Beyond the impasse : toward a pneumatological theology of religions

208 Pages·2003·8.352 MB·English

by  Amos Yong

Beyond
the Impasse

B e y o n d
the I mp a s s e
Toward a
Pneumatological Theology
of Religions
Amos Yong
A
O□ Baker Academic
A Division of Baker Book House Co
PATERNOSTER PRESS Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516
© 2003 by Amos Yong
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Book House Company
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
and
Paternoster Press
an imprint of Authentic Media
P.O. Box 300, Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 0QS, UK
www.patemoster-publishing.com
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a re­
trieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, elec­
tronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the
publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yong, Amos.
Beyond the impasse : toward a pneumatological theology of religions /
Amos Yong.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-8010-2612-1 (pbk.)
1. Theology of religions (Christian theology) 2. Holy Spirit. I. Title.
BT83.85 .Y66 2003
261.2—dc21 2002038608
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 1-84227-208-4
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Stan­
dard Version of the Bible, copyright ©1989 by the Division of Christian Education
of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked niv are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNA­
TIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973,1978,1984 by International Bible So­
ciety. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
For
Rev. Joseph and Irene Yong

C o n t e n t s
Preface 9
1. Introduction: Toward a Pneumatological Paradigm
in Christian Theology of Religions 13
2. A Pneumatological Theology of Religions: Thesis
and Overview 35
3. Foundational Pneumatology and Theology
of Religions 57
4. Pneumatological Approaches to the Religions: Description
and Prospectus 83
5. Pneumatology and an Evangelical Theology
of Religions 105
6. Toward a Pneumatological Theology of Spiritual
Discernment 129
7. Transitions: The Pneumatological Imagination
and Discernment in the World of the Religions 163
Scripture Index 193
Author Index 197
Subject Index 203
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Preface
I vaguely recall a conversation I had one day in grade school
with my parents, the Reverend and Mrs. Joseph Yong, about what
culture I belonged to. This was, as I recall, shortly after our family
had emigrated to the United States from Malaysia, where I was
bom. It went, generally, something like this:
Me: So, what is our culture? Chinese? Malaysian? American?
Them: None of the above; we’re Christians.
Me: Christians? But we’re also Chinese, right? And I’m a Ma­
laysian citizen, right?
Them: Well, yes. But since we’re Christians, we pay supreme
allegiance to Jesus, not to the norms or conventions of
any particular culture.
Me: So, we’re just Christians? We don’t belong to any culture?
Them: Well, we’re Christians, and we belong to the Christian
culture.
When I learned about the Chinese religions in graduate school,
however, I saw that my parents had, intentionally or not, passed
on to me the familial piety, respect for elders, and wholesome and
balanced life characteristic of the Taoist-Confucian-Buddhist syn­
thesis that emerged out of the meeting of these three traditions
during and after the Later Han dynasty in China (23-220 C.E.). Yet
my parents were also right, for they understood clearly as first-
generation converts from South Asian (Theravadan) Buddhism to
Christianity that while they were in the world, they did not belong
to the world (cf. John 17:6-19). As such, my parents had handed
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