Amos Yong’s The Dialogical Spirit contains a series of essays written within the past two decades that demonstrates not only thoughtful theological engagement with a variety of critical issues and a host of interlocutors, but also the spirit of dialogue at the heart of its message. That is, Yong reflects his own willingness to posture himself as a learner among many voices. Yong’s interactions are funded by a Trinitarian stance with emphasis on pneumatological intuitions, especially that of the trialectic dynamic of the Spirit. That dynamic is the resolution to binary or dualistic impulses and funds a Spirit-oriented hermeneutic while also energizing a dialogical approach to theological inquiry. According to Yong, the benefits of a pneumatological lens do not require the diminishing of Christian commitments but will, on the other hand, promote a deeper understanding of contextual underpinnings of all theologies and a more effective global Christian witness (Ebook loc. 125).

Yong’s conversation partners are positioned in light of the situational and theological challenges that their respective contributions can address. To begin with, Yong asserts that Christian theology today finds itself situated within a postfoundational, post-Christendom, postsecular, postmodern, and pluralistic world (loc. 125, 7096). Following the introduction, his text is divided into four sections. The first discusses a way forward through the demise of foundationalism, and the second features the role of pneumatological intuitions and those voicing them in this post-Christendom era. The issue of plurality is addressed in the third and fourth sections, the first dealing with science in dialogue with spirituality, highlighting specifically the gains in this direction made by Buddhist theologians and the implications for Christian theology. The fourth and last section explores relational and participative methods in interreligious dialogue.

In the first half of the text, Yong offers a turn away from Cartesian influences and toward an experiential epistemology via C.S. Peirce’s semiotic theory, the neo-pragmatism of Richard Rorty that accentuates “the interrelatedness of all things” (loc. 1352), and the foundational pneumatology of Donald J. Gelpi (loc. 1954). To address the viability of Christianity among other voices, Yong introduces the “baptist vision” of James William McClendon, Jr., a vision that resonates with what Yong refers to as “the broad theological anthropology of Wesleyanism and the pneumatological anthropology of pentecostalism” (loc. 2931). McClendon’s approach is ecumenical and eschatological while at the same time sensitive to the need to listen to the story of others (loc. 2920). In conversation with Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen and James K.A. Smith, both writing intentionally from their theological and philosophical journeys in the pentecostal and charismatic movements, Yong encourages bolder strides toward engagement with the world and other religions. In Kärkkäinen’s case, Yong suggests he cultivate even deeper contact with other religions in order to develop himself as a world theologian (loc. 3517). For Smith, Yong offers a “pneumatological assist” toward a “more cohesive Christian theology of cultural and interreligious engagement for our time” (loc. 3960). This assist highlights the Spirit already in the world in accordance with “the Spirit poured out on all flesh” and turns away from “out-narrating other mythoi” and toward an intuitiveness regarding the presence of the church in the world (loc. 3960, 3826, 3999).

This volume focused on the Spirit in Africa is the third in a series of now four texts. Produced for the enrichment of anyone intrigued with the phenomenon of Pentecostalism, this particular collection of articles offers scholarship of substance and depth, written to inform and to critique, a text which also concomitantly highlights the agents of this spirituality on the continent of Africa. Anyone remotely familiar with African Pentecostalism will note that many of the authors selected to contribute here are authorities speaking from within the movement itself, offering their weighty insights, firsthand observations, and care-full commentaries. Alongside of them are others who complement these selections with their own observations drawn from varied vantage points. Such a collection of material is a scholar’s feast but is equally attractive to those outside of the academies of theology, missiology, and sociology. The volume is a significant addition to what has already been written about the origins, nature, and influence of Pentecostalism in Africa and is a real treasure for anyone called to a deeper understanding of this brand of spirituality as it is found today on the continent.

Whence Pentecostalism in Africa? One of the many themes addressed within the book is the origin of Pentecostalism on the continent and then its appearance in various regions throughout. The subject is touched on for West Africa, in particular Ghana and Nigeria, but the book also features the less popular histories of Burkina Faso and Cameroon. Eye-opening reports on the beginnings of the movement in various places include Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar, among others. The consensus regarding origins is mosaic. In many contexts, Pentecostalism is better understood as a “homegrown” phenomenon where indigenous initiatives figured prominently—as in the case of Peter Anim in Ghana and Ghali Hanna in Egypt—or where neighboring African Pentecostals brought the message of Spirit renewal. Ethiopia was impacted by a Pentecostal Kenyan evangelist and Namibia was reached through South African Pentecostals. But the influence of Pentecostals who came from outside the continent is also evidenced, especially in the story of Angola (Brazilian missions figure prominently) and Botswana (American Pentecostals were key). In the case of Namibia, Pentecostal missionaries from South Africa can be traced back to the American evangelist John G. Lake.

In the updated version of The Third Force in Missions: A Pentecostal Contribution to Contemporary Mission Theology (Hendrickson Publishers, 2016), Paul A. Pomerville offers an amplified reiteration of the major premises of his earlier work (Hendrickson, 1985), namely, that Pentecostalism is enacting a biblical reading which challenges theologies skewed by the claims of dispensationalism on mission theory and praxis, and that indigenous Christianity of the Southern Hemisphere offers viable examples of authentic engagement with the Bible. In fact, that engagement is unhampered by Western assumptions that threaten to contradict inherent Southern sensibilities regarding the existence of the spiritual realm. In regard to the vigor of the contemporary Pentecostal missions phenomenon, Pomerville offers that setting the movement apart as distinctive is in order. Not only does Pentecostalism don well its appellation as “The Third Force” of Christian expression after Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, Pomerville posits the justification of the term “first force” in twenty-first century missions as a possible descriptor pointing to the undisputed vigor of Southern missions today. That “force” manifests an impressive record of strides made within and emanating from that zone out to the world—much of which has been underreported. Its efficacy is also found in its potential to engage sensitively with the growing Islamic population. Pomerville sees the church of the South, rather than the church of the North, as the hope for Islam.

Paul A. Pomerville

In other words, what Pomerville does this second time around is to point to the undeniable vigor of the Pentecostal phenomenon in the Southern Hemisphere, and coming out of the South these past 30 years, where the movement is producing a contagious and enduring transcultural spirituality. Also, this time Pomerville reflects not just on the dangers of dispensational theology in terms of major blind spots counterproductive to sound hermeneutics (i.e., a hollow eschatology and an anemic ontology of the kingdom of God). As well, his concern targets the dangers to the ongoing mission of the Christian church that lay couched in an abiding silence on the role of the Holy Spirit and a suspicion of the concept of revelation as a dynamic activity.

Reviewed by Anna M. Droll