Thomas O'Loughlin
The diversifying Spirit:
Pentecost falls on 24 May this year. When we
think of the Holy Spirit we think of unity, but
the Spirit is also the giver of diversity, writes
Thomas O'Loughlin, Professor of Historical
Theology at the University of Nottingham.
en we mention the Spirit at work in
the creation we think of his bringing
unity, drawing together, and reconciliation:
the Spirit is unifying. But any such stress
carried with it twin dangers: first, that we
then assume that somehow that is all he
does, the Spirit is there to produce unity
and the bonds of peace (Eph 4.3); and sec-
ond, that we then further simplify this
action of bringing unity to it being the sort
of unity that we produce: uniformity, rigidi-
ty, and blandness. So it is useful to remem-
ber that the Spirit is simultaneously the
Over of diversity — and that in divine econo-
my that unity and diversity are not in con-
tradiction. It is this richness that our
preaching must convey
The Spirit unites, heals, and any true unity
is the fruit of the divine presence. When we
recall our unity in the Christ, our unity in
baptism, and in discipleship we are not
recalling our common commitment, nor
shared acceptance of a system of ideas, nor
collective adherence to a structure; rather it
is the Spirit's presence that makes us one
royal priesthood, a chosen people, and a
holy nation. It is through our sharing in the
Spirit that we become what we are; and it is
through his power that we are able to know
and declare the wonderful deeds of the
Father who called us out of darkness into his
marvellous light (cf 1 Pet 2.9). This unity
that is formed by the Spirit is manifold: it
unites us with the Christ, it reverses the
human tendency to fragnentation, chal-
lenges us to reject asserting differences to
bolster our sense of identity, it helps us
towards a true catholicism which is the
overcoming of sectionalism, and confronts
our pride and jealously. The gift of unity is a
positive addition to our human state, it is not
4 The Pastoral Review Volume 11 Issue 3
to be imagined along the lines of human
unification which thinks in terms of merg-
ers, alliances, pacts, and the destruction of
differences so that all looks the same, works
together, and behaves with the sort of unity
that is essential in a clock, a computer, or a
regiment. In the unity of the Holy Spirit the
whole is more than the sum of the parts, but
each element's distinctiveness and individu-
ality as a creature is preserved. When we
think of the Spirit's unifying and reconciling
presence we are hard pressed to find paral-
lels in human experience.
So rather than search our 'parallels' it is
more useful to think of the Spirit as the
source for what we imagine as the opposite
of unification: the act of diversification. The
Spirit is present. in all the creation, yet
everywhere we see its diversity. How many
The Spirit is present
in all the creation, yet
everywhere we see
its diversity
types of life are there? How many species of
plants and animals? How many human
beings are there: each clinging to their indi-
viduality distinctiveness, and identity.
Diversity is everywhere. Diversity is rich-
ness, the source of beauty and what makes
life worth living. The Spirit is giver of life,
and life is filled with difference, interest and
wonder This is the diversifying Spirit at
work. Paul rejoiced in the diversity of the
human body as part of the creation so that
he could recall the diversity of the Church
in the Spirit. Before any reflection, homily,
or talk about the Spirit in the Church it is a
The gift of
Pentecost 4-r52e Cream:Arr.

The Pastoral Review Volume 11 Issue 3 5
The diversifying Spirit: The gift of Pentecost — Thomas O'Loughlin

good idea to read 1 Cor 12.4-30. A church

sharing in the same. Spirit is full of diversity
and is not short of the multiplicity of talents,
each distinctly expressed that will build the
community of love. By contrast, when we
forget that the Spirit diversifies we tend to
imagine the community, of the Church as a
structure, become blind to the richness of
his diverse presence and gifts in those
around us, and even begin to wonder if the
Spirit is abandoning us.

The Spirit brings enlightenment, and this

too takes the character of its richness from
diversity. It is the diversity of human insights
that build up human knowledge, is the
spark of excitement, interest and genius.
And again, only diversity allows us to appre-
ciate the wonder of the good and the beau-
tail: what if there was only one beautiful
image or poem? Why is a diversity of lan-
guages better than just one? Why is it better
to have four rather than one gospel? Why
have there been many preachers and teach-
ers rather than just one? Those who would
reduce diversity have a low view of human
nature, a lower view of the value of human
living, and little or no awareness of the tran-
scendent. Every tyrant in history has even-
tually sought to destroy differences of
opinion - in everything from politics to art —
and then usually sought to eradicate
humans that appeared too different from
his image of perfection. In contrast, the
Spirit produces diversity upon diversity and
we can marvel and rejoice in the Spirit's
creativity
Diversity has a bad history in Christian prac-
tice. Diversity is not richness but fragmenta-
tion, schism, heresy We look back to the
story of the Tower of Babel where confusion
is a punishment for pride. In this myth the
earth had only 'one language and few words'
(Gen 11.1) and all acted as single people
(11.4 and 6), then people came to think that
nothing would be impossible for them
(11.6), so God confused their language to
thwart them and he scattered them (11.7-
6 The Pastoral Review Volume 11 Issue 3
8), and so the place came to be called Babel
(11.9). It is a powerful myth: sin splits and
destroys unity— and we so easily convert the
idea and imagine that diversity is the result
of a broken unity! So whenever we see vari-
ation, difference, we do not see these as dis-
tinct aspects of a mystery greater than us,
where all those aspects might call us to see
the limits of any one of them, and seek to
grow in understanding and appreciation. Yet
just reflect on the rhetoric that we have
used over the centuries to stress the lack of
diversity as a sign of unity of faith: one ritu-
Only diversity allows us
to appreciate the
wonder of the good and
the beautiful
al, one language, one method of doing
things, one standardised theology; and on
and on — it was as if we could not imagine
that God could be greater than our love of
imposed orderliness and uniformity!
By complete contrast, in his presentation of
the coming of the Spirit, Luke presents his
myth to counterbalance Babel. On his great
day of Pentecost where the many nations
are gathered, the Spirit does not remove the
diversity of languages but rather enables the
gathered community—itself a diverse bunch
of men and women (Acts 1.14) — to begin 'to
The diversifying Spirit: The gift of Pentecost — Thomas O'Loughlin

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speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave
them utterance' (Acts 2.4). Those who
heard them did not hear a new single lan-
guage — neither Latin nor Esperanto — but
each heard in his own language (a point
Luke repeats: Acts 2.6, 8, and 11). In Luke's
myth, the Spirit, even in a miracle of uniting
the nations, values diversity. In the Babel
myth, that people set out to build a city as a
function of their uniformity — there was only
one people and they had but few words —
and this provoked divine punishment; in the
Pentecost myth a new city is being built by
the Spirit upon the riches of diversity. This is
the Spirit-given diversity of languages, cul-
tures, peoples, and insights. From out of this
diversity, the mighty works of God become
known and praised in each language. When
we are thinking about the Spirit and seeking
to speak about the Spirit we need to ask our-
selves which myth is most powerful in our
own minds.
At the end of most homilies there is a nat-
ural human tendency to sum up, to put it all
in a sentence, or to attempt a synthesis —
The Pastoral Review Volume 11 Issue 3 7
after all, is this not what a good communi-
cator should do? So we might then speak of
the Spirit being unifying in diversity and
diversifying in unity, or some such seeming-
From out of this
diversity, the mighty
works of God become
known and praised in
each language
ly synthetic formula that draws together the
conflicting aspects of our reflection.
However, such synthetic formulae almost
assume that the mystery of the divine can
be comprehended or neatly wrapped up.
Rather we should live with the staccato
insights and not seek to reduce them to
what seems to fit our minds. The Spirit is
unifying. The Spirit is diversifying. The
Spirit bringing diversity is our encounter
with the God of Surprises. •