09 Review: Amos Yong. The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh

Amos Yong’s The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh is a wonderful book and, from my perspective, one of the most important contributions to pentecostal and ecumenical theology published in recent years. Since I know that one should avoid using gushing superlatives in a formal book review, let me see whether I can justify this claim.

Those familiar with the corpus of Yong’s work will know that he is a prolific writer (how he is able to write so many texts of such high quality in such a short period of time, as well as holding down a full time job and surviving as a husband and father of three girls, is difficult to imagine). His writing draws on a broad range of theological and philosophical sources, and wrestles with complex ideas. The Spirit Poured Out on all Flesh is no exception, but for the fact that it is his most readable book to date. While I must confess that I have found myself needing to double and triple read passages of his previous books in the attempt to understand what he was saying, in this case double reading arose only out of the desire to engage a second time with the creativity of his thought. Although it is not a simple read, this is a book that should be accessible to most students of theology.

The book is a systematic theology which attempts to be "unabashedly pentecostal from beginning to end."(p.9) Lest this gives the wrong impression, I should note that Yong does not attempt to provide a comprehensive survey of all topics traditionally understood to comprise the loci of the discipline of theology. Rather, the book is systematic in the extent to which it addresses a broad spectrum of theological issues in an integrated manner and with an underlying method and motif. Yong labels that method as "a pneumatology of quest – a dynamic, dialectical, and discerning theology of the question, driven by a "pneumatological imagination,"(p.11) and this orientation derives from and frames Yong’s pentecostal outlook. Again, however, this is not a traditional pentecostal theology. Many pentecostal readers will be surprised at the direction and conclusions of his "quest," and may be left wondering how the text can claim to be "pentecostal." But Yong assumes that pentecostalism is not, primarily, a movement framed by institutional boundaries and fixed doctrinal categories but, rather, by the dynamic experience of the Holy Spirit. As he observes:

Or again:

The Spirit Poured Out on all Flesh is thus able to be pentecostal in a manner which is not defensive and closed. This means that Yong can affirm, challenge and expand pentecostal horizons while, at the same time, contributing to the broader global and ecumenical communities of Christian theology.

The book begins with an introduction to pentecostalism, attempting to provide meaning to the label in the context of global diversity and, thereafter, frame the orientation of his subsequent quest. Chapter 1 continues this theme, providing a survey of the rise of world pentecostalism by means of case studies from Latin America, Asia and Africa. Apart from the fact that it was pleasant to hear stories of pentecostalism outside of the North American context, Yong’s purpose was to illustrate the diversity of global pentecostalism, to attend the fact that the movement cannot be discussed in the abstract, and to draw out the holistic and liberating (for the poor and disenfranchised) soteriology which he sees as framing the pentecostal experience of the Spirit.

This leads Yong, in chapter 2, to begin his systematic theology with a contemplation of pneumatological soteriology. He establishes a Spirit Christology which understands salvation as being multidimensional (personal, familial, ecclesial, material, social, cosmic) and dynamic. Yong links this dynamic process of salvation to the notion of Baptism in the Spirit in a manner that reframes the traditional discussion of this pentecostal distinctive and, subsequently, enables him to re-appropriate historical formulations of the atonement. In writing this way, he will have understood that conservative pentecostals may well be uncomfortable with his conclusions and approach, if not only because his logic is persuasive and his proposal liberating and ecumenically significant.

In chapter 3, Yong seeks a pneumatological ecclesiology, and goes on in chapter 4 to consider the consequences of pentecostalism for ecumenism. In a pentecostal reading of Luke-Acts, and in the concrete experience of the Spirit in pentecostal movements, he locates resources to cut across traditional divisions (ethnic, racial, linguistic, social, class, gender and religious). Chapter 5 extends this discussion of Christian unity by focusing particularly on the division between oneness and trinitarian pentecostals. With the goal of locating a theological basis for unity between the two movements, he also uses this discussion to establish the identity of the Spirit – as the Spirit of the one God; the Spirit of the Father and Son.

Yong extends the logic of the unifying work of the Spirit in chapter 6 by considering the Spirit/(s) in other religions, a topic that has been the focus of much of his previous research and writing. In sum, Yong recognises that the Spirit is at work in other religions (an assertion which is based firstly an affirmation of God’s omnipresence) and, by extension, that inter-religious dialogue should thereby accompany the Christian search for truth; "If others have something to say about God, should we not at least listen both sympathetically and critically." (p.240). He then suggests that the goal of inter-religious dialogue is the concrete task of discerning the Spirit/(s) and the demonic. He illustrates this task in a case study of the Spirit in Christian / Muslim encounter; a noteworthy analysis given the terrible state of Christian / Muslim relations in the world today. Of course this whole discussion is inherently controversial, and attends to the thorny issues of salvation of those in other faiths. Yong, however, wants to avoid dogmatic conclusions and, via a creative reading of the parable of the good Samaritan, encourages his readers to have an openness to God’s presence and activity in and through all human beings. Such inter-religious encounter need not undermine the particularly and universality of Christ or the task of mission but can instead be understood as complementary; even as a necessary corollary to the eschatological work of the Spirit. Whether or not one agrees with Yong’s conclusions, the situation of global pluralism and religious warfare makes the discussion one of importance for the global church.

Yong’s final chapter develops a pneumatological theology of creation. Once again his emphases include the search for truth and the goal of unity, so that he starts with an affirmation of the need to develop harmony between religion and science. Yong suggests that pentecostal orientation to the Spirit creates an openness to science which takes it beyond the constraints of fundamentalism and evangelicalism. He thus considers a pneumatological understanding of evolution, and goes on to develop a theology which affirms the interrelationship between creation as a whole, and leads to an environmental ethic. This ethic derives from the role of the Spirit as the power of life in the material realm, as well as the cosmic orientation of eschatology (creation itself groans for the liberation of the sons of God), which necessarily leads to the concrete task of meeting the environmental challenges of our time. (p.301).

All in all, Yong’s contribution to pentecostalism and global theology is an orientation to the Spirit which insists on openness as opposed to prejudgement, on unity as opposed to sectarianism, on the search for truth as opposed to dogmatism. It is not necessary to agree with Yong’s conclusions to appreciate his vision. My only real critique is that Yong portrays an ideal of pentecostalism which seems to bear little resemblance to the concrete reality of the movement, at least in its more prominent institutional forms. Are pentecostals really open to the Spirit in other religions, to inter-pentecostal and ecumenical unity, to a more nuanced understanding of creation? Perhaps one of his most substantial contributions here is to remind us that Christian theology, while addressing concrete realities, should nevertheless be oriented to a vision of the ideal.

What more can I say? Read this book!

Shane Clifton

©Southern Cross College, 2006