# Kline: Images of the Spirit



## RamistThomist (Sep 13, 2017)

Kline, Meredith. _Images of the Spirit_. Wipf & Stock.

Kline argues that the Spirit is the Glory-Spirit who is a sign of creation’s telos (Kline 110). He takes note of the Spirit’s activities and how they manifest God’s glory. All of that sounds well and good. Sunday Schooley even. But Kline takes it a step further. “Glory” is a revelational modality of heaven. And sometimes that is quite terrifying. In the rest of the book Kline unpacks that claim.

The Spirit reveals himself in the “Glory-Cloud.” The Glory is not a static structure, but mobile. It is a angel-propelled chariot throne (18).

Kline also develops many important avenues for understanding the image of God. In line with the creating acts of the Glory-Spirit, man has a royal-judicial office and an ethical dimension to that glory (27). Royal: kings are invested. We “put on” Christ (Eph. 4:24). Ethical glory: holiness, righteousness, and truth.

The Glory-Canopy is viewed as a sanctuary-canopy (Isaiah 4). Exodus 25-31 have fiats and Exodus 35-40 have the corresponding fulfillment. The Glory-Canopy hovers over the tohu at the top of Sinai and reproduces the world below in the building of the tabernacle. Hebr. 9:23-24.

Thesis: “To be caught up in the SPirit was to be received into the divine assembly, the heavenly reality within the theophanic Glory-Spirit (58). And cool things happen in the Glory-Cloud. Elijah can move from place to place (1 Kgs 18:12, 46). 

The book is fascinating and stimulating. It served as the foundation for later important thinkers, ranging from Jordan to Chilton to Frame. There are many good (though undeveloped) suggestions for an eschatological metaphysics. One interesting omission: Kline didn’t have a chapter on the Image as King. To do so might have negated his intrusion ethics.

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## earl40 (Sep 13, 2017)

Does he compromise the metaphysic notion that The Divine essence is only a condensation of said essence? I ask because I have noticed the metaphysic of such is almost lost among the reformed today.


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## Pilgrim (Sep 13, 2017)

Wasn't there something controversial about this book, or am I thinking of a different one?


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## RamistThomist (Sep 13, 2017)

earl40 said:


> Does he compromise the metaphysic notion that The Divine essence is only a condensation of said essence? I ask because I have noticed the metaphysic of such is almost lost among the reformed today.



What do you mean by "condensation of the Divine essence?"


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## Miller (Sep 13, 2017)

BayouHuguenot said:


> Kline didn’t have a chapter on the Image as King. To do so might have negated his intrusion ethics.



Do you mind teasing this out a little more for me?


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## earl40 (Sep 13, 2017)

BayouHuguenot said:


> What do you mean by "condensation of the Divine essence?"



Many people think they can see the divine essence of God. What we see of God is the condensation of The Son alone and am weary of thinking Kline may be treading on how men saw God in a "Glory-Cloud" as if God is somehow smoky looking or that even His Glory can be seen as it is.

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## Justified (Sep 13, 2017)

earl40 said:


> Many people think they can see the divine essence of God. What we see of God is the condensation of The Son alone and am weary of thinking Kline may be treading on how men saw God in a "Glory-Cloud" as if God is somehow smoky looking or that even His Glory can be seen as it is.


 Condescension is the word you're looking for, I think. My favorite quote by Karl Barth-- I don't know the citation-- is that there is no God behind the backside of Jesus Christ.

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## RamistThomist (Sep 13, 2017)

earl40 said:


> Many people think they can see the divine essence of God. What we see of God is the condensation of The Son alone and am weary of thinking Kline may be treading on how men saw God in a "Glory-Cloud" as if God is somehow smoky looking or that even His Glory can be seen as it is.



No, Kline isn't saying we see the essence of God. But men throughout Scripture are caught up in God's glory-cloud. There is no doubt about that.


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## RamistThomist (Sep 13, 2017)

Justified said:


> My favorite quote by Karl Barth-- I don't know the citation-- is that there is no God behind the backside of Jesus Christ.



It's in every Bruce McCormack essay.


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## RamistThomist (Sep 13, 2017)

Miller said:


> Do you mind teasing this out a little more for me?



He would have to go into detail on what man's being a ruling king would look like. A king must have a law and he isn't always coherent on what law guides the Christian, since a lot of it is merely an "intrusion into the common grace" ethic.


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## earl40 (Sep 13, 2017)

Justified said:


> Condescension is the word you're looking for, I think. My favorite quote by Karl Barth-- I don't know the citation-- is that there is no God behind the backside of Jesus Christ.



I must have been thinking of a rain cloud.

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## earl40 (Sep 13, 2017)

BayouHuguenot said:


> No, Kline isn't saying we see the essence of God. But men throughout Scripture are caught up in God's glory-cloud. There is no doubt about that.



What exactly is a glory-cloud?


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## RamistThomist (Sep 13, 2017)

earl40 said:


> What exactly is a glory-cloud?



“Glory” is a revelational modality of heaven. It is a angel-propelled chariot throne (18).


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## Clark-Tillian (Sep 13, 2017)

BayouHuguenot said:


> “Glory” is a revelational modality of heaven. It is a angel-propelled chariot throne (18).



Now that's the way to turn a phrase. Does he use "revelational modality" in his other writings?


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## RamistThomist (Sep 13, 2017)

Clark-Tillian said:


> Now that's the way to turn a phrase. Does he use "revelational modality" in his other writings?



Not sure. I am reading _God, Heaven, and Har-Magedon _righ tnow. He might use it there.


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## earl40 (Sep 14, 2017)

BayouHuguenot said:


> “Glory” is a revelational modality of heaven. It is a angel-propelled chariot throne (18).



I guess the context would explain it further.  I can't help but to think Kline may be thinking in a purely earthly manner. I have run into this with the EO in that they insist that when the Apostles saw the tongues of fire they literally saw God The Holy Spirit. I suspect Kline is thinking the same way in that the modality of a glory cloud is a literal manifestations of The Holy Spirit, as if The Holy Spirit took on visible form that is indistinguishable from the divine essence.


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## RamistThomist (Sep 14, 2017)

earl40 said:


> I suspect Kline is thinking the same way in that the modality of a glory cloud is a literal manifestations of The Holy Spirit, as if The Holy Spirit took on visible form that is indistinguishable from the divine essence.



That's not what Kline is saying. Modality isn't the same thing as essence.


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