In the Spirit: Human Subjectivity Under Law and Gospel

by Candace L. Kohli

Abstract

This essay examines Candace L. Kohli's In the Spirit: Human Subjectivity Under Law and Gospel, part of the Reconstructions in Lutheran Doctrinal Theology series. Kohli's work is focused on the life of the Christian in the wake of divine grace in Luther's later theology and his dispute with Johann Agricola over the role of the law in salvation. The review traces Kohli's central argument that Luther made a significant pneumatological discovery in his study of the Gospel of John, identifying the Holy Spirit as the author of the law and the animating power of penitence in the life of the justified sinner. Particular attention is given to Kohli's recovery of the medieval framework of penitence as reinterpreted by Luther. The review also situates Kohli's work alongside Simeon Zahl's The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience as part of a broader movement recovering affective experience as a legitimate category for theological inquiry. The essay concludes with pastoral reflections on the implications of Kohli's argument for congregational formation, confirmation ministry, and the spiritual development of young people, drawing on the author's experience in parish ministry in the Episcopal tradition.