The Mind of the Spirit: Paul's Approach to Transformed Thinking - Paperback

by Craig S. Keener (Author)

Leading Scholar Explores Paul's Teaching on the Mind

This major work by a leading New Testament scholar explores an important but neglected area of Pauline theology, Paul's teaching about the mind. In discussing matters such as the corrupted mind, the mind of Christ, and the renewal of the mind, Paul adapts language from popular intellectual thought in his day, but he does so in a way distinctively focused on Christ and Christ's role in the believer's transformation. Keener enables readers to understand this thought world so they can interpret Paul's language for contemporary Christian life. The book helps overcome a false separation between following the Spirit and using human judgment and provides a new foundation for relating biblical studies and Christian counseling.

Front Jacket

In this insightful volume Keener deals with a neglected aspect of Paul's theology: how faith in Christ and the Spirit of God empower the mind to think and understand in a new way. Drawing on his vast knowledge of Greco-Roman literature, Keener shows us how Paul is both similar to and different from his contemporaries. In doing so, he suggests how Christians today must be similar to and different from their contemporaries.
--Frank J. Matera, Catholic University of America

"Embodied holiness, or conformity to the image of the Son, means having disordered desires reordered to Christ through minds renewed by the Spirit. With a comprehensive biblical and contextual lens and a holistic view of renewed humanity, Keener reminds us of this nonnegotiable reality. He invigorates our understanding of the mind of the Spirit (and thus of Christ) and offers a New Testament view of Spirit-enabled, holy reason that orders the passions of God's children individually and communally. A valuable contribution indeed."
--Cherith Nordling, Northern Seminary

"Craig Keener's The Mind of the Spirit is a welcome contribution to a largely neglected area of research. While careful to locate Paul's writings within the range of relevant contexts and to read them with both historical-critical rigor and remarkable erudition, Keener never loses sight of the continuing theological vitality of the question. In his analysis, the transformation of the mind that is here explored is never separable from the reality of the Spirit or from the community united by that Spirit to Christ himself. The result is a work of both scholarly and pastoral significance."
--Grant Macaskill, University of Aberdeen

"Keener exegetes key passages on the mind in Paul with both his trademark attention to detail and expansive knowledge of ancient sources. As a Pentecostal, I appreciate the academic finesse of his work, but beyond intellectual appreciation, I am deeply grateful. My gratitude stems from feeling understood; Keener has also lived in a world where the tension between the Spirit and the mind is very real. He insists upon envisioning a new world where the Spirit calls to human spirits and minds, and human minds and spirits respond."
--Holly Beers, Westmont College

"What an enormous gift this book is to Christians in psychology and counseling, with its learned and thorough yet readable organization of what we might call the apostle Paul's 'applied cognitive psychology, ' based on a redemptive-historical anthropology. Those working on a distinctly Christian version of contemporary psychology really need this kind of work if the project is to advance, so I'm filled with appreciation and gratitude."
--Eric L. Johnson, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

"The Mind of the Spirit is a comprehensive, thorough, biblical, and helpful book. It will be of great benefit not only to theologians, integrators of psychology and theology, pastors, and seminary students but also to counselors, therapists, and lay church leaders and teachers. I highly recommend it!"
--Siang-Yang Tan, Fuller Theological Seminary; author of Counseling and Psychotherapy: A Christian Perspective

Back Jacket

"An important book for anyone interested in the relationship of Pauline theology to its cultural context"

"In this richly documented study, Craig Keener shows Paul's affinities with ancient philosophers while recognizing that Jewish apocalyptic expectations also framed the apostle's thinking about the human mind. Like the philosophers, Paul held that fundamental convictions shaped character and behavior. And as an heir of the Jewish apocalyptic tradition, he believed that convictions should be shaped by God's action in Christ. In respectful but critical dialogue with an array of Pauline scholars, Keener applies his fundamental insight to illuminate individual arguments and Paul's overall theology. This will be an important book for anyone interested in the relationship of Pauline theology to its cultural context."
--Harold Attridge, Yale Divinity School

"Keener has filled a significant gap in Pauline studies as only he could do: with thousands of references to ancient sources to help us understand Paul's perspectives in context. The result is a work full of exegetical, theological, and even pastoral insight into the human mind according to Paul--especially the mind transformed in Christ."
--Michael J. Gorman, St. Mary's Seminary and University, Baltimore

"In Romans, Paul interacts more fully with the thought world of his day than in any of his other letters. Only someone who is wholly familiar with the richness of Jewish scripture and tradition; with the ancient philosophies of Stoics, Platonists, Epicureans, and others; and with the reality of human experience can fully appreciate why Paul argues as he does and the effectiveness of his argument. Keener is one such scholar, and his rich exposition of key passages in Romans--as well as in 1-2 Corinthians, Philippians, and Colossians--brings out the point and force of Paul's argument for his own time again and again, and in a way that reinvigorates Paul's argument for a very different time."
--James D. G. Dunn, Durham University

"Only a scholar with Keener's nous could write the most authoritative work to date on Paul's belief in the transformation of a person's mind from godless reasoning to possessing the mind of Christ. Keener describes the Pauline vision of the believing mind as one immersed in the Jesus story, freed by the Spirit's power, bathed in divine wisdom, and oriented toward heaven. This book will, quite literally, open your mind to Paul's theology of the mind."
--Michael Bird, Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia

Author Biography

Craig S. Keener (PhD, Duke University) is F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky (www.craigkeener.com). He has authored twenty-two books, including Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, a four-volume commentary on Acts, and commentaries on Matthew, John, Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, and Revelation.