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Many evangelicals will worry that Yong's view conflicts with the missionary impulse. Yong disagrees.

"Dialogue and proclamation are not mutually exclusive but intrinsically connected," he writes. "A pneumatological approach to the non-Christian faiths … opens up the Christian to whatever is true, good, beautiful, and holy in the other traditions, even while nurturing an environment in which the non-Christian can come to appreciate the same in Christian faith. What else is this besides grassroots 'evangelism'?"

Evangelical Christians have long believed with the Protestant Reformers that pagan virtues exist because of God's universal sustaining and creative grace. But Yong seems to be saying more. In his theology, the world religions are instruments of God, play a role in God's providence, and have much to contribute to Christianity. "[C]hristians should be open to learning from other religious traditions because of the unfinished character of Christian identity," he writes. "While we are being formed into the eschatological image of Jesus, we continue to look through the glass dimly. If others have something to say about God, should we not at least listen both sympathetically and critically?"

Many evangelicals will rightly question whether Yong is laying the foundation for a Christian acceptance of syncretism. Yong neither endorses nor condemns it, preferring to explore the possibilities inherent in the universal work of the Spirit—especially in spiritual and cultural movements usually perceived as lying outside Christianity's borders. He is intensely interested in helping Christians at least understand these movements rightly. And he thinks that once that occurs, it's possible that they will begin to see—as he thinks he sees—that the Spirit of God cannot be imprisoned within Christian walls.

Such explorations will no doubt heighten many conservatives' concerns about Yong's theological project, but he is not out to please them. He is not playing the role of provocateur, either. He is determined simply to follow the Spirit wherever the Spirit leads and let the theological chips fall where they may. And one place where Yong sees the Spirit as especially active is along the perimeters of world pentecostalism, where younger churches absorb elements of their cultures and traditional religions into their theologies and practices. He cites as an example an African movement that combines Islam and Christianity. His conclusion is typically ambiguous (and perhaps ambivalent): "My point is not to embrace … these developments but to be spurred on to discernment and theological reflection by what is happening in the Christian-Muslim encounter."

It is too early in Yong's career to pass judgment on his project. Most of his writing falls into the category of theologoumena—theological explorations of new ways of looking at old questions. He does not intend his proposals to be viewed as final pronouncements. Ultimately, he is concerned to raise question marks over what he perceives as traditional Christianity's tendencies to limit the Spirit.

Yong has yet to answer where his investigations are leading him. Does the Holy Spirit reveal something of God truthfully in non-Christian religions? Does the Spirit work salvation through them? Does this salvation look anything like what Jesus describes to Nicodemus in John 3 or what Paul depicts in Romans 8? On the one hand, he underscores the dynamic and unpredictable work of the Spirit in world religions; on the other hand, he always links Word (Christ) and Spirit together. Is he leaning toward religious pluralism or promoting inclusivism? One thing is certain: He regards these traditional categories as too static and is looking for an alternative.

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March 2006, Vol. 50, No. 3