a contextual missiology of the spirit - eTheses Repository ...

of people from other faiths. According to Anderson, one of the major reasons for
this appeal is the ‘Pentecostal emphasis on the transforming power of the Holy
Spirit,’ that claims to ‘offer more than the traditional religions did.’ 84 As Jenkins
observes, Christianity in the Southern Hemisphere is becoming more and more
charismatic, 85 and will have to face many more interfaith encounters. In the
context of the current crisis created in the theology of religions by Trinitarian as
well as Christological approaches, the pneumatological approach seems to build a
bridge that will carry the debate forward.
It is significant that Pentecostals have entered into the current scenario of the
theology of religions in the context of interfaith encounters. Amos Yong argues
the significance of a pneumatological Theology of Religion. 86 According to him,
‘a pneumatologically driven theology is more conducive to engaging these matters
[interfaith concerns] in our time than previous approaches.’ Furthermore, ‘only a
pneumatological approach to the religions enables us to hold in tension the
distinctive confessional claims of Christian faith alongside the actual claims of the
religions themselves….’ 87 As Yong hopes, Pentecostals seem to be potential
partners who can richly contribute to the field of a Christian theology of religions.
Along with the historical and theological reasons, missiological reasons have been
84 Allan H Anderson, ‘The Pentecostal Gospel and Third World Cultures,’ (Paper presented at the
Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Springfield, Missouri, 16 March 1999),
http://artsweb.bham.ac.uk/aanderson/ (accessed on 07 March 2008).
85 For more discussion, see Jenkins, Next Christendom, 6-8.
86 Apart from Amos Yong, other Pentecostal scholars like Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen and Samuel
Solivan also engage in the dialogue of a pneumatological theology of religions. For example, see
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, ‘Pentecostal Pneumatologies in the Matrix of Contemporary Theologies of
the Spirit’ (paper presented at the Glopent Conference, Heidelberg, 1-2 February 2008); Samuel
Solivan, ‘Interreligious Dialogue: An Hispanic American Pentecostal Perspective,’ in Grounds for
Undersaninding: Ecumenical Responses to Religious Pluralism, ed. S. Mark Heim (Grand Rapids,
MI: Eerdmans, 1998), 37-45.
87 Yong, Spirit Poured Out, 235-36.
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