Pluralism and Theology

Alan race identifies 3 broad perspectives of how Christians might approach dealing with people of other faiths:

  • Exclusivism: no salvation other than Christianity, Christianity is the only way

  • Inclusivism: Christianity is key but its possible for non Christians to be saved by Christ

  • Pluralism: many different paths to salvation


Exclusivism

  • exclusivists claim that other religions cannot lead people to the right relationship with God

  • Jesus Christ brought salvation

  • Only through hearing the Gospel and responding with faith in Christ can you be saved

  • salvation requires you giving up your old life (Bonhoeffer)

  • no other path to salvation

  • John 14:6 “ I am the way the truth and the life no one come to the Father except through me


Narrow exclusivism

  • this means only Christians within their own denomination are saved

  • Augustine and Calvin took this approach, believing that through God’s grace only a select few Christians will be elected to heaven, so just being Christian is not enough

  • D’Costa calls this ‘Restrictive- Access Exclusivists’


Exclusivists

Hendrik Kraemer

  • he was a leading figure in the Netherlands to bring different Christians denominations together, Ecumenical Movement

  • in his book he emphasised that non Christians cannot achieve salvation through their own faith systems but must convert to Christianity


Karl Barth

  • believes that people cannot know God through their own effort but that God chooses to reveal himself through:

  • Jesus, Bible, the Church

  • God can only be known through Christ and cannot be found through human effort


  • The Catholic church, ‘extra ecclesiam nulla salus’ meaning there is no salvation outside the church

  • attitudes changed after the Vatican 2, which concluded a more positive and open response to other denomination and other world faiths


Broad Exclusivism

  • the view that hold all people who accept Christ through their faith will be saved, regardless of their denomination

  • D’Costa calls this ‘Universal- Access Exclusivists

  • this is the idea that Christ’s salvation is open to all and salvation can come after death through the process of purgatory

Strengths

  • clear belief that one religion hold the full truth

  • encourages strong faith and sharing beliefs with others

  • stops the idea that all religions are the same

Weaknesses

  • hard to explain why there are many different religions

  • can seem unfair to other religions

  • suggests many people cant be saved no matter what


Inclusivism

  • Karl Rahner (inclusivist) states that Christianity is unique, Jesus is the only source of salvation.

  • However, people can be saved without being Christians.

  • He came up with the idea of Anonymous Christians

  • These are people who have never heard of Christianity, follow their conscience, seek the truth and goodness, respond to God’s grace

  • Karl Rahner disagrees with exclusivism because he thinks it makes salvation too limited, the idea that you must be a baptised Christian to be saved

  • Job 19:25 “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth”

Strengths

  • more loving than exclusivism

  • fits the idea of a loving God

  • solves the problem of people who never hear of Christianity

Weaknesses

  • still assumes Christianity is superior

  • other religions may find AC offensive

  • Pluralists like John Hick argue all religions are equally valid paths to God

  • His AC idea can be seen as patronising and it fails to respect other religions


Von Balthasar’s criticism

  • he criticised Rahner’s idea of the AC say it was arrogant and disrespectful to other religions as he argued that Rahner basically called people Christians when they do not identify as Christians


Pluralism

  • the view that many different religious traditions can have value and lead their followers to salvation

  • basically argue that different religions share the same ultimate goal

  • Hick disagrees with exclusivism and inclusivism arguing that many religions can lead to salvation

  • Copernican Revolution is the idea that removing Christianity from the centre of the universe and replacing it with God or the Real.

  • all religions revolve around the Real

  • Hick used Kant’s distinction between Phenomenal and noumenal world

  • noumenal: the world of thing as they really are

  • phenomenal: the world as we see it through the filter of our limited human understanding

  • Panikkar believed that no religion possesses the whole truth, every religion contains part of the truth but no religion can fully understand God

  • Example of the blind men and the elephant, they each touch different parts of the elephant, having different perspectives, they have part of the truth but not the whole picture

  • Micah 6:8 And what does the Lord require of you? To at justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly..”

Strengths

  • encourages respect between religions

  • fits multicultural societies

  • promotes peace and cooperation

Weaknesses

  • many religions make contradictory truth claims

  • can weaken distinctive Christian beliefs

  • some Christians argue it ignores the uniqueness of Christ


“All people should be saved regardless of which faith they follow” Discuss

LOA agree

  • Pluralism agree

  • Hick, Copernican revolution, Christianity doesn’t revolve around the universe, anyone can be saved

  • Panikkar, the elephant and the blind men, we dont have the full truth about God only parts, strong argument as we are subjective to knowing who God really is as out human knowledge is limited, we cant know God without Him revealing himself to us


  • Exclusivsim disagree

  • John 14:6

  • Kraemer, the religion of Christianity must be understood as a whole to be saved

  • Weak as it cancels out the idea of other religions and the idea that Christianity is superior to all other religions, can seem unfair to other


  • Inclusivism agree

  • people dont have to know Jesus to be saved,

  • Rahner AC, people can be saved through Christ without knowing it, so muslims might still be saved

  • Balthasar disagree with AC as it is arrogant and disrespectful to other religions