Amos Yong Baker Academic 2003-03-01

Yong, a Pentecostal professor of theology at Bethel College, proposes a “pneumatological approach” to the theology of religions, with implications regarding the question of salvation outside the church. He seeks to establish a pneumatology that opens up the possibility for mutual discussion and learning among the world religions. In so doing, Yong addresses both ontological and epistemological questions. Ontological concerns deal especially with final truth and the Trinitarian structure of reality revealed particularly in Jesus Christ and witnessed universally by the Holy Spirit. Epistemological questions are directed to how ultimate reality is known and expressed in the non-Christian religions of the world. Revisiting the debate between exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism, the author contends that his pneumatological theology of religions transcends all these categories. The book “spirals toward its goal from biblical and missiological (chapter 2), philosophical (chapter 3), theological (chapters 4 and 5), and practical (chapter 6) perspectives” (p. 33). A final chapter serves as “transitional,” invoking further development of a Spirit-theology of religion.

Yong’s case is built on three axioms: (1) “God is universally present and active in the Spirit” (p. 44). (2) “God’s Spirit is the life-breath of the imago Dei in every human being and the presupposition of all human relationships and communities” (p. 45). (3) “The religions of the world, like everything else that exists, are providentially sustained by the Spirit of God for divine purposes” (p. 46). Surveying Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic, and evangelical theologies of religion, Yong asks what he deems the primary question: On what grounds are religions to be evaluated? And from a Christian vantage, “How is the Holy Spirit to be distinguished from other spirits in the religions?” (p. 163). Yong suggests that religions are discerned both by objective, empirical investigation and by subjective, personal experience. On one hand criteria for objective discernment of God’s presence in other religions include aspects of truth, goodness, beauty, and holiness. In other words do other religions reflect what God would do in contexts and language quite different from that of Western Christianity? On the other hand Yong also values pneumatological intuition, that is, the charismatic discernment of the presence of the Spirit or its absence (the demonic) in non-Christian religions. Admitting the complexity of the task, the author urges increased dialogue and interaction between Christians and adherents of other religions in order to discern in what sense the Spirit of God is at work within them. Yong asks, if Western Christian faith has been shaped by dialogue with Plato, Aristotle, and Kant, then could Christian faith appear in dialogue with Buddha, Lao-Tzu, and Dogen?

Carefully researched, Beyond the Impasse offers sophisticated interaction and critique of leading religious theoreticians, including Paul Knitter, George Khodr, Jacques Dupuis, Donald Gelpi, Stanley Samartha, and Clark Pinnock. Yong correctly asserts that Western Christians are often not attentive to biblical truth and the Spirit’s activity expressed in different cultural and religious contexts. Although the attempt might be suspect, the author likewise seeks to define universal ethical standards in religiously neutral, empirical categories so that other religions come to the table as partners in openhanded dialogue. Yong brings a Pentecostal contribution to the theology of religion that, apart from Pinnock’s recent writings, has received little attention among evangelicals.

Certain premises, however, may leave readers uneasy. Yong’s pneumatological emphasis is reminiscent of the debates in the 1950s in the World Council of Churches when some argued that Christology divides but pneumatology unites. Although the author argues that his is a robustly Trinitarian theology that gives proper place to the work of the Holy Spirit (he rejects the filioque), he struggles with the relationship of a universal witness of the Spirit in relation to Jesus Christ (pp. 167–70). Yong’s central axiom that “God’s Spirit is the life-breath of the imago dei in every human being” (p. 46) does not define adequately what it means for every person to have the Spirit; the distinction between a non-Christian having the Spirit and a Christian being born again is certainly not clear. Nor are issues of human sinfulness, depravity, and election meaningfully addressed. Therefore, although Yong avers that his pneumatological approach avoids the exclusivist, inclusivist, and pluralist paradigms, the work does not escape an inclusivist perspective.

One of the Pentecostal aspects of the work that identifies Yong as more than merely a generous Arminian is his division of the world religions as either reflecting the presence of the Spirit or of the demonic. There is little middle ground. Among the classical categories of the world, the flesh, and the devil, the first two receive little attention—even though Yong’s term “demonic” is defined in broad categories. Interestingly his dialogical approach toward other religions conflicts significantly with classical Pentecostalism’s aggressive exclusivist preaching that only faith in Jesus saves.

Yong’s book consists of papers and articles presented in rather diverse settings—from a graduate seminar at Boston University to a paper at the Society for Pentecostal Studies at Evangel University (Springfield, MO). One suspects that the book may attempt too much. Commendably Yong seeks to hold together an evangelical soteriology with a broadly ecumenical, pneumatological approach to religions. But these reviewers suspect he has not accomplished this goal.

About the Contributors

J. Scott Horrell

Scott Horrell, Th.D, until recently was Senior Professor of Theological Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary and continues as adjunct professor at DTS (including the DMin Brazil program), the Seminário Teológico Centroamericano (DET/PhD SETECA) in Guatemala, the Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary (Amman), and the Centro de Desenvolvimento de Liderança in Maputo, Mozambique. Most of his ministry years have been outside the US and centered on theological education and pastoral training especially in basic doctrines of the faith. While teaching at several schools in Brazil he was coordinator of graduate studies at the Baptist Theological Seminary in São Paulo, and co-founder/editor of Vox Scripturae, at that time the largest Protestant journal in Latin America. He has written and contributed to various books and written multiple articles in Portuguese and English, notably From the Ground Up: Biblical Foundations for the 21st Century Church (Kregel 2004), Exploring Christian Theology, Vol 1, eds. N. Holsteen and M. Svigel (Bethany, 2014), and A Trindade, a Igreja, e a Realidade Social (2021). His current writing centers on the doctrine of the Trinity, the supernatural world, and human personhood.  

 

His wife Ruth, children, and eight grandchildren currently reside in Dallas and Houston.