Religious Pluralism And Theology Flashcards
Exclusivism
The belief that only Christians will be saved
What do exclusivists believe
Nobody deserves to be saved and everybody needs God to help. Only through Jesus can humans have a way to access God because Jesus is a mediator and therefore faith in Jesus is needed to gain salvation
Narrow exclusivists views are…
Some exclusivists argue u must be within the ‘correct’ denomination
Protestants - baptism and living the Christian life
Catholic Church - other religions hold rays of truth offer insight into the truth held by the Catholic Church
Biblical evidence
John 14:6 - ‘No one comes to the father except through me.’
Christ is the only way to salvation…
Exclusivism is internally coherent because if Jesus was God incarnate, then this uniqueness suggests that Jesus is the only way to achieve salvation
Biblical evidence seems very clear that Gods plan in Jesus was the save the world
The church is the mediator as The church was founded by Jesus only members of the church can go to heaven
Christ is not the only way to salvation…
Why would an omnibenevolent God want to exclude salvation from so many of his creation
Ruins the Holy Spirit
If other religions have rays of truth then what is stopping members of those religions being saved
Weaknesses of Exclusivism…
1 Timothy goes against Gods omnibenevolence
Matthew 25 Exclusivism leads to wars and conflict treating others as less than. against ‘love one another as I have loved you’
Inclusivism
The idea that Christianity is the one true faith and the usual way to salvation but ur is possible for non- Christians to be saved
Anonymous Christian
Anonymous Christianity
Someone who is open to Gods grace but is not a Christian
An institution that is a channel for Gods grace but is not Christianity
Biblical evidence
Paul in Athens - altar with an inscription ‘to an unknown God’ - worshipping the unknown not knowing it was God
Conscience argued to be innate therefore knowledge of god is too rather than found through faith
Rahners inclusivism
Believed in anonymous Christian and Christianity.
He argued for people who come before Jesus do they miss out on salvation.
People can be anonymous Christian’s following ideals without realising
Once encountering Christian message if u then reject it then you cannot be an anonymous Christian
Anonymous Christians can receive salvation
The approach maintains the belief that Jesus is the saviour, but rejects the God, allows the majority of people to be condemned
Except that all humans will fall short of perfection, and nobody should be punished for trying to seek truth
Inclusivism clarifies how it is naive to think that God only speaks to people through Christian practices
Anonymous Christians cannot receive salvation
Some reject inclusive of them, because it seems patronising to other religions are the religions and not seen as having any benefits of their own
Some Catholics reject Rahners approach because he seems to give a little importance to the work of the church
There is very little biblical evidence for this approach
Weaknesses of Inclusivism
Christian message is diluted
Arrogant to put Christian belief is the charge and measure other faiths
If people wanted to be Christians they would say so they do not want to be labelled anonymous Christians
Hicks pluralism
Theological pluralism is the view that there are many ways to salvation of which Christianity is one path.
In religious studies this tends to be abbreviated to pluralism
The elephant
Each man touches a different part of the large animal, and thinks that he understands what an elephant is, but only has a grasp of a portion of the truth. For hick, all religions grasp a portion of the truth of the real - all are valid, but none has the whole truth
Hick on how to change Christian focuses
For Hick, all religions produce equally good followers if Christianity were to accept that is one of many religions society would be harmonious in order to do this Christianity must not put Christ, as much at the centres as it currently does and instead concentrate on God
Strengths of pluralism
Benevolent god guarantees universal salvation
Sheep Goat Matthew 25
Judgement on action not belief
Panikaar - Christ = present in all religions
Weaknesses of pluralism
Undermines the resurrection and death of Jesus
