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We must also briefly survey pneumatological thinking inspired by the emergence of the global pentecostal and charismatic renewal movement in the twentieth century. If the classical pentecostal theology insisted on a sharp dualism between the good Holy Spirit and demonic local or indigenous spiritual entities,^[31] contemporary pentecostal and charismatic thought is more nuanced. Led by the recognized dean of pentecostal studies Walter J. Hollenweger,^[32] there is much greater awareness that the effectiveness of Pentecostalism as a religion of the Majority World derives at least in part from a spirituality that is contextualizable among indigenous cultures, cosmologies, and worldviews.^[33] If there is a distinct gulf between the Holy Spirit and other spirits in pentecostal theology, the lines are much more blurred in practice, as the “principalities and powers” are never unambiguously good or bad so that healings, miracles, signs and wonders, glossolalia, or manifestations of other so-called spiritual gifts have to be discerned on a case-by-case basis.^[34]

Two distinct trajectories of pentecostal pneumatology are noteworthy for our purposes: those crafted by Hispanic theologians and those in search of a global pneumatological theology. The former have engaged, not surprisingly, with liberation theological themes, urging attentiveness to how pentecostal spirituality and perspective is conducive not only for other-worldly foci but also for this-worldly soteriological concerns.^[35] In each case, substantive attention is placed on socioeconomic realities, albeit the approach is informed by a deeply pentecostal and Latino(a)-Hispanic spirituality, one that is affectively shaped and that motivates a distinctive pentecostal orthopathy and orthopraxy. The goal here is not only to theorize or theologize about the Spirit, but also to nurture a pentecostal “social spirituality” through which the divine breath can transform the world.^[36]

Asian and African pentecostal pneumatologies are still on the horizon. However, the quest for a global pentecostal theology is well under way, and the major developments along this line are robustly pneumatological in orientation.^[37] The emphases here are not only on formulating or extending discussion on the Christian doctrine of the Holy Spirit, but on rethinking Christian theology itself, as well as its constitutive doctrines, from a pneumatological perspective. Hence pneumatological themes are woven into other theological loci, resulting oftentimes in new insight on established doctrines and formulations.^[38] The intuition driving these explorations is that the pentecostal and charismatic encounter with the Spirit inspires not only theologies of the Spirit (pneumatology) but also has the capacity to expand thinking toward a more vigorously articulated trinitarian theology.