CHRISTIANITY & INTERRELIGIOUS ENGAGEMENT

INTERRELIGIOUS ENCOUNTERS –1215 Fourth Lateran Council “Extra ecclesiam nulla salus” or “There is one universal church of the faithful, outside of which there is no salvation” –1400: European Christians (often funded by Church and/or Crown) began “Discovering” places and people –Drawing lines between “World religions” and Indigenous religions Assigning epistemological value

MODELS FOR INTERRELIGIOUS ENGAGEMENT Alan Race’s Christians and Religious Pluralism suggested that all religion operate within 3 basic paradigms. Paul Knitter modified the paradigms: –Exclusivism/Replacement –Inclusivism/Fulfillment –Pluralism/Mutuality –Acceptance (John Hick)

EXCLUSIVISM - REPLACEMENT Knitter – (2002)Total and Partial Replacement – Nuancing Evangelical positions and theologies –Total: Fundamental, Pentecostal, Evangelical –Partial: New Evangelicalism – open to idea of God’s presence in other religions. Replacement – 3 non-negotiables: –Unique authority of Jesus Christ as apex of revelation. Jesus as normative. –Proclaiming the historical death and resurrection of Christ –Salvation through repentance and faith in Christ’s work on the cross Partial Replacement: –No salvation outside of Christ but God does provide truths about Godself and humanity through general revelation including truths found in other religious traditions.

INCLUSIVISM - FULFILLMENT Jesus and Christianity the fulfillment and pinnacle of religions God works through philosophies and other religions to pave the way for the Gospel message. –Darwinian application – evolution of religion –Religions arranged from lower to higher(monotheistic) orders culminating in Christianity –Comparative theologies and comparative religions used to demonstrate Christianity as the fulfillment of other traditions. Karl Rahner’s anonymous Christians – implicit believers Christian liturgical interpretations of Jewish texts

“Since Christ died for all men, and since the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit, in a manner known only to God, offers to every man the possibility of being associated with his paschal mystery” – Vatican II

PLURALISM - MUTUALITY Rejects 3 non-negotiables World’s religions provide independent access to salvation. Conflicting truth claims exist and are reconciled through the movement from normative truth to subjective experience. Christianity is one religion among many with no unique claim on the truth Christianity is neither the most advanced nor the fulfillment of other religions Hick called for Christianity to reconstruct itself into a religion of personal meaning not historical fact. –Importance and authority of human experience over sacred texts Christo-centric to Theo-centric

ACCEPTANCE No universal truths Accepts that world religions are fundamentally different from one another. –Move away from essentialism of religions and traditions. –Each religions has its own particular and comprehensive framework for understanding the world and human experience. –Attempts at comparisons and primacy of common ground are reductionist. God reveals Godself in religious diversity and particularity. “Religions are to be good neighbors to each other. There is no “commons” that all of them share. To be good neighbors, let each religion tend to its own backyard, keeping it clean and neat.” – Knitter

CHRISTIAN DOCUMENTS National Council of Churches of Christ - Sharing the Gospel in a Religiously Plural World: A Policy Statement on Evangelism