Religious pluralism and theology:
When Christianity first began, the earliest Christians developed their beliefs and
traditions while living with people who believed in Greek and Roman Gods, with
people who had Jewish faith, and people with no religious beliefs
After Jesus’ death, Christians turned to the Bible. Many of the letters in the NT deal
with the extent to which Christianity should accept or reject the beliefs or others
The first Christians saw themselves as having a unique kind of relationship with God,
made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus. They set out to preach
the gospel of Jesus with the aim of converting people to Christianity. They saw
Christianity as holding the key to salvation. They believed Jesus would return to
earth very soon and would divide people into believers and non-believers. The
Christian believers would be destined for heaven and the others for eternal
damnation – exclusivist view – salvation can only be achieved through Christian faith
In more modern times, beliefs have changed (e.g. interfaith dialogue)
Alan Race identifies 3 broad perspectives – theology of religions - that Christians
might adopt when understanding their relationship to believers of other faiths:
‘Exclusivism’, ‘inclusivism’, and ‘pluralism’
Paul.F.Knitter has set out a system with 4 different ways of looking at the
relationship between Christianity and other world faiths
Universalism – proposed by Origen and Gregory of Nyssa: everyone would
eventually be reconciled with God after death
The epistemological problem – to what extent may the truth claims of non-Christian
religions also be considered true within Christian theology?
The soteriological problem – can people of non-Christian religions / people with no
religious beliefs, receive God’s salvation? Why would an omnibenevolent Christian
God of love deny any human being salvation?
Some argue that this debate is really a cultural one – phenomenological. Different
cultures have developed their lifestyles based on belief-systems adapted to a
particular environment
For some natural theology theologians, knowledge of God is not exclusive to
Christianity and non-Christian religions may develop truth claims that are compatible
with Christian beliefs about salvation
However, revealed theology theologians consider something may be known of God
through religious experience or conscience, but this is insufficient to bring us into full
relationship with God – that can only be achieved fully through Jesus
When Christianity first began, the earliest Christians developed their beliefs and
traditions while living with people who believed in Greek and Roman Gods, with
people who had Jewish faith, and people with no religious beliefs
After Jesus’ death, Christians turned to the Bible. Many of the letters in the NT deal
with the extent to which Christianity should accept or reject the beliefs or others
The first Christians saw themselves as having a unique kind of relationship with God,
made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus. They set out to preach
the gospel of Jesus with the aim of converting people to Christianity. They saw
Christianity as holding the key to salvation. They believed Jesus would return to
earth very soon and would divide people into believers and non-believers. The
Christian believers would be destined for heaven and the others for eternal
damnation – exclusivist view – salvation can only be achieved through Christian faith
In more modern times, beliefs have changed (e.g. interfaith dialogue)
Alan Race identifies 3 broad perspectives – theology of religions - that Christians
might adopt when understanding their relationship to believers of other faiths:
‘Exclusivism’, ‘inclusivism’, and ‘pluralism’
Paul.F.Knitter has set out a system with 4 different ways of looking at the
relationship between Christianity and other world faiths
Universalism – proposed by Origen and Gregory of Nyssa: everyone would
eventually be reconciled with God after death
The epistemological problem – to what extent may the truth claims of non-Christian
religions also be considered true within Christian theology?
The soteriological problem – can people of non-Christian religions / people with no
religious beliefs, receive God’s salvation? Why would an omnibenevolent Christian
God of love deny any human being salvation?
Some argue that this debate is really a cultural one – phenomenological. Different
cultures have developed their lifestyles based on belief-systems adapted to a
particular environment
For some natural theology theologians, knowledge of God is not exclusive to
Christianity and non-Christian religions may develop truth claims that are compatible
with Christian beliefs about salvation
However, revealed theology theologians consider something may be known of God
through religious experience or conscience, but this is insufficient to bring us into full
relationship with God – that can only be achieved fully through Jesus
