Christianity, migration and religious pluralism Flashcards
Exclusivism
Christianity is the one true religion and it is only through Christianity that one can be saved.
Inclusivism
Christianity is the one true religion but it is possible for non-Christians to be saved through other religions
Pluralism
All religions are equally true and equal paths to salvation.
Quote supporting exclusivism
John 14:6: Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Karl Rhaner
INCLUCIVIST Karl Rahner agreed with the exclusivist notion that Christianity is the one true religion as it was founded on God’s revelation through Jesus. However, he was troubled by the implications of that for anyone who lived before Jesus or simply had never heard of Christ. How could a supposedly omnibenevolent God refuse salvation for such people due to factors which are clearly beyond their control? Rahner thought this meant exclusivism had to be rejected.
Rahner thought that a religion was ‘lawful’ when it contained God’s grace acting on humans. Rahner argued that other religions contained valid natural theology and God’s grace, but mixed with error and depravity, so they can at most be said to have a degree of lawfulness and so can save their adherents They are called anonymous Christians
Hick on pluralism
PLURALIST
Hick agrees with Rahner that a loving God would not send those who have never heard of Jesus through no fault of their own to Hell: ‘Is it credible that the loving God and father of all men has decreed that only those born within one particular thread of human history shall be saved?’ – Rahner. However, Hick would argue that Rahner does not go far enough in drawing out the implications of omnibenevolence. Hick argues an all-loving God would never send anyone to hell. This is a position called Universalism.
What does Hick use to describe pluralism?
Hick pointed to the ancient Islamic parable of blind men each touching a different part of an elephant. After describing what they felt, they concluded an elephant was something different, just like religions say different things about God. However this was because they were too blind to see how they were really all touching the same thing in different ways. Hick claimed the same was true for religion as different religions are different human interpretations of the one true divine reality. Hick thought the differences between religions were merely cultural.
How did Hick come to accept pluralist beliefs?
John Hick began as an exclusivist but after experiencing multi-faith society while living in Birmingham, he met and observed genuine good people of other religions who were sincerely practising a different faith than him.
Why would Hume disagree with pluralism, and how would Hick respond?
Hume argued that all religions cannot be true however since they make contradictory truth claims. Either Jesus was the son of God or he wasn’t. If he was, Christianity is true. If he wasn’t, then Judaism or Islam could be true. Hindu and ancient Greek/Roman religions believe in multiple Gods, whereas the Abrahamic religions believe in just one. Hume thought these multiple claims cancel each other out and make it more likely that none of the religions are true, since they cannot all be right, but can all be wrong.
Hick responds that they can all be right. He argues that those particular theological details such as the divinity of Jesus or number of Gods believed in are part of the ‘conceptual lens’ that different cultures project onto reality. Clearly Christianity can’t be right that Jesus is the son of God at the same time as Judaism being right that he wasn’t. Hick claims they can both be right in that they are both pointing to the same divine reality which exists and is true however.
Anonymous Christians
Term coined by Karl Rahner, who believed in people who are not practising Christians but act in line with the main principles of Christian ethics so can exsperience grace and salvation.
