1. Total Replacement Partial Replacement
“Replacement Model”
Total Replacement
Partial Replacement

2. C) Knitter: TYPOLOGY
Fulfillment Model:
Christianity is the “true” religion but it does not reject, but rather “confirms” good elements in others
Mutuality Model:
a “rough parity” between all religions; all ways lead to the same end goal
Three bridges:
1) PHILOSOPHICAL (Hick)
2) MYSTICAL (Panikkar)
3) ETHICAL (Knitter)
Acceptance Model:
there are real differences among religions and they are legitimate (different ends in different religions!)
Replacement Model:
Christianity, the “only way,” replaces other faiths (either totally or partially)

3. Overview
Knitter, p. 19 “In the final analysis, Christianity is meant to replace all other religions…It’s the dominant attitude, the one that generally has held sway throughout most of Christian history. Although views differed about the way this replacement was to be carried out and why it was necessary, Christian missionaries throughout the centuries have cast forth into the world with the conviction that it is God’s will to make all peoples Christians.”

4. Overview
Knitter’s typology: two forms of replacement model: total and partial replacement a) Total= older Protestantism with Barth as key figure and Evangelicalism/ Fundamentalism; b) Partial: mainline Protestantism (Pannenberg, Tillich; WCC, etc.)

5. Main Features of Total Replacement (Knitter, ch.1)
Christianity as the True Religion
Taking the New Testament and Jesus Seriously
Acts 4:12; 1 Cor 3:11; 1 Tim 2:5; John 14:6; 1 John 5:12 Jesus only Savior
Rom 1:21; 3:9 All are lost
John 3:36; Rom 10:14,17 Faith needed
“One Way” Makes Sense

6. Representatives of Total Replacement Model
Majority of Christians prior to the Enlightenment – and a large number even afterwards – has held this view in one way or another In contemporary scene, Fundamentalists and more conservative Christians subscribe to this view

7. Representatives of Total Replacement Model
Karl Barth represented many key convictions of this view
He did not call “revelation” any knowledge of God outside of self-revelation of God in Christ
He did not see any contact point between religions (religiosity) and faith in God
He didn’t see any connection between the God of the Bible and God of the Philosophers
Universalist?
Christ as Electing and the Elected

8. Reflections of Total Replacement Model
This model helps defend the uncompromising monotheism of the Bible and uniqueness of self-revelation of God
Its weaknesses include
A dismissal of general revelation and the innate (partial) knowledge of God – in a person having been created in the image of God
A radical discontinuity between nature and grace
Lack of emphasis on the saving Love of God with regard to all people(s)
The tendency to be pejorative of other religions and people in other faiths, even though they have been created in the image of God

9. Total and Partial: Same or different models?
A difference between total and partial models
Partial replacement closer to “Fulfillment” model
Most of the views in ch. 2 (WCC and theologians such as Pannenberg, Newbigin, Tillich, Samartha, etc.) are not supportive of replacement model but rather either inclusivist or Fulfillment model or “soft” pluralism (Samartha)

10. Evangelical theologies and Replacement Model?
It appears that it is only Fundamentalism and conservative Evangelicalism that fall neatly under Knitter’s Replacement Model (mostly total replacement)
Evangelical theologies of religions fall in to two camps
Evangelicals can be found both in (exclusivistic) total replacement and (inclusivistic) partial replacement

11. Main Features of Partial Replacement (KNITTER)
God Present in Other Religions?
Yes
And No!
Revelation: Yes!
Salvation: No!
Value of Dialogue
Limits of Dialogue!

12. Main Features of Partial Replacement (Knitter, ch.2)
While there are some revelatory elements in other religions, religions are not salvific There are some contact points between the God of the Bible and the deities of religions Some good features in other religions can be affirmed The value of interfaith dialogue is affirmed

13. Examples of Partial Replacement Model
World Council of Churches
“Religious plurality and Christian self-understanding”
(Inter-religious dialogue and cooperation)
Mainline Protestant Churches
Presbyterian Principles for Interfaith Dialogue (
Wolfhart Pannenberg (baptizedLutheran)
Lesslie Newbigin (Anglican)
Clark Pinnock (evangelical)

14. Main Features of Total Replacement (Knitter, ch.1)
Christianity as the True Religion
Taking the New Testament and Jesus Seriously
Acts 4:12; 1 Cor 3:11; 1 Tim 2:5; John 14:6; 1 John 5:12 Jesus only Savior
Rom 1:21; 3:9 All are lost
John 3:36; Rom 10:14,17 Faith needed
“One Way” Makes Sense

15. Representatives of Total Replacement Model
Majority of Christians prior to the Enlightenment – and a large number even afterwards – has held this view in one way or another In contemporary scene, Fundamentalists and more conservative Christians subscribe to this view

16. Representatives of Total Replacement Model
Karl Barth represented many key convictions of this view
He did not call “revelation” any knowledge of God outside of self-revelation of God in Christ
He did not see any contact point between religions (religiosity) and faith in God
He didn’t see any connection between the God of the Bible and God of the Philosophers
Universalist?
Christ as Electing and the Elected

17. Reflections of Total Replacement Model
This model helps defend the uncompromising monotheism of the Bible and uniqueness of self-revelation of God
Its weaknesses include
A dismissal of general revelation and the innate (partial) knowledge of God – in a person having been created in the image of God
A radical discontinuity between nature and grace
Lack of emphasis on the saving Love of God with regard to all people(s)
The tendency to be pejorative of other religions and people in other faiths, even though they have been created in the image of God

18. Total and Partial: Same or different models?
A difference between total and partial models
Partial replacement closer to “Fulfillment” model
Most of the views in ch. 2 (WCC and theologians such as Pannenberg, Newbigin, Tillich, Samartha, etc.) are not supportive of replacement model but rather either inclusivist or Fulfillment model or “soft” pluralism (Samartha)

19. Evangelical theologies and Replacement Model?
It appears that it is only Fundamentalism and conservative Evangelicalism that fall neatly under Knitter’s Replacement Model (mostly total replacement)
Evangelical theologies of religions fall in to two camps
Evangelicals can be found both in (exclusivistic) total replacement and (inclusivistic) partial replacement

20. Main Features of Partial Replacement (KNITTER)
God Present in Other Religions?
Yes
And No!
Revelation: Yes!
Salvation: No!
Value of Dialogue
Limits of Dialogue!

21. Main Features of Partial Replacement (Knitter, ch.2)
While there are some revelatory elements in other religions, religions are not salvific There are some contact points between the God of the Bible and the deities of religions Some good features in other religions can be affirmed The value of interfaith dialogue is affirmed

22. Examples of Partial Replacement Model
World Council of Churches
“Religious plurality and Christian self-understanding”
(Inter-religious dialogue and cooperation)
Mainline Protestant Churches
Presbyterian Principles for Interfaith Dialogue (
Wolfhart Pannenberg (baptizedLutheran)
Lesslie Newbigin (Anglican)
Clark Pinnock (evangelical)