The S pirit and the Community: Pneumatology and Ecclesiology in Jenson, Hütter and Bonhoeffer

This article explores how three Lutheran theologians have understood the relationship between the work of the Holy Spirit and the existing church. I argue that Robert Jenson and Reinhard Hütter both relate the Spirit to the church in ways that displace a full recognition of the church as sinful. In contrast, I suggest how Dietrich Bonhoeffer's early and neglected reflections on ecclesiology and pneumatology allow for just such a recognition.