Religious Pluralism And Theology Flashcards
“Do all religions lead to salvation” essay
A: not all religions lead to salvation as Christianity is the only true religion. How could an omnibenevolent God refuse salvation. Rahner, religions are lawful when they contained God’s grace, anonymous Christians.
CA: Hick - universalism, one an-sich. Elephant and the blind men. Noumenal and phenomenal. Whole bible is a myth.
E: monolithic, over simplifies other religions. Satanists achieve the same salvation. Invalidates other religions exclusivist views.
A: each religion has distinct variations in their teachings. All have introductory truth claims. Hume logically no.
CA: Pluriform pluralism, Keith Ward combats the monolithic view, knowledge is gained through religious experience and not revelation, no competition for truth.
E: loss of religious identity. If all religions were seen equally valid no one would have a strong sense of commitment .
“Can anonymous Christians also achieve salvation?” essay
A: Rahner: yes as long as as they live a life with Christian values. Not pluralism as can allow anything including satantist cult. Inculpably ignorant cannot help it. Religions that share part of the gospel.
CA: Catholic church - rays of truth. Jesus “no one gets the the kingdom of God except through me”. Must accept Jesus as saviour as he died for our sins
E: Omnibenevolent God. Would be inconsistent. Cannot suffer eternally if they are incapably ignorant
A: Acknowledges that humans fall short of perfection. St. Paul and the unknown God. They have worshipped the Christian God without knowing. Therefore imperfect should be allowed to be saved
CA: Calvin: only elect can reach heaven. Original sin = means we have to rely on Gods grace
E: Sheep and the goats: can get to heaven through selfless acts. Not just faith
Key words
Epistemology: study of the truth of religions
Soteriology: whether all religions lead to salvation
Necessary : things that you need to do/believe in to achieve salvation
Sufficient: enough but not the only way
Scholars and arguments
Gavin D’Costa: created the 6 controlling beliefs: God created, extra ecclesiam nulla salus, Fidel ex auditu, sola christus, eschatology, sin. Has observed trends in Christian theology
Calvin: RAE scholar, must be baptised. Believes in double predestination so may not get into heaven even if you do these things (necessary but not sufficient)
Jesus/bible: “I am the way, the true and the light, no one gets to the father except through me”. Great commission - “make disciplesall nations” he fact that Jesus commands it
Barth: RAE/UAE scholar uniqueness of the revelation of the trinity that shows that only Christianity is true. Other religions should be abolished (could be translated as transformed)
Catholics: UAE Purgatory gives people a chance to accept God as their saviour. Other religions contain “rays of truth” but can still only be saved through the church
Sheep and the goats: good works can lead to to heaven as well
Pre-Jesus people: people were not baptised before Jesus - is this fair. People in countries where they do not know of Christianity
Epistemological arrogance: God is too mysterious to confidently claim such knowledge that one religion is true.
Rahner: Structural inclusivist - anonymous Christians, there are elements of other religions that have Christianity, people follow Christianity without knowing where it is coming from. Inculpably ignorant, people who lived before Jesus, that haven’t heard of Christianity.
