The Holy Spirit: its meaning and potential misuse

Avweroswo Akpojaro was not very religious as a child, but it was when he was reading the Bible as a teenager that he had a powerful religious experience and started to study religious texts. He always had questions, however, relating to Christian practice.

Although he studied Geology at university and went into teaching, he continued to read religious texts and now finds himself at the University of Cambridge doing a PhD in Divinity, having overcome many obstacles to get here. His persistence is testament to the strength of his intellectual need to address those early questions.

Avweroswo's master's dissertation at the University of Edinburgh was on Friedrich Schleiermacher’s eschatology. He explored questions about the ultimate end of human existence, conceptions of immortality and problems with the retention of personal identity after resurrection.

Schleiermacher’s writing on the subject of the Holy Spirit took Avweroswo back to some of his original questions about the Holy Spirit when he was growing up, including the validity of ‘speaking in tongues’ and the potential for the Holy Spirit to be used to manipulate people, for instance, to give money to the church.

Avweroswo will explore these and other questions from a theological perspective in his PhD in Divinity at the University of Cambridge. He says that starting public conversations about the nature of the Holy Spirit are difficult in Nigeria, but he feels having greater expertise in the form of a PhD will mean they may be more willing to listen to what he has to say.

He states: “Schleiermacher’s doctrine of the Spirit is of particular interest to me precisely because of its simplicity, depth, openness to social engagement and potential to combat harmful ideas about the Spirit in Christian communities. I also aim to show its relevance for Christian theology and the community of believers both in my country and beyond.”

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