This volume is the fourth in a systematic series by Kärkkäinen intending a “wide and deep constructive theology” in a pluralist world (back matter). In this present work, he constructs a Christian doctrine of pneumatology and soteriology in conversation with the major religious traditions. His approach is to look at points of similarity between the theological loci at hand and other traditions. In part 1, “Spirit,” he constructs a pneumatology while considering how other religions conceive of the spirit(s). This paradigm is “plural” rather than “unitive” (198). First, he locates Christian pneumatology within the context of Trinitarian debates. Then he examines a “cosmic spirit” utilizing insights from ecotheology and Christian-science collaborations along with how other faiths understand spirit(s) in creation. This paves the way for chapter 5, examining points of similarities between the notion of “Spirit” within the other two Abrahamic faiths as well as Buddhism and Hinduism. He asks, can Christians responsibly compare the work of the Holy Spirit to a similar concept in other religions? He realizes this is more doable in the Abrahamic faiths than the “Asiatic” faiths, whose theism is fluid, or in the case of Theravada Buddhism, nonexistent. Chapter 3 creatively explores questions of pneumatology interacting with the notion of powers, demons, and angels. Here, he infers most theologians speak little of the nature of “powers,” though they acknowledge “principalities and powers” (81). Arguing that Christian theologians should take Pentecostal concerns of spiritual powers seriously, and that these concerns can be compatible with science, he proposes that two-thirds of world theologies can provide insight into the nature of powers—specifically African indigenous religions and Chinese folk theologies, though he does not detail how and why. In chapter 6, he addresses how pneumatology affects and shapes the wider polis, and critiques theologians who neglect how worldly spirits oppose the Holy Spirit. He identifies the Spirit as one of freedom and self-effacement in solidarity with others.

Part 2 turns toward soteriology. Kärkkäinen sets up this section by critiquing the post-Reformation split of justification and sanctification in some Protestant renderings of the ordo salutis, and advocates for a soteriology including the multiplicity of metaphors found in Scripture and tradition. Chapter 8 considers what the major religions think of “salvation” or its equivalent on their own terms. For Hinduism and Buddhism, what people need to be “saved” “from” and “for” is much different than for Christianity. Considering the doctrine of election in conversation with the major religions, he suggests all the major religions, to various degrees, contain a dynamism between free will and divine power in salvation or liberation. After this, he surveys conversion, forgiveness, and repentance in the major religions. I appreciated his affirmation of conversion and repentance involving confessions and reconciliation with one's neighbor. Chapter 11, the longest (and in my opinion the strongest) in the volume, reconfigures the doctrine of justification as including sanctification. Examining Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions, he notes the possibilities of theosis as union with God brings together justification and sanctification. The Trinitarian God who justifies also makes holy, prompting good works. Kärkkäinen then advocates how healing and wholeness should be considered under the ordo salutis. In this section, he promotes a “nonsacramental-charismatic” view of Spirit baptism, considering the Spirit's gifting not only in salvation or in the sacraments, but also in the ongoing life of the believer. He next sketches soteriology's function in the world, and perceives the notion of reconciliation as the “most inclusive soteriological concept,” as it encompasses divine-human relationships, cosmic healing, and liberation motifs (407).

Kärkkäinen's engagement with a multiplicity of traditions is to be commended. Particularly, his use of Pentecostal theology illuminating and critiquing other Christian approaches is insightful. This volume attempts a multiperspectival approach to the loci while admitting partiality, and the bibliography attests to this. I wonder, however, if this approach ventures toward the “wide” at the expense of the “deep.” At times, I was hoping for a more robust discussion (for example, how does animism in indigenous religious compare with the concept of “powers” he outlines?). Nonetheless, the volume proves a valuable introduction to the major issues and arguments in pneumatology and soteriology.