (Findlay, Ohio: Dunham, 1918, $2.75). By the former president and professor of systematic theology at Dallas Seminary. Practical yet profound analysis of Holy Spirit-created spirituality.

⁶COME, ARNOLD B., Human Spirit and Holy Spirit (Westminster, 1959, $4). Strongly Kierkegaardian in outlook. Its anthropocentric starting-point and its lack of a clear revelational criterion of authority are great weaknesses, but it offers stimulating insights via depth psychology and process philosophy.

CUMMING, JAMES ELDER, “Through the Eternal Spirit”: A Bible Study on the Holy Ghost (Stirling, England: Drummond, 1891). Correctly regarded by Wilbur Smith as a “standard work”; scholarly, comprehensive, beautifully organized, thoroughly scriptural and devotional.

⁷DAVIES, J. G., The Spirit, the Church and the Sacraments (London: Faith, 15s.). An exceedingly attractive presentation from the standpoint of contemporary evangelical Anglicanism; shows acquaintance with the best literature, ancient and modern, English and non-English, on the subject.

⁸DILLISTONE, F. W., The Holy Spirit in the Life of Today (Westminster, 1947, $2). Short, well-written book “for the average man.” Author is chancellor of Liverpool Cathedral, England; previously he served as professor of systematic theology at Wycliffe College, Toronto, and at the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

DIXON, A. C., ed., The Holy Spirit in Life and Service (Revell, 1895). Consists of 19 addresses delivered before the Conference on the Ministry of the Holy Spirit held in New York in 1894; authors include, inter alia, W. J. Erdman, A. J. Gordon, and A. T. Pierson. The papers relate the work of the Holy Spirit to a wide range of church activities.

⁹DOWNER, ARTHUR CLEVELAND, The Mission and Ministration of the Holy Spirit (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1909, 13s.). “A book that deserves the widest circle of readers”—Wilbur Smith. Comprehensive, well organized. Comparable to Kuyper, though shorter, and orientated more to biblical than to dogmatic theology. Author was Anglican.

FABER, GEORGE STANLEY, A Practical Treatise on the Ordinary Operations of the Holy Spirit, last edition, with a biographical notice (New York: Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge, 1857). By the nineteenth-century bishop, apologist, and student of biblical prophecy.

¹⁰HAMILTON, NEILL Q., The Holy Spirit and Eschatology in Paul (Naperville, Ill.: Allenson, 1957, paper $2.25; London: Oliver & Boyd, 8s. 6d.). In the series Scottish Journal of Theology Occasional Papers (No. 6). Contains useful bibliography.

HARE, JULIUS CHARLES, The Mission of the Comforter, ed. by E. H. Plumptre (London: Macmillan, 1886). Sermons preached at Cambridge University in 1840. Archdeacon Hare added numerous valuable scholarly notes.

¹¹HENDRY, GEORGE S., The Holy Spirit in Christian Theology (Westminster, 1956, $2.50). Regarded by T. N. Tice of Princeton as “at this point the one indispensable treatise on the subject by an English-speaking theologian.” Excellent on the problem of the Holy Spirit in current theological thought, but marred by a neoorthodox view of Scripture.

¹²HENRY, ANTONIN M., The Holy Spirit, tr. by Lundberg and Bell (Hawthorn, 1960, $3.50). In the “Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism” series. An exceedingly valuable work demonstrating once again that Protestants cannot afford to ignore contemporary Roman Catholic theological writing.

¹³KÖBERLE, ADOLF, The Quest for Holiness; a Biblical, Historical and Systematic Investigation, tr. by J. C. Mattes (Augsburg, 1930, paper $1.25). Contemporary Lutheranism’s greatest contribution to the study of sanctification; the book combines scholarly thoroughness with devotional depth.

¹⁴KUYPER, ABRAHAM, The Work of the Holy Spirit, tr. by Henri De Vries, Introduction by B. B. Warfield (Eerdmans, 1900, $5). An unsurpassed classic. Undoubtedly the most comprehensive work in print on the subject. In the tradition of Reformation-Calvinist systematic theology.

MACGREGOR, G. H. C., ed., “The Things of the Spirit”: The Teaching of the Word of God about the Spirit of God (London: Marshall, 1898). A valuable classification of the biblical passages on the Holy Spirit by a close friend of G. Campbell Morgan. Cf. Wilbur Smith’s classification in his A Treasury of Books for Bible Study¹⁵ (Wilde, $3.95).

MCINTYRE, DAVID M., The Spirit in the Word (London: Morgan & Scott, 1908). An excellent treatment of the work of the Holy Spirit in the inspiration of the Bible. Cf. L. Gaussen’s Theopneustia.

¹⁶MORGAN, G. CAMPBELL, The Spirit of God (Revell, 1900, $2.75). One of the finest books written by this great preacher and Bible expositor.

MOULE, H. C. G., Veni Creator: Thoughts on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit of Promise (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1890). A superlative book by the prolific doctrinal and devotional writer well known for his contributions to the Cambridge Bible for School and Colleges, for his Christian poetry, and for his biography of Charles Simeon.

¹⁷MURRAY, ANDREW, The Spirit of Christ (Zondervan, $3.50). Meditations of extraordinary depth by the nineteenth-century Dutch Reformed pastor.

¹⁸NUTTALL, GEOFFREY F., The Holy Spirit in Puritan Faith and Experience, 2nd ed. (Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1947, 18s.). A valuable historical study, particularly with regard to Quakerism, though marred by its author’s enthusiastic proclivities. The book originated as an Oxford University D.D. thesis.

¹⁹OCKENGA, HAROLD JOHN, The Spirit of the Living God (Revell, 1947, $2). High-quality sermons by the pastor of Park Street Church, Boston, and president of Fuller Theological Seminary. Cf. his Power through Pentecost* (Eerdmans, 1959, $2).

²⁰OWEN, JOHN, The Holy Spirit, His Gifts and Powers (Kregel, 1954, $3.95). Regarded by Kuyper in 1888 as “still unsurpassed”; the same must be said today. Owen, a Presbyterian Nonconformist of the seventeenth century, was one of the most learned and prolific theological writers of all time.

²¹PACHE, RENÉ, The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, tr. by J. D. Emerson (Moody, 1954, $3.50). A carefully outlined, lucid exposition of biblical teaching on the Holy Spirit by the president of Emmaus Institute, Lausanne, Switzerland. Particularly helpful for sermon construction and in Bible study preparation.

PARKER, JOSEPH, The Paraclete: An Essay on the Personality and Ministry of the Holy Ghost, with Some Reference to Current Discussions (Scribner, 1886). The first edition of this fine work appeared anonymously.

PHELPS, AUSTIN, The Work of the Holy Spirit; or, The New Birth (Boston: D. Lothrop, 1882). By the brilliant Congregationalist homiletician who served as professor of sacred rhetoric (1848–79) and president (1869–79) of Andover Seminary.

PIERSON, ARTHUR T., The Acts of the Holy Spirit, Being an Examination of the Active Mission and Ministry of the Spirit of God, the Divine Paraclete, As Set Forth in the Acts of the Apostles (Revell, 1895). By the nineteenth-century authority on missions and voluminous Christian writer who edited the Missionary Review of the World.

²²PRENTER, REGIN, Spiritus Creator, tr. by J. M. Jensen (Muhlenberg, 1953, paper $1.50). The first comprehensive study in the twentieth century of Luther’s concept of the Holy Spirit.

²³RAMM, BERNARD, The Witness of the Spirit; an Essay on the Contemporary Relevance of the Internal Witness of the Holy Spirit (Eerdmans, 1959, $3). A trenchant systematic-historical analysis, with a final chapter criticizing Romanism, liberalism, and fundamentalism; by the neo-evangelical apologist and professor of systematic theology at California Baptist Seminary.

REDFORD, R. A., Vox Dei: The Doctrine of the Spirit As It Is Set Forth in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (London: J. Nisbet, 1889). By the nineteenth-century biblical apologist and contributor to The Pulpit Commentary.

²⁴SANDERS, J. OSWALD, The Holy Spirit of Promise; the Mission and Ministry of the Comforter (Fort Washington, Pa.: Christian Literature Crusade, 1959, $2.50). For the general reader; a short but penetrating overview of the central problems of pneumatology by the director of the China Inland Mission.

²⁵SHOEMAKER, SAMUEL M., With the Holy Spirit and with Fire (Harper, 1960, $2.50). Typically warm and practical book from the prolific pen of this much-loved Episcopalian rector.

²⁶SIMPSON, A. B., The Holy Spirit, or, Power from On High, 2 vols. (Harrisburg, Pa.: Christian Publications, 1924, $5.80). Subtitle: “An unfolding of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testaments.” Originally presented as sermons in the Gospel Tabernacle, New York City, by the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.

²⁷SMEATON, GEORGE, The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (Christian Literature Crusade, $3.50). A classic, worthy to be placed with Downer, Kuyper, and W. H. Griffith Thomas. Includes a historical survey of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit from New Testament times through the nineteenth century.

SNAITH, NORMAN H., et al., The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (London: Epworth, 1937). Contents: “The Spirit of God in Jewish Thought,” by Snaith; “The Spirit in the New Testament,” by Vincent Taylor; “The Holy Spirit in the Church,” by Howard Watkin-Jones; and “The Holy Spirit and the Trinity,” by Harold Roberts. Exceedingly valuable, though not always manifesting a high view of biblical inspiration.

²⁸STARKEY, LYCURGUS M., JR., The Work of the Holy Spirit: A Study in Wesleyan Theology (Abingdon, 1962, $3). A historical study of Wesley’s concept of the Holy Spirit.

SWETE, HENRY BARCLAY, The Holy Spirit in the New Testament (London: Macmillan, 1909). To be used in conjunction with Swete’s other three standard works on the early history of doctrine: The Holy Spirit in the Ancient Church (London: Macmillan, 1912), covering the patristic age; On the Early History of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit with Especial Reference to the Controversies of the Fourth Century (Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, 1873); and On the History of the Doctrine of the Procession of the Holy Spirit, from the Apostolic Age to the Death of Charlemagne (Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, 1876).

²⁹THOMAS, W. H. GRIFFITH, The Holy Spirit of God, 3rd ed. (Eerdmans, 1955, $3). A masterly work by the conservative Anglican theologian who served as professor of Old Testament literature and exegesis in Wycliffe College, Toronto. The book, which first appeared in 1913, studies the doctrine biblically, historically, systematically, and practically; its comprehensiveness ranks it with Downer, Kuyper, and Smeaton.

TOPHEL, GUSTAVE, The Work of the Holy Spirit in Man, tr. by T. J. Després (Edinburgh: T & T. Clark, 1882). Five discourses of great devotional power.

³⁰TORREY, R. A., The Holy Spirit: Who He Is and What He Does (Revell, 1927, $3). In the perceptive and lucid style characteristic of this great pastor, evangelist, and onetime (1889–1908) superintendent of the Moody Bible Institute.

³¹UNGER, MERRILL F., The Baptizing Work of the Holy Spirit (Wheaton, Ill.: Scripture Press, 1953, $2.75). Provocative study of a difficult aspect of pneumatology by the eminent Old Testament scholar and professor at Dallas Seminary.

WALKER, JAMES BARR, The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, or Philosophy of the Divine Operation in the Redemption of Man, 6th ed. (Cincinnati: Jennings and Pye, 1901). A continuation of the author’s Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation, which deservedly attained great popularity in the nineteenth century.

³²WALVOORD, JOHN F., The Holy Spirit, 3rd ed. (Findlay, Ohio: Dunham, 1958, $3.95). By the president and professor of systematic theology at Dallas Seminary. Contains a valuable appendix on “The Holy Spirit in Contemporary Theology.”

WATKIN-JONES, HOWARD, The Holy Spirit in the Medieval Church (London: Epworth, 1922). A continuation of the work of Swete. It deals with the history of the doctrine from the post-patristic age to the Counter-Reformation, and is itself continued by Watkin-Jones’ Holy Spirit from Arminius to Wesley (London: Epworth, 1929), which covers the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

WEIDNER, REVERE FRANKLIN, Pneumatology, or, The Doctrine of the Work of the Holy Spirit (Wartburg, 1915). Systematic treatment from the standpoint of conservative Lutheranism. Author was professor of dogmatics and president of Chicago Lutheran Seminary (1891–1915).

³³WINSLOW, OCTAVIUS, An Experimental and Practical View of the Work of the Holy Spirit (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 3s.). First published in 1843. Powerfully evangelical and deeply devotional, as were all of this prolific writer’s works, some 100 of which are listed by the British Museum’s Department of Printed Books.

WINSTANLEY, EDWARD WILLIAM, Spirit in the New Testament (Cambridge: University, 1908). Subtitle: “An enquiry into the use of the word pneuma in all passages, and a survey of the evidence concerning the Holy Spirit.”

³⁴WISLӦFF, FREDRIK, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, tr. by Ingvald Daehlin (Augsburg, 1949, $3). By a European Lutheran pastor who represents a contemporary blend of classical orthodoxy with the evangelical pietism characteristic of the Norwegian Inner Mission movement. His book cannot be too highly recommended for its faithfulness to Scripture and its genuine experiential impact.

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