Development in Christian Thought Notes: A2 Religious Studies (OCR)

Pluralism and Theology
Religious Ideas:
 Is Christianity the only true religion
 Alan Race identified three broad perspectives
o Exclusivism – no salvation other than Christianity
o Inclusivism – Christianity is the key but possible for non-Christians to be saved
o Pluralism – many different paths to salvation
Exclusivism:
 Other religions cannot lead people to the right relationship with God
 Christ brought salvation to the world
o Only through hearing the Gospel and responding with faith in Christ can one be saved
o Includes the rite of Baptism – being cleansed of sin and reborn as a Christian
 Salvation requires giving up old way of life (LINK Bonhoeffer + Costly Grace/Cost of Discipleship)
 ‘extra ecclesiam nulla salus’ = There is no salvation outside the (Catholic) Church
 Can also be called ‘particularist’ – exclusivist can convey hostility
o Is kind of just sugar-coating an approach
 Christian message is not a matter of personal taste but vital for everyone’s soul
o Necessary to make plain to non-Christians that they are wrong and on a path to damnation
o Missionary work and converting others is a duty not a sign of ignorance
o Westboro Baptist Church
 Karl Barth – never described himself as an exclusivist
o People cannot know God through their own effort – God reveals himself through the Word,
Revelation and the Church (Link to Knowledge of God – natural vs revealed theology)
o God can only be known through Christ and not human efforts despite best intentions
Narrow Exclusivism:
 Christians within one’s own denomination are saved
o Fundamentalist Christians believe only other fundamentalists will be saved
 Backed by Augustine and Calvin
o Only through God’s grace will a select few be elected to heaven
o Called Restrictive-Access Exclusivists by Gavin D’Costa
Broad Exclusivism:
 Post Vatican II
 All people who accept Christ through their faith will be saved regardless of denomination
o Christ’s salvation is open to all
 Salvation can come after death in purgatory
 Hendrick Kraemer – influential on Christian missionaries working in non-Christian countries
o Non-Christians cannot achieve salvation through their own faith systems – must convert to
Christianity
Evaluation:
 Counter – Pelagius argued that if we have original sin and cannot avoid doing evil, it is unjust for
God to punish sinful behaviour
 Not ethical for all humanity to blamed for the actions of Adam and Eve
 Indefensible view of moral responsibility – people are responsible for the actions of others
o Absurdity – action occurred before any of us were born
 Response – Augustine – God doesn’t punish us because of Adam and Eve he punishes us because
we sin – it’s not God’s fault but Adam’s
o We were seminally present in the loins of Adam
o Seems unfair but Augustine puts it down to ‘secret yet just judgement of God’
 Seems absolute bullshit – offers absolutely no logically sound explanation and just leaves it to what
God thinks

, o Clear challenge to God’s omnibenevolence – why would he save just one group of people
 Exclusivism reflects the belief of practising Christians that they have the correct interpretation of
scripture
o Offers clear guidance to how to achieve salvation
o Surpasses the need for Church hierarchy
 However scripture isn’t as clear is it seems
o P of Sheep and Goats bases salvation on actions, while other passages place emphasis on
belief
 Limits understanding of God
o Denies the reality of personal encounters with the divine outside tradition faith
 Christians can’t have a meaningful and non-offensive interaction with other faiths
o Leads to imperialistic ideas of religious truths
Inclusivism:
 Seen as a ‘middle way’
 Christianity is the one true religion but non-Christians can go to heaven
o No requirement for explicit faith in Christ
 Karl Rahner – Christianity is unique
o Founded on God’s ultimate act of revelation in Christ – the ‘absolute religion’ and sets the
standards by which other religions should be measured
o Exclusivism excludes those who died before Christ, those who never heard about Christ
 Exclusivism doesn’t seem in line with God’s omnibenevolent nature
o Jesus was a Jew!
 Christ died for all – his actions must affect non-Christians
o Members of non-Christian religions behave in a way that is considered good
o Similarities between religions implies shared knowledge
 Once someone hears about Jesus – they must become a Christian as there’s no excuse for rejecting
him
 Lumen Gentium – non-Christian religions can hold some truth
o Abraham, Moses, Job never experienced Christ but were aware of God’s Grace
o ‘Anonymous Christians’ – do not call themselves Christians but the actions they make turn
to Christ without knowing it
 Karl Rahner – Other religions can be deemed as lawful – flaws arise out of original sin
o Supernatural elements come out of grace – Christianity is still the most direct route to
salvation
 Gavin D’Costa – inclusivism more in line with church teaching
o Allows for a more nuanced approach to religious diversity
o Inclusivism doesn’t deny the role of Christ – complements it instead
 Hendrick Kraemer – any other religion is a misguided attempt to the truth, these are cultural
constructs and not responses to revelation
 Von Balthasar – the Church should not go into hiding in the secular world nor should it appease to
other religions
o Church must be staunch and courageous in claims that salvation is only found in Christianity
Evaluation:
 Solves the problem of people who have never heard of Jesus while maintaining the unique position
of the Church
o Doesn’t ignore that religions teach opposing things
 Follows principles that exclusivism seems to ignore
o Solus Christus – maintains the necessity of Christ’s death
o Rejects extra ecclesiam nulla salus – don’t have to be a member of the institution (Link –
Bonhoeffer and Costly Grace?)
o Votum ecclesiae – One can be an implicit member of the invisible Church