Key Questions for a Theology of Religions

EDITORIAL ESSAY KEY QUESTIONS FOR A THEOLOGY OF RELIGIONS Paul F. Knitter Xavier University Given the spate of studies seeking to elaborate a theology of religions that have appeared over the last five years, it is evident that the question of the "many religions," like that of the "many poor," is one of the issues that most disturb, and therefore can most invigorate, Christian consciousness. In what follows, I would like to review and analyze what I think are some of the pivotal issues in Christian efforts to come to a clearer, more adequate and coherent, understanding of other religions and of Christianity in the light of other faiths. It seems to me that the central issue, around which most of the other questions within a Christian theology of religions gravitate, is whether the Christian community, having clearly made the move from what has been called the "exclusivity" to the "inclusivist" model, can now take the further step to what some have called the "pluralist" model for a theology of religions. (As is evident, I am speaking here mainly about the mainline Christian churches; most fundamentalist Christians prefer to pitch their tent in the "exclusivist" camp.) For the sake of clarity, let me briefly define these terms. The inclusivist model represents both the official teaching of the Roman Catholic magisterium and, somewhat ambiguously, statements of the World Council of Churches, and reflects the sensus communis among Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant theologians. It affirms the value and dignity of all religious paths, and the urgent need to dialogue with them, but attributes to Christ and Christianity (either within the course of history or at its final outcome) an ultimacy and normativity meant to embrace and fulfill all other religions. Inclusivists approach other believers with a genuine respect and a sincere desire to learn, but feel that because of the historical fact of Jesus Christ, they have the final word. I should point out, however, that theologians who hold to this model, do so not just for internal reasons of fidelity to the Christian fact and to traditional teaching, but also for external, philosophical reasons arising out of the way we know truth and search for it with others. All profitable conversations, they point out, are based on certain decisive claims. Christians make their decisive claims on the basis of the incarnational reality of Jesus Christ. HORIZONS, 17/1 (1990), 92-102