Adolf Holl, whose Jesus in Bad Company is one of the best books ever written on the man from Nazareth, has created an intellectually adventuresome and free-floating survey of the Holy Spirit. Using illustrative material from religion, myth, and culture, he starts with the descent of the dove on Jesus and ends with the poetic ramblings of James Joyce. Holl notes: "The Holy Spirit had never let himself be appropriated by those in high places — in contrast to God the Father and God the Son, who were glad to be brought in to help with royal coronations, during oath-taking in courtrooms, and in the event of war. The Holy Spirit preferred to linger among half-crazed nuns, eyeball-rolling prophets, desert dwellers, forest people, at the edge of the world, not in the centers of power."
Images of wind, fire, and a beam of light from above are appropriate signs of the third member of the Trinity who ranges free and has been claimed by individuals and groups as diverse as Elijah, Simone Weil, Francis of Assisi, Mary Baker Eddy, Malcolm X, Rainer Maria Rilke, Theosophists, and Pentecostals. The Left Hand of God shows why the Holy Spirit always has been and will continue to be a source of strength for spiritual prophets and rebels of all stripes.