Spirit, vulnerability and beauty – a pneumatological exploration

Abstract

Vulnerability is for most people a problematic concept. However, there are several theological discourses revealing an exciting reinterpretation of vulnerability. The recent attention to vulnerability opens novel and vital perspectives on human life in relation to God. The first part of this article is an overview of constructive Reformed theological proposals that offer a promising hermeneutics of vulnerability. The second part presents an additional constructive proposal: a pneumatological exploration of vulnerability. The pairing of Spirit and vulnerability leads to the understanding that vulnerability is the realm of the Holy Spirit. Notions such as quality, transformation, vulnerability dialectics, beauty and danger turn out to be critical constituents of the bond between Spirit and vulnerability.