How to See the Holy Spirit, Angels, and Demons: Ignatius of Loyola on the Gift of Discerning of Spirits in Church Ethics

Description

Are God, angels and demons invisible, or can the spirits be seen through the lens of church ethics? Gordon Klingenschmitt argues that the gift of discerning of spirits is indispensable to the study of church ethics, and that the spirits are not invisible at all.

The book starts with Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, whose two sets of Rules for Discerning of Spirits in the Spiritual Exercises taught the church how to receive from God the ability to see otherwise hidden angels, demons and the Holy Spirit. Klingenschmitt traces the influences behind those rules, from John Cassian to Thomas à Kempis, reads them alongside modern scholars such as Karl Rahner, Jules Toner and Timothy Gallagher, and applies them to the narrative ecclesial ethics of Samuel Wells.

Out of that study comes a four-step Ignatian method, moving through consolation and desolation, consent, manifestation and what the author calls pneumato-ethics, that any analyst can use to discern the spirits. He shows how it changes the way we approach ecclesiology, salvation, missions and world religions, worship and the Eucharist, preaching, pastoral counseling, church history and politics.

Originally a Regent University doctoral study, published by Wipf & Stock.

About the author

Gordon James Klingenschmitt (PhD, Regent University) is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, a former Navy chaplain and a former Colorado state legislator. He hosts the daily TV program PIJN News and founded The Pray in Jesus Name Project, which has delivered millions of petitions to Congress.

292 pages. Published November 29, 2013 by Wipf & Stock. Kindle ASIN B00I4BCARI.