Great reversal

Pneumatology was at the heart of what George Marsden describes as the “Great Reversal” in American fundamentalism. A stress on the significance of Pentecost as the beginning of a new dispensation hardened the contrast between old and new covenants, and the contrast of Spirit and law also worked to undermine fundamentalist interest in public theology.

Marsden writes, “The contrast between the present New Testament age of the Spirit and the previous Old Testament age of the law did involve a shift toward a more ‘private’ view of Christianity. The Holy Spirit worked in the hearts of individuals and was known primarily through personal experience. Social action, still an important concern, was more in the province of private agencies. The kingdom was no longer viewed as a kingdom of laws; hence civil law would not help its advance. The transition from postmillennialism to premillennialism was the most explicit expression of this change. Politics became much less important.”

One wonders what sort of postmillennialism was being challenged, if Marsden is correct that premillennialism posed a pneumatological challenge to a legalistic postmillennialism. Postmillennialism should have the most robust pneumatology imaginable.

Against the background of this history, it’s important to recognize (borrowing from Milbank) that pneumatology is not opposed to social theory, but is social theory. Pentecost is a major event in political history.