The purpose of this essay is to analyse and compare pneumatology in Eftertanke in Kyrkans Tidning, in a Swedish evangelical Lutheran context, with pneumatology in Luthers Small Catechism and Luther's Large Catechism. Through a descriptive, inductive and hermenutical approach the essay intends to answer two main questions regarding how these sources 1) describe the character features and 2) the function of the Spirit.  The conclusions of this essay show that the character features of the Spirit in Eftertanke differ from the catechisms in describing the Spirit with words connected to nature and life, while the catechisms only describe the Spirit as holy. The discussion that follows implies that the Spirit in the catechisms is depicted as more personal whereas Eftertanke depicts the Spirit more as an impersonal force. There are similarities in how both the catechisms and Eftertanke depict a dialectic relationship between human beings and the Spirit. However, they differ in function: in Eftertanke the Spirit is foremost a giver of life and a creator of positive emotions as well as a giver of guidance, while in the catechisms the Spirit is foremost a sanctifier. There are also dissimilarities in how the catechisms emphasize that the Spirit works through the word, the church and the sacraments, while this is barely mentioned in Eftertanke. Eftertanke on the other hand emphasizes a more panentheistic function of the Spirit in the world.

The aim of this thesis is to explore how affect theory can contribute to pneumatology in a way that illuminates how it might inspire action regarding the current climate crisis. To do this, this thesis analyses and discusses how feelings could relate to (human) action to combat climate change. This is done through a discussion of how different pneumatologies that describe the Holy Spirit as acting, and as inspiring action in the world, can be further developed through affect theory. The main material used are Matters of Care: Speculative Ethics in More Than Human Worlds (2017) by philosopher of science Maria Puig de la Bellacasa and Grave Attending: A Political Theology for the Unredeemed (2020) by theologian Karen Bray. Several different pneumatological voices, representing the variety of pneumatologies present within the Christian tradition, are used to analyse the main material pneumatologically. The conclusions drawn suggest that the combining of affect theory and pneumatology not only points out the similarity of the traits with which they are commonly associated, but they also suggest that it might be possible – and even necessary – to talk of the Spirit as present also in “negative” feelings such as anger or depression. The Spirit can be understood as present in all affects (even if they appear within capitalist contexts), and also as a rewiring of our relationship to become more attuned to how others (human and non-human alike) actually feel. Care, this thesis suggests, is as a very concrete example of how the Spirit can be seen as materialising through affected actions. The Spirit understood as present through affect could also provide a way of speaking of the Spirit as present in the world, in creation, without making it what gives nature its worth and meaning.