With the rise of Pentecostalism, the Charismatic movement, and more recently the so-called Third Wave churches, the days when theologians regarded the Holy Spirit as the shy or retiring member of the Trinity are now largely behind us. Especially in more popular publishing, there is an expanding body of literature on the Spirit while at the same time disputes about the work of the Spirit have been at the heart of many disputes among Christians. Williams seeks to chart a path through these disputes by operating with Augustine’s description of the Holy Spirit as Vinculum Amoris, or ‘the bond of love.’ Although there is a brief discussion of the Trinity near the end of the book, Williams is not particularly concerned with developing a theology of the person of the Spirit so much as employing Augustine’s model to explore the work of the Spirit.

After two chapters in which he outlines the relevance of Augustine’s model, Williams explores a series of theological themes that develop from this starting point. The areas addressed are salvation, filling with the Spirit, the sacraments, ethics, prayer, slaying in the Spirit, the Spirit in the world, Scripture, resurrection, and the importance of the benediction in 2 Cor 13:14 for our understanding of Trinity. The survey of topics shows the concern to explore the work of the Spirit, and for each Williams employs the model of the Vinculum Amoris as a means for resolving disputes among Christians over the Spirit’s work. Although many of these disputes are located within western Protestantism, Williams does not shy away from matters that reach into the fundamental division of the church between East and West. Although Williams employs the one model, each of these theme studies is essentially an independent piece, so a student wanting to explore, say, slaying in the Spirit could do so by reading the first two chapters and then the one on that topic. For this reason, the book’s conclusion struggles slightly because of the independence of each topic, though it is not lacking in insight.

The structure for each topic is also reasonably consistent, with Williams attending both to biblical material and wider discussions in systematic theology. Williams’ initial theological training as an OT scholar is evident from the skill with which he considers a range of texts, but he is also adept at bringing this material into dialogue with contemporary issues. An engineer before he commenced his theological studies, he also draws on his knowledge of science in explaining matters. There is also a refreshing concern to demonstrate the abiding relevance of the material, though it would have been good to see a little more how the author’s grounding as a white European in a traditionally black university in South Africa has shaped his work. Where these points do arise they help to earth his discussions more thoroughly, showing the importance of context for theology. One minor weakness is that Williams sometimes introduces technical terms without fully explaining them. For example, perichoresis is mentioned a number of times without ever being explained, while his discussion of the relative merits of the subjective or objective genitive in 2 Cor 13:14 will leave those without Greek rather perplexed. But for the most part, this is a balanced and thought-through treatment of a theme of abiding theological significance.

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