The Christian Response to Religious Plurality: An appraisal of the Twentieth Century Christian Pluralist Approaches
Abstract
Abstract Views: 676
As the modern world is getting more diverse in its sociopolitical, economic and cultural aspects in a variety of ways, the concept of religious pluralism is gaining more traction than ever before. This study explores different responses to the religious diversity developed in Christianity by theologians. It also aims to critically analyze the discourses of the Christian pluralistic approaches as the discussion on religious pluralism began in, and is still dominated by, the Christian tradition. The current study employs a qualitative methodology and content analysis approach has been used to collect and analyze the data. The research has concluded there are three basic responses to religious plurality in Christianity: “Exclusivism”, “Inclusivism” and “Religious Pluralism”. The findings also reveal that Christian pluralists embrace that religious pluralism in its general meaning recognizes the diversity of religious beliefs and systems co-existing in the society. Though there are some inadequacies in their approach, yet the pluralists consider it as a positive phenomenon and acknowledge that there are many ways to salvation in order to accept the religious other as they plead for interreligious dialogue to mitigate the religious conflicts for the sake of peaceful co-existence.
Keywords: Coexistence, Exclusivism, Inclusivism, Interfaith dialogue, Religious pluralism, Salvation
Downloads
References
Asadu, George C., Benjamin C. Diara, and Nicholas Asogwa. “Religious pluralism and its implications for Church Development.” HTS Theological Studies 76 (3): 19. https://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v76i3.5955. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v76i3.5955
David, Basinger. “Religious Diversity (Pluralism).” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring, 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2018/entries/religious-pluralism.
D’Costa, Gavin. Theology and Religious Pluralism: The Challenge of Other Religions. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd, 1986.
—. “The Impossibility of a Pluralist View of Religions.” Religious Studies 32, no. 2 (1996): 223-32, https://www.jstor.org/stable/20019811. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412500024240
Douglas Pratt, “Exclusivism and Exclusivity: A Contemporary Theological Challenge.” Pacifica: Journal of the Melbourne College of Divinity 2o, no.3 (2007): 296-306, https://doi.org/10.1177/1030570X0702000304. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1030570X0702000304
Eck, Diana. Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras. Boston: Beacon, 1993.
Eddy, Paul Rhodues. John Hick's Pluralist Philosophy of World Religions. Routledge, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315190181
Giordan, Giuseppe., and Enzo Pace. Edited Religious Pluralism: Framing Religious Diversity in the Contemporary World. Springer International Publishing, 2014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06623-3
Hick, John. God and the Universe of Faiths. London: Macmillan, 1973.
—. God Has Many Names. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1980.
James, Livingston C. “Religious Pluralism and the Question of Religious Truth in Wilfred C. Smith.” Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory 3and 4 (2003): 58 65. https://jcrt.org/archives/04.3/livingston.pdf.
Klootwijk, Eeuwout. “Christian Approaches to Religious Pluralism: Diverging Models and Patterns.” Missiology 21, no. 4 (1993): 455-468. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 009182969302100408.
Küng, Hans. Global Responsibility: In Search of a New World Ethic. London: SCM Press Ltd, 1991.
—. Theology for the Third Millennium, 2nd ed. London: Harper Collins, 1991.
Pitman, David. Twentieth Century Christian Responses to Religious Pluralism: Difference is everything. New York: Routledge, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315549521
Race, Alan., and Paul Hedges. eds. Christian Approaches to Other Faiths. London: SCM, 2008.
Race, Alan. Christians and Religious Pluralism. London: SCM P, 1983.
Rahner, Karl. Theological Investigation. Vol. 5. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1996.
Sacks, Jonathan. The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations. Continuum; 2nd edition, 2003.
Schmidt-Leukel, Perry. “Pluralist Approaches in Some Major Non-Christian Religions.” in Twenty-first Century Theologies of Religions: Retrospection and Future Prospects, edited by Elizabeth J. Harris, Paul Hedges and Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi. Brill Rodopi, 2016.
Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. “An attempt at Summation.” in Christ’s Lordship and Religious Pluralism.” Edited by G.H Anderson and T.F Stransky. Maryknoll, Ny: Orbis Books.
—. Questions of Religious Truth. New York: L Scribners, 1967.
—. The Meaning and End of Religion. USA: The Macmillan Company, 1963.
—. Towards a World Theology. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1981.
—. Faith and Belief. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979.
Copyright (c) 2021 Neelam Bano, Javaria Hassan, Shama Urooj
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.
.png){kind=icon}
