The Missiological Spirit: Christian Mission Theology in the Third Millennium Global Context

by Amos Yong

The field of the theology of mission has developed variously across Christian traditions in the last century. Pentecostal scholars and missiologists also have made their share of contributions to this area. This book brings the insights of pentecostal theologian Amos Yong to the discussion. It delineates the major features of what will be argued as central to a viable vision and praxis for Christian mission in a postmodern, post-Christendom, post-Enlightenment, post-Western, and postcolonial world. What emerges will be a distinctively pentecostally- and evangelically-informed missiological theology, one rooted in the Christian salvation-history narrative of Incarnation and Pentecost that is yet open to the world in its many and various cultural, ethnic, religious, and disciplinary discourses and realities. The argument unfolds through dialogical engagements with the work of others, concrete case studies, and systematic theological reflection. Yong's pneumatological and missiological imagination proffers a model for Christian theology of mission suitable for the twenty-first-century global and pluralistic context even as it exemplifies how a missiological understanding of theology itself unfolds amidst engagements with contemporary ecclesial practices and academic/theological impulses. "Amos Yong, in this collection of his writings, offers a thoughtful and ecumenically sensitive introduction, not only to his own thinking but to pentecostal theology and missiology more generally. For those aware of the growing pentecostal presence in global Christianity, who want an overview of the theological implications of this movement, this is the book to read. Yong shows himself not only to be one of the leading voices in pentecostal theology but a scholar that is making a major contribution to global conversations on missions and theology." --William Dyrness, author of Visual Faith "Combining twelve brilliant essays, Yong demonstrates the value of a pneumatological approach to mission in the world. His erudite scholarship is tempered with practical on-the-ground application, making this both a stimulating missiological treatise and a practical handbook for joining God's mission in a globalizing world of cultural complexity and religious pluralism. My anthropological heart was strangely warmed by Yong's cross-cultural sensitivity and understanding of mission in a pluralistic world." --Darrell Whiteman, editor of Missiology Amos Yong is Professor of Theology and Mission and the Director of the Center for Missiological Research at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California. He is the author and editor of more than two dozen books, including Hospitality and the Pentecost, Christian Practices, and the Neighbor (2008). This book is a companion to his The Dialogical Christian Reason and Theological Method in the Third Millennium (Cascade, 2014).

294 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 10, 2014

About the author

Amos Yong is the J. Rodman Williams Professor of Theology and Director of the Ph.D. in Renewal Studies program at Regent University Divinity School in Virginia Beach, VA. He is the Co-editor of Pneuma, the journal of the Society of Pentecostal Studies.

Reviews

[Joyce del Rosario · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading the Missiological Spirit reminded me of my first year as a theologically stretched MDiv student, as Amos Yong challenges his readers to move from a Christocentric view of missions to a more Trinitarian (more Holy Spirit centric) view. Yong states his thesis for the volume of work as “…the missiological compulsion of the present twenty-first-century global and pluralistic context can be invigorated by a pneumetological imagination derived from the Day of Pentecost narrative, and as such can not only inspire more faithful Christian witness but also be a resource for Christian theology of mission and mission theology for the third millennium. “ (Yong 2014, Introduction)

Yong’s challenge to the traditional views of mission is both welcome and challenging. He raises questions of the purpose of missions and it’s practical application in a pluralistic religious and linguistic global society. Yong presents an approach that honors both the context in today’s world and the triune God of Christianity.