Religious Pluralism: Possibility and Limitations of a Dialogue Respectful of Biblical christian Identity
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South African Theological Seminary
Johannesburg, South Africa
Abstract
SUMMARY: In the dawn of the twenty century, voices raised to call Christianity to reconsider its relation to non-Christian traditions in a world that was turning unavoidably global and pluralistic. Globalization has affected all spheres of human society, and has been affecting the debates over the relation of Christianity to non-Christian religions overall after World War II. The pressures it has created in our contemporary socio-realities urged a rethinking of Christian relation to non-Christian traditions. Under such pressures, dialogue emerged as a new paradigm which since the missionary gathering in Tambaram has become a leitmotiv. In the debate over religious pluralism, two new approaches have made their ways distancing themselves from traditional Christianity labeled Exclusivism. They are self-qualified as inclusivism and pluralism. Karl Rahner‟s anonymous Christianity was the first inclusivist model that took the lead to become after Vatican II the basic model other inclusivists have used. With his so-called Copernican model, John Hick has become the leading figure of a pluralist approaches to religious pluralism. This study set to consider the dialogical approach of pluralists and inclusivists with regards to biblical Christian identity. It aims at giving an understanding of the roots of the challenge and its implications for biblical Christian identity, at questioning the appropriateness of these new dialogical approaches for biblical Christian identity and at examining the possibility and limitations of dialogue from a fair and biblical New Testament perspective. While a dialogical approachto non-Christian traditions is appealing, this thesis contends that to be appropriate a Christian model must preserve the integrity of biblical Christian identity as given by the New Testament. To be fair, it must secure also parity in true respect of the integrity of all parts and avoid reducing religiousidentities through a cultural relativism. This thesis calls therefore for a Christian model grounded in a Trinitarian theology that leaves safe the the ocentrism and the christocentrism of the New Testament.
SUMMARY: In the dawn of the twenty century, voices raised to call Christianity to reconsider its relation to non-Christian traditions in a world that was turning unavoidably global and pluralistic. Globalization has affected all spheres of human society, and has been affecting the debates over the relation of Christianity to non-Christian religions overall after World War II. The pressures it has created in our contemporary socio-realities urged a rethinking of Christian relation to non-Christian traditions. Under such pressures, dialogue emerged as a new paradigm which since the missionary gathering in Tambaram has become a leitmotiv. In the debate over religious pluralism, two new approaches have made their ways distancing themselves from traditional Christianity labeled Exclusivism. They are self-qualified as inclusivism and pluralism. Karl Rahner‟s anonymous Christianity was the first inclusivist model that took the lead to become after Vatican II the basic model other inclusivists have used. With his so-called Copernican model, John Hick has become the leading figure of a pluralist approaches to religious pluralism. This study set to consider the dialogical approach of pluralists and inclusivists with regards to biblical Christian identity. It aims at giving an understanding of the roots of the challenge and its implications for biblical Christian identity, at questioning the appropriateness of these new dialogical approaches for biblical Christian identity and at examining the possibility and limitations of dialogue from a fair and biblical New Testament perspective. While a dialogical approachto non-Christian traditions is appealing, this thesis contends that to be appropriate a Christian model must preserve the integrity of biblical Christian identity as given by the New Testament. To be fair, it must secure also parity in true respect of the integrity of all parts and avoid reducing religiousidentities through a cultural relativism. This thesis calls therefore for a Christian model grounded in a Trinitarian theology that leaves safe the the ocentrism and the christocentrism of the New Testament.
SUMMARY: In the dawn of the twenty century, voices raised to call Christianity to reconsider its relation to non-Christian traditions in a world that was turning unavoidably global and pluralistic. Globalization has affected all spheres of human society, and has been affecting the debates over the relation of Christianity to non-Christian religions overall after World War II. The pressures it has created in our contemporary socio-realities urged a rethinking of Christian relation to non-Christian traditions. Under such pressures, dialogue emerged as a new paradigm which since the missionary gathering in Tambaram has become a leitmotiv. In the debate over religious pluralism, two new approaches have made their ways distancing themselves from traditional Christianity labeled Exclusivism. They are self-qualified as inclusivism and pluralism. Karl Rahner‟s anonymous Christianity was the first inclusivist model that took the lead to become after Vatican II the basic model other inclusivists have used. With his so-called Copernican model, John Hick has become the leading figure of a pluralist approaches to religious pluralism. This study set to consider the dialogical approach of pluralists and inclusivists with regards to biblical Christian identity. It aims at giving an understanding of the roots of the challenge and its implications for biblical Christian identity, at questioning the appropriateness of these new dialogical approaches for biblical Christian identity and at examining the possibility and limitations of dialogue from a fair and biblical New Testament perspective. While a dialogical approachto non-Christian traditions is appealing, this thesis contends that to be appropriate a Christian model must preserve the integrity of biblical Christian identity as given by the New Testament. To be fair, it must secure also parity in true respect of the integrity of all parts and avoid reducing religiousidentities through a cultural relativism. This thesis calls therefore for a Christian model grounded in a Trinitarian theology that leaves safe the the ocentrism and the christocentrism of the New Testament.
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Apologetics