Qi Poured Out Upon All Flesh: A Proposal for an Asian Diasporic Pentecostal Pneumatology

Abstract

This work endeavours to explore the contours of the pentecostal mind, “redeeming the languages” in engaging in contextual theological construction and attempting to dispelling charges of theological syncretism, thus reclaiming the East Asian philosophical understanding of Qi (Chi) by integrating it with a Christian theology of the Holy Spirit. While discerning the East Asian philosophical heritage of Qi, attempts will be made to construct a pentecostal pneumatology informed by East Asian and Asian American philosophical resources with special attention to Qi, therefore yielding an Asian diasporic pentecostal pneumatology of Qi in understanding 1) a Yin-Yang both-and model of the Holy Spirit’s personal and impersonal divine nature, and 2) Uncreated Qi as uncreated energy/being sustaining all created qi (created energy/being). Hence, an Asian (North American) pentecostal pneumatology of Qi will bear witness from and to the many voices the Spirit poured “upon all flesh” which includes the many languages, cultures, heritages, and philosophical systems. In doing a theological construction of an Asian (North American) pentecostal pneumatology of Qi, this work seeks to honour the Asian (North American) theologians or “theological elders” who have pioneered the exploration and intersections of the Holy Spirit and Qi.