ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the biblical picture of the activity of the Spirit in the world in order to show that the Spirit is associated with the work of creation as well as the work of salvation, and to highlight that the man Jesus is the Son of God in the Spirit. It explores the conversation Barth's divine ontology as 'God's being is in becoming' as well as Karl Rahner's notion of 'active self-transcendence' in order to argue for the validity of the proposition that the Spirit is the creative power of becoming in history. The chapter discusses the need to view the Incarnation as progressive and to embrace a theological understanding of the mystery of death as new birth in the womb of the Spirit of the Risen One. Denis Edwards explores the role of the Spirit as life-giver, as the power of becoming in evolutionary history, as the interior presence to creatures and as ecstatic bringer of divine communion.
