Hey Kids! Catch the Theological Error!

Rather like the games in kids’ magazines where they have to spot the errors, I offer this from the Episcopal seminary on the West Coast, Church Divinity School of the Pacific. In a recent fund raising appeal leaflet they have the following slogan:

Challenging the mind
Nurturing the Spirit
Engaging the world

Did you catch it?

It is the uppercase ‘S’ with which Spirit is rendered that has me scratching my head.

Just what “Spirit” do they have in mind here? Is this the Holy Spirit? If so, then how can CDSP be said to “nurture” the Spirit? Does the seminary exist to nurture God? If so, then I have a concern about their understanding about the immutability of God.

Or perhaps they have become a Process Theology school. While troubling, at least that might be theologically coherent.

Or maybe they are thinking the human spirit. That could conceivably be within the purview of the seminary. But then why the uppercase here but not for “mind” or “world.” Is there some sort of divinization of the human spirit at work here.

It is either sloppiness, non-Christian theology, or both.

In any event, they will not be receiving a pledge from me for money.