Pluralism and Theology

Question 1

What is liberalism?

Answer 1

• It is our individual freedoms that should be respected
* This leads to plural societies which causes religious pluralism

Question 2

What are the 2 problems of pluralism for Christians?

Answer 2

1. Epistemological Problem = if Christian theology can accept any truth claims of other religions
2. Soteriological Problem = can people from other religions or beliefs be saved by God

Question 3

What are the 3 responses to the 2 problems caused by pluralism for Christians?

Answer 3

1. Theological Exclusivism
2. Theological Inclusivism
3. Theological Pluralism

Question 4

What is theological exclusivism?

Answer 4

• It is when Christians believe that only Christianity fully offers the means of salvation

Question 5

Who established 2 types of theological exclusivism?

Answer 5

• D’Costa:
1. Restrictive Access Exclusivism
2. Universal Access Exclusivism

Question 6

What do both restrictive and universal access exclusivism support?

Answer 6

• They both support “solus christus” (salvation through Christ alone)

Question 7

Who supports restrictive access exclusivism?

Answer 7

• Calvin
- This is due to his belief in double predestination as he believes Christ’s death was only for the elect

Question 8

What do universal access exclusivists believe?

Answer 8

• They believe that Jesus died for everyone who hears and accepts the gospel

Question 9

What do both universal and restrictive access exclusivists believe about salvation?

Answer 9

• They both believe salvation can only come from fides ex auditu and peopel accepting it

Question 10

What do universal access exclusivists believe about God?

Answer 10

• They believe God gives everyone the opportunity to respond to the gospel, even after death

Question 11

What do restrictive access exclusivists believe about salvation?

Answer 11

• They believe salvation is only offered to those who hear and respond to the gospel in this life

Question 12

What belief does D’Costa hold about salvation?

Answer 12

• He holds the universalist belief
- This is supported by Timothy as it states that God “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”

Question 13

What type of theological exclusivist is the Catholic Church?

Answer 13

• They are universal access exclusivists
- This is because they believe God can save non-Christians (Dominus Iesus)

Question 14

Who supports the Catholic Church?

Answer 14

•D’Costa
- This is because he believes that God will present the gospel after death to those who have not yet heard it

Question 15

What does Kraemer support?

Answer 15

• He supports Christian missionaries
- This is because he believes that revelation of God through Christ is central to salvation
* This means the gospel is crucial as only the truth can be found in the gospel (solus christus)

Question 16

What approach does Barth take?

Answer 16

• He can be interpreted as both a theological exclusivist and inclusivist
- This is because he believes we can only know God through God’s word (theology of word) which is seen primarily through Jesus and argues that the truth claims from non-Christian religions should be “abolished”
- However, he also argues that God can reveal himself whenever he chooses, which means he could choose to reveal himself to other religions and some scholars argued that “abolish” is used in the context to mean “transform”

Question 17

What does theological inclusivists believe?

Answer 17

• They believe that salvation is through solus Christus, but does not have to be through fides ex auditu

Question 18

What 2 types of theological inclusivists does D’Costa establish?

Answer 18

1. Structural Inclusivism
2. Restrictive Inclusivism

Question 19

What do structural inclusivists believe?

Answer 19

• They believe that any religion whose structures develop an openness to God’s grace can lead to salvation through Christ

Question 20

What do restrictive inclusivists believe?

Answer 20

• They believe that salvation can be offered to those who have not heard of the gospel, but God’s inclusiveness is restricted to individual people, and does not extend to other religions

Question 21

What type of theological inclusivist is Rahner?

Answer 21

• He is a structural inclusivist
- This is because he combines solus Christus with the belief that God wants everyone to be saved
* This means Christ is the sole cause of salvation, but that salvation can also be passed on through history and other religions without explicit knowledge of Christ

Question 22

What 3 arguments does Rahner use to support his beliefs?

Answer 22

1. Implicit knowledge of God’s grace = this is because other religions can implicitly support God’s grace and support salvation
2. Anonymous Christians = this is because religions who support God’s grace, but have not heard the gospel can also be saved due to inculpable ignorance
3. Votum Ecclesia = this is because someone who wants to be a member of the church, but is prevented can still be saved as anyone who wants God’s Grace can be saved

Question 23

What 3 types of theological pluralism does D’Costa establish?

Answer 23

1. Unitary pluralism
2. Pluriform pluralism
3. Ethical pluralism

Question 24

What is unitary pluralism?

Answer 24

• It is the belief that all religions can be equally valid paths to the same one divine being

Question 25

What is pluriform pluralism?

Answer 25

• It is the belief that all religions can be different paths to different divine realities

Question 26

What is ethical pluralism?

Answer 26

• It is the belief that the truth of religions should be judged according to their ethical principles

Question 27

Who supports unitary pluralism?

Answer 27

• Hick
1. He supports theocentricism over christocentricism (this is because he believes salvation through Christ alone limits the number of people who can be saved so we should focus on God instead)
2. He supports the myth of Jesus’s divinity (this is because Jesus was not God incarnate but a historical figure who points people towards the divine being)

Question 28

Who supports pluriform pluralism?

Answer 28

• Panikkar
- This is because he believes no one religion has the whole truth, but that they all have some truth

Question 29

Who supports Panikkar?

Answer 29

• Ward
- This is because all religions are partially true, which means they can cooperate with each other and discuss their disagreements to get closer to the truth

Question 30

Who supports ethical pluralism?

Answer 30

• Knitter
- This is because he supports soteriocentricism which means he is focused on salvation
* However, he believes that salvation is the ability a religion has to save people from marginalisation, exploitation and oppression (this also means all religions can learn from each other)

Question 31

2 strengths of theological exclusivism:

Answer 31

Question 32

3 weaknesses of theological exclusivism:

Answer 32

Question 33

3 strengths of theological inclusivism:

Answer 33

Question 34

2 weaknesses of structural inclusivism:

Answer 34

Question 35

2 strengths of theological pluralism:

Answer 35

Question 36

3 weakness of theological pluralism:

Answer 36

Question 37

Who argues that Rahner moves too far away from the central importance of Christ and his death on the cross?

Answer 37

• Balthasar
- This is because he believes salvation can only come to those who have heard the gospel

Question 38

What does D’Costa argue Balthasar’s criticism also applies to?

Answer 38

• He argues that it also applies to restrictive inclusivism
- This is because knowledge of Christ and his death is required for salvation, and neither form of
inclusivism can explain how salvation is brought about without that knowledge