3F Challenges from pluralism and diversity within a tradition

Question 1

What is exclusivism?

Answer 1

• Belief that salvation belongs exclusively to C.ty

- Some C.tians have thought that all non-C.tians will be damned

Question 2

What is inclusivism?

Answer 2

• C.ty is the final way to salvation, but other r.s may have some truth
- J’s work ‘includes’ all ppl, but the fullest expression of salvation = explicitly knowing Christ

Question 3

What is pluralism?

Answer 3

• All religions reflect the truth

- C.ty views C.ty as the way to G for C.tians only

Question 4

What four Bible passages relating to exclusivism does the spec require you to know?

Answer 4

• Deuteronomy 6:5
• Joshua 23:16
• John 14:6
• Acts 4:12

Question 5

Give a quote from Deuteronomy 6:5.

Answer 5

• “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart”

Question 6

Give a quote from Joshua 23:16.

Answer 6

• “If you […] go and serve other gods […] then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you.”

Question 7

Give a quote from John 14:6.

Answer 7

• “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Question 8

Give a quote from Acts 4:12.

Answer 8

• “There is salvation in no one else.”

Question 9

Give the references of three passages that speak of condemnation/eternal punishment for unbelief.

Answer 9

• Matthew 13:50
• John 3:18
• Revelation 21:8

Question 10

Give an example of a theological statement that developed which was exclusive in nature.

Answer 10

• “extra ecclesiam nulla salus” - ‘outside of the Church, no salvation’

• Originated from 3C theologian Cyprian of Carthage, and continues to be a part of Catholic teaching
• Protestants = similar: ‘no salvation outside of faith in Christ’

Question 11

What were Karl Rahner’s views a major influence on?

Answer 11

• Vatican II documents

- His ideas are reflected in Nostra Aetate and Lumen Gentium

Question 12

Outline Rahner’s basic beliefs.

Answer 12

• Thought it was possible to make a positive use of modern philosophy while holding true to Catholic doctrine
• Believed that all human beings have an awareness of something beyond the infinite realm + that all ppl = part of an infinite reality: God.
• Poss. to have an implicit awareness of G w/o explicitly knowing that this is the case - G = actively offering grace to all ppl.

Question 13

What is Rahner’s idea of an ‘anonymous Christian’?

Answer 13

• One who responds to G’s presence but may not be explicitly aware of G, and certainly not aware of G’s full expression in J + the C.ch
• C.ch should not view those outside it as non-C.tians, but as anonymous C.tians

Question 14

Which of Rahner’s works is most associated with his view of inclusivism?

Answer 14

• Essay, ‘Christianity and the Non-Christian Religions’

- (he outlines four theses in it)

Question 15

Explain Rahner’s 1st Thesis.

Answer 15

• “Christianity understands itself as the absolute religion […] which cannot recognise any other religion beside itself as of equal right.”
• Necessary since the C.ch believes that G has chosen to relate to the world through the incarnation
- However, prior to this - as C.ty has a starting point in space and time - G did not demand specific assent to C.ty; there were other ways to come to G - all these ways = part of a single plan
• Can there be other ways to come to G in the present?

Question 16

Explain Rahner’s 2nd Thesis.

Answer 16

• “a non-Christian religion can be recognised as a lawful religion without thereby denying the error and depravity contained in it.”
• By ‘lawful religion’, Rahner means a r. that provides a way for ppl to find a right r.ship w/ G - there may be other lawful r.s to a greater or lesser degree
- e.g. in OT, there were many ppl who pleased G but were outside of G’s ‘lawful r.’ of Judaism
- This theme = the ‘God-pleasing pagan’
• There are many places where the message of C.ty cannot be truly heard ∴ we must be open to the idea that G uses other r.s to reach ppl
- Does not mean that everything on these r.s is true, but merely that G = using it as part of his plan of salvation

Question 17

Explain Rahner’s 3rd Thesis.

Answer 17

• “If the second thesis is correct, then C.ty does not simply confront the member […] as a mere non-Christian but as someone who […] must be regarded […] as an anonymous Christian”

• Even before missionaries arrive to proclaim their message, G has already been at work
• Becoming a C.tian = final step of a process that begins with anonymous C.ty

Question 18

Explain Rahner’s 4th Thesis.

Answer 18

• “the Church will not regard herself today as the exclusive community of those who have a claim to salvation but rather as the […] explicit expression of what the Christian hopes is present as a hidden reality even outside the visible C.ch”

• Trying to change the attitude of the C.ch: should not see itself as the sole possessor of truth/goodness opposed to all outside of it
• G = greater than the C.ch, working through the reality of r. pluralism

Question 19

How does Rahner end his essay?

Answer 19

• By urging the C.ch to have the attitude of St. Paul when he said to the Greeks, “Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.” (Acts 17:23)

Question 20

What does Hick say about Rahner?

Answer 20

• Rahner “attempts to attain an inclusivist position which is in principle universal but which does not thereby renounce the old exclusivist dogma.”

Question 21

What is Hick’s view of religion in relation to Copernicus?

Answer 21

• For many centuries, we had a Ptolemaic view of the world, with the earth at the centre of the universe, and many planets/stars orbiting earth
• The Copernican revolution showed that the earth was one of many planets that orbited the sun ∴ complicated theory of epicycles no longer needed
• H believes that a Copernican revolution is needed today for theology ∵ C.tian theologians have believed that J was at the centre of the r. universe + all the world’s r.s = circling C.ty (a ‘Ptolemaic’ way of thinking)
• It needs to be realised that C.ty, like other r.s, = circling something else
- H calls this the ‘Ultimate Reality’
• We need to move from a Christocentric/ecclesiocentric universe to a theocentric one - G/Ult.Rea. at centre, not J or C.ch)

Question 22

How does Hick explain that inclusivism is an awkward epicycle?

Answer 22

• Theologians realised that there were spiritual ppl + profound truths outside C.ty
- How could they account for these whilst holding J at centre of theological universe? Like astronomers, they created their own version of epicycles - adjustments to the theory so it could still work, entailed viewing G as forgiving to other r.s that do not have a chance to know J
- Those outside C.ty have an ‘implicit faith’: they would accept J if they had the opp. to; w/o this opp., they could be seen as possessing the ‘baptism of desire’ (their desire to live in a right way could be counted as baptism)
• H sees Rahner’s theory of anonymous C.tians + Vat. II statements about truth in other r.s as further epicycles
• H attacks inclusivist theo. for failing to recognise the central fact that Ptolemaic theo. depends on where a believer happens to be born, e.g. most ppl born in Indai will form Hindu inclusivism
• Other r.s see their r. at centre of universe w/ other r.s as distant planets, perhaps having some truth but less than the planet at the centre
- Imperialistic/outdated way of looking at world

Question 23

Give some of Hick’s further criticisms of inclusivism.

Answer 23

• Inclusive approach does not give up the exclusivist message that one cannot be saved outside C.ty; but also allows for salvation for ppl who have no conscious connection w/ J
- H: sticking a “Christian label” on ppl by predicting that one day they will become part of the C.tian C.ch
• If the old exclusivist message has been emptied of its content, is it still worth affirming?
- i.e. once ppl in other r.s are viewed as having access to truth in ways that lead to fulfilling lives in G’s eyes, is there any meaningful tie to trad. theology?
- It would be better to hold a position which affirms that all ppl can be on diff. paths to the Ultimate Reality.
• If the full truth is found in C.ty, implies that you can achieve greater spiritual heights by being a C.tian
- If this were true, one would expect to find more ‘saintliness’ in C.ty compared to other r.s - does not appear to be the case (although H notes that it is hard to tell how this would be measured)

Question 24

Having disregarded inclusivism, what does Hick argue?

Answer 24

• Argues for a philosophy of r. pluralism - common experiential basis underlying all the major world r.s
- This common base moves us from self-centredness to “Reality-Centredness”

Question 25

What two things influenced Hick’s view of religious pluralism?

Answer 25

1) His philosophical reflections

2) His exp. of attending worship services of diff. r. communities

Question 26

Explain how Hick’s philosophical reflections influenced his view of religious pluralism.

Answer 26

• In the field of philosophy, H, following Kant, came to view that though there is a reality beyond our sense perceptions (the “noumenal realm”), we are strongly empirical creatures ∴ we never had direct access to the noumenal realm; we can only know something through our interpretation of it
• The noumenon (that which is beyond the senses) is always a phenomenon (something we grasp through our interpretation)
• Even statements about G = ‘phenomenal’, coloured by our unique lang, culture, history etc; there appears to be a core, noumenal reality behind them
- H uses analogy of the earth refracting the sun’s light into diff. colours: “Perhaps the ultimate light of the universal divine presence is refracted by our different human religious cultures into the spectrum of the different world faiths”
- Cites medieval Sufi thinker, Rumi: “The lamps are different but the Light is the same: it comes from Beyond.”

Question 27

Explain how Hick’s experience of attending worship services of different religious communities influenced his view of religious pluralism.

Answer 27

• 1967, H visited Birmingham and visited many r. communities; noticed many diff.s btwn them in concepts, scriptures, ways of worship
• He noticed one common element: when ppl came together in their place of worship, their hearts/minds could be opened to a higher reality which called them to live an ethical life
• H viewed this as reflecting his views of the noumenal and phenomenal realms: the r.s had many diff. human phenomena, but bore witness to one noumenal reality

Question 28

Explain Hick’s theory of religious experience.

Answer 28

• At the heart of r.e. = an exp. of the divine world that raises us beyond our mundane life in the material world
• We are called away from a self-centred life and opened up to a new world
• We have to use culturally conditioned lang. + express our exp. through stories or myths that make use of cultural concepts
- Over time, r. trad.s harden this lang. into doctrine
- These doctrines develop and are viewed as absolute
- This absolutism breeds intolerance + feeds into war
• The problem isn’t r. itself, but the turning away from r.e.
- It is a force for good, and an antidote for r. that becomes harsh/ inhumane through the tendency to doctrine

Question 29

How does Hick answer the question of, ‘if there is one experience, why are there so many religions?’

Answer 29

• Uses the parable of the blind men and the elephant (attributed to the Buddha)
- Elephant brought to blind men who have never encountered one before. Each man felt a diff. part of it and mistook their exp. for the entire creature
- H compares this to diff. accounts of the Ultimate Reality: every world r. believes the divine is beyond its grasp, so can only witness to the partial understanding that we have
• However, H notes two qualifications to using the story in this way
1) Not all r.e.s are equally valid; r. can be motivated by fear/attempts to control the spiritual world for personal gain; when H refers to r.e., he refers to the ‘great revelatory experiences’ of the main world r.s, which have been tested through long trad. of worship + have sustained/inspired millions of lives over many centuries
2) The parable should not be used to make the point that there are different ‘parts’ of the divine - there is one Ultimate Reality: the diff.s arise due to historical/cultural viewpoints

Question 30

According to Hick, what is the biggest roadblock to Christian pluralism?

Answer 30

• The most diff. part of the pluralistic hypothesis for C.tians = doctrine of incarnation (trad. expressed in Chalcedonian Creed)
- ∵ C.tians view J as G incarnate, this uniqueness would seem to demand exclusivism as there is one unique incarnation of G in the world
• Many issues w/ viewing J in the trad. way
- No one has ever satisfactorily explained how the two natures ascribed to J work together
- H accepts contemporary research questions the historicity of supernatural reports in B - infancy narratives = reflection of the imp. of J to disciples rather than hist. facts; res. = spiritual rather than physical act
- There is another way of having a Christology than that prescribed by Chalcedon: instead of J as ‘God-man’, one can see him as a human being on a spiritual journey, where he reached a high “degree” of God-consciousness - H calls this “degree Christology” and it enables C.tians to see J as an example they can follow who opens the reality of G to them, but to also be open for other figures in other r.s who reached a high degree of G (or “Reality”) consciousness

Question 31

What is the first of three factors that Paul Knitter believes should be kept in mind regarding Bible passages that promote an exclusivist view of salvation?

Answer 31

• Absolutist lang. = a result of hist. factors

• Disciples had a lack of hist. consciousness of other r.s: they were a minority under threat of r. persecution and developed hard, absolutist positions to maintain a sense of identit
• They also had an “apocalyptic mentality” as their beliefs in the imminent end of the world enabled an ‘all-or-nothing’ thinking
• W/o these factors, disciples might have said ‘God really acted in Jesus.’ when they actually said ‘God only acted in Jesus.’

Question 32

What is the second of three factors that Paul Knitter believes should be kept in mind regarding Bible passages that promote an exclusivist view of salvation?

Answer 32

• Titles given to J are not propositional truths but literary or symbolic expressions of exp
- The disciples had exp.s of J which led them to have exp.s of G ∴ they expressed their admiration/awe for J’s role in this, but these expressions were never meant to be hardened into dogma

Question 33

What is the third of three factors that Paul Knitter believes should be kept in mind regarding Bible passages that promote an exclusivist view of salvation?

Answer 33

• ‘Christ’ is more than ‘Jesus’

• John 1 talks about a divine ‘Logos’ (Word) that permeates the universe and reveals G
• J = one of many expressions of this ‘Logos’ or ‘Christ’

Question 34

Why does Knitter believe there is a strong biblical reason to accept pluralism?

Answer 34

• “Love your neighbour as yourself” includes seriously considering their views w/o assuming they have less wisdom than you

Question 35

How is Hick’s pluralism universal?

Answer 35

• In the sense that it sees salvation + liberation as offered in all the maj. world r.s
• Declares that the universe contains many r.s that can each be a path to salvation w/o one of them being ‘more true’ than another
• H says that this is not relativistic ∵ r.s cab ve judged by how effectively they help ppl to become less self-centred and more Reality-centred

Question 36

Hick’s pluralism is different from Christian universalism. What is Christian universalism?

Answer 36

• Belief that G, through J, will save everyone. Founded on scriptural principles e.g:
- G wills that everyone be saved (1 Timothy 2:4)
- J died for sins of entire world (1 John 2:2)
- G’s love = incompatible w/ eternally damning ppl to hell (Ezekiel 18:23)
• Universalism appeals to the logic that G cannot fail
- If G wills that everyone has been saved through J’s sacrifice, then surely G will accomplish this
- Early theologians raised this possibility; Origen even taught that the devil, after a time of punishment, would be purified for heaven
• Universalism = condemned at Constantinople in 543 but has emerged throughout centuries
• Near end of 18th C, the Universalist Church = est. in USA
- Denied final reality of hell and declared salvation for all
• Opponents of universalism say that it denies free will and contradicts B teaching about eternal punishment
- Some denom.s e.g. CofE allow universalist belief