The Mind of the Spirit

Description

In this major work, leading New Testament scholar Craig Keener explores an important but generally neglected area of Pauline theology, Paul’s teaching about the mind. Paul speaks of the corrupted mind and the mind of the flesh, but he also speaks of the mind of Christ, the mind of the Spirit, and the renewal of the mind. In articulating these points, 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 Mind of the Spirit helps overcome a false separation between following the Spirit and using human judgment and also provides a new foundation for relating biblical studies and Christian counseling. It will appeal to professors, students, and scholars of the New Testament as well as pastors and church leaders.

Contents
Introduction
1. The Corrupted Mind (Rom. 1:18-32)
2. The Mind of Faith (Rom. 6:11)
3. The Mind of the Flesh (Rom. 7:22-25)
4. The Mind of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5-7)
5. A Renewed Mind (Rom. 12:1-3)
6. The Mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:15-16)
7. A Christlike Mind (Phil. 2:1-5; 3:19-21; 4:6-8)
8. The Heavenly Mind (Col. 3:1-2)
Conclusion
Postscript: Some Pastoral Implications
Appendix A: The Soul in Ancient Mediterranean Thought
Appendix B: Some of God’s Wise Plan in Paul’s Bible
Indexes

About the Author

Craig S. Keener (Ph.D., Duke University) is F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is author of 30 books, 5 of which have won awards in Christianity Today. More than a million copies of his books are in circulation; the most popular is The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, which provides cultural background on each passage of the New Testament. Craig is also the New Testament editor for the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, which won the International Book Award for Christianity and Bible of the year in the Christian Book Awards. Craig is editor of the Bulletin for Biblical Research and is past president of the Evangelical Theological Society. Craig’s wife, Dr. Médine Moussounga Keener, was a refugee in her home country of Congo; their story appears in Impossible Love: The True Story of an African Civil War, Miracles, and Hope against All Odds (Chosen, 2016).