As I continue to read about early Jewish and Christian Pneumatologies my interests have peaked in Greco-Roman Pneumatologies. Does anyone know if there is a standard work on this subject that I can consult? I haven’t run across one yet, but I’d be very interested in knowing if it exists!
(FWIW: In The Spirit in First-Century Judaism John R. Levison mentions Hans Leisegang’s Der Heilige Geist for a text that examines Greek and Roman Pneumatologies in relation to Jewish, but I’m wondering if there is something more specific, limited to Greco-Roman thought.)
the archives near Emmaus 
Interestingly I was thinking about this lacuna in scholarship the other day. I wondered whether it would make a good subject for me to pursue once I (hopefully) finish my PhD. Aspects of Mark Edward’s ” Image, Word and God in the Early Christian Centuries” though would be of interest, and will point to some relevant studies to pursue.
Erlend:
It would be a wonderful subject for you to pursue! If there were a volume or two giving a big picture introduction to various Pneumatologies (other than Jewish and Christian) in the ancient world I’d purchase it quickly! Thank you for the recommendation regarding Edward’s work. I’ll take a look there.
Hi, I’m not sure if this will be a benefit to you, but there is a great literature review in Max Turner’s “Spirit from on High: the Spirit in Israel’s witness and restoration”. This gives a great overview of possibly what you’re after with Leisegang, Herman Gunkel, O’Pleiderer, Buchsel, Von Baer etc…who produced significant work at the turn of 20th Century. Just a thought.
@Lee: I’ve been wanting to get my hands on Turner’s book. Thank you for urging me to continue to seek to do so as well as for these additional recommendations!
Cool. Robert Menzies “Empowered for Witness: The Spirit in Luke Acts” is also worth looking at. He looks more at the ecstatic nature of the Spirit in terms of empowering. But, it’s another good lit. review that might help you. More recent work is Aaron Kuecker’s “The Spirit and the ‘other'”. Again, depends on whether you want the more ecclesial/communal aspects of the Spirit or the more ecstatic/ empowering effects. Again, if it helps…cool, if not, just hit delete. Blessings. Lee
@Lee: I’m about ten pages or so into Menzies’ work, so it’s nice to see that you recommend it as well. Sometimes you dive into books not quite sure what you’ll find. In general, I’m just trying to gather as much info as I can about early Christian views of the Spirit in order to help me think through some matters related to the Christology of the Gospels.
Great, you’ll definitely appreciate Turner then. Dunn’s “Jesus and the Spirit” is also good. Complete other end of the spectrum than Menzies. Turner sits well between them.
Troy Martin’s essay “Paul’s Pneumatological Statements and Ancient Medical Texts” is worth a read.
@Lee: Excellent, thank you!
@Seth: Wonderful, thanks for the lead.
I’ll email you some bibliography shortly…
Excellent, thanks Stephen!
Just saw this come up…. Volker Rabens (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Theology) just uploaded a paper on Academia.edu: “Geistes-Geschichte: Die Rede vom Geist im Horizont der griechisch-römischen und jüdisch-hellenistischen Literatur,” in: Zeitschrift für Neues Testament 25 (2010), 46–55
I’ve liked his monograph, and I imagine this will be good too.
@Ben: That sounds like it could be very helpful! My German is just getting off the floor, so it will take me some time to move through that article, but it sounds like it could be very fruitful.