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

suggests that these criteria should not be taken as ‘concrete evidence,’ but as
‘indicators,’ and so ‘any one of these four criteria could indicate the presence and
activity of the Holy Spirit.’ However, she adds that ‘discernment is not an easy
task,’ but a ‘complex process and an inexact science.’ 100
This is not to argue for a limitless pneumatology, but to state the importance of
using Spirit-centred Christological discernment, as God the Spirit is sovereign in
the church’s interfaith mission. The sovereignty of the Spirit in mission with
people of other faiths should be the underlying basis for a pneumatological
Pentecostal theology of religions.
Pneumatological missiology seems to be most appropriate in the context of
mission in India. As mentioned in chapter one, K. Kim’s Mission in the Spirit is a
significant study in this regard. 101 According to her, ‘mission, however it is done,
should be “in the Spirit.”’ 102 She tries to derive a ‘mission Pneumatology’ from
the pneumatology of the Indian theologians, Samartha, Vandana and Rayan.
Kim’s pneumatological model seems to be very important in the Indian context,
where most Indian Christian theologians have developed Christological models to
approach particularly the Hindu dominant Indian context. 103 Although she
100 K. Kim, Holy Spirit in the World, 168-69. For more details, see pp. 164-69.
101 K. Kim, Mission in the Spirit; Kim, ‘Indian Contribution.’
102 K. Kim, ‘Indian Contribution,’ 35. She argues, in line with Robin Boyd, that Indian Christology
is basically ‘Spirit Christology’ rather than ‘Logos Christology.’ See Robin Boyd, Introduction to
Christian Theology, rev. ed. (Delhi: ISPCK, 1975).
103 For example, M.M. Thomas discusses the ‘acknowledged Christ,’ Stanley J. Samartha the
‘unbound Christ,’ and Raimundo Panikkar the ‘unknown Christ.’ See M.M. Thomas, The
Acknowledged Christ of the Indian Renaissance (Madras: CLS, 1970); Stanley J. Samartha, The
Hindu Response to the Unbound Christ: Towards a Christology in India (Bangalore: CISRS,
1974); Raimundo Panikkar, The Unknown Christ of Hinduism, rev. ed. (London: Darton, Longman
& Tod, 1981).
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