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• According to Augustine and Calvin, how does God elect individuals for heaven?

  Through grace, a small number of Christians
• According to Karl Barth, how can God be known?

  Only through Christ
• What is inclusivism in relation to exclusivism and pluralism?

  The middle path between the two views
• Who is Rahner and what is his view on salvation?

  A Catholic who believes no other religion offers salvation
• What concept does Rahner introduce regarding salvation?

  Anonymous Christians can also be saved
• What does William Lane Craig's 'middle knowledge' imply?

  God knows all possible choices people would make
• What is pluralism in the context of religion?

  Many religions have value and can lead to salvation
• What does Panikkar's view imply about anonymous Christians?

  Truth can be found in many contexts
• How does Panikkar believe God will reveal truth?

  God will reveal as he chooses
• Kraemer


  non-catholics can’t achieve salvation through their own faith, they must convert as there is no middle ground, you either accept Christ or you don’t
• Karl Barth

  god will choose when to reveal
• Balthasar

  salvation is only found in Christ
• Assessing exclusivism - cons

  • exclusivism leads to wars and conflict and treating others as less valuable people
  • the suggestion that if God condemns people who couldn’t have heard the Christian message to hell then God is not loving
  • if God cannot be fully understood then it is impossible to say that anyone can have full control of the truth (and therefore salvation)
  • The Bible suggests that people might be judged based on their actions and not their beliefs, eg. the Sheep and the Goats
  • it seems unfair for Catholics to say that people cannot be saved if they are not part of the Church
• Assessing exclusivism - pros

  • exclusivism makes sense if Christianity is right, eg. if Jesus is the Son of God then it makes sense that Christianity holds the truth in a way others don’t
  • the universal access of exclusivism is respectful of other faiths because it allows for people to seek the truth, even if they are wrong
• Inclusivism

  • although Christianity is the one true faith and the normative way to salvation, it is possible for non-Christians who are anonymous or invisible Christians to be saved
  • all people have a spiritual aspect to themselves, which makes them search for the truth
• Anonymous Christian

  someone who is open to God‘s grace but not a Christian
• Pluralism - the blind men and the elephant analogy

  if a group of blind men come across an elephant and each touch a different part of it then each will gain a different understanding of what the elephant is like, even though each is equally valid
• Hick - pluralism

  • a natural theologian
  • argued all that needed to be known should be able to be deduced from this world
  • because of religious experience, but religious experience is interpreted through individual faith traditions - religious experience is common to all faiths
  • different people are experiencing and interpreting the same reality in different ways
  • cultural differences provide the different lenses through which we experience the divine
  • influences by Kant
  • the central point should not be Christ or Christianity but God
  • argued for the theology of religion being theocentric (centred on God)
• Church of England: Sharing the Gospel of Salvation (2010) - four aspects to dialogue

  1. daily life, where you meet people in your life and talk about beliefs
  2. common good, where you work with those of other faiths to benefit the community
  3. mutual understanding, where you get together for formal discussions (eg. scriptural reasoning)
  4. spiritual life, where you pray and worship together
• The Scriptural Reasoning Movement

  • began in USA
  • adapted by the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme
  • a tool to help with inter-faith dialogue
  • to convert anyone but to help those from different faith backgrounds to understand their differences in truth claims
  • the movement started with Jews, Christians and Muslims because of their shared history
• The Scriptural Reasoning Movement - Methods

  • focuses on one text from each tradition, looks at common language
  • discuss messages
  • explore context
  • texts understood in two ways: ‘as texts themselves’ and ‘as being read‘
• The Scriptural Reasoning Movement - Methods

  texts are understood in two ways:

  1. as texts themselves - looking at the language, the themes, the historical context, structure and so on
  2. as being read - looking at how the text is read and understood in the modern life of the faith
• The Scriptural Reasoning Movement - Aims

  • the maintain a spirit of dialogue
  • there is no attempt to convert
  • there is no intention to produce official documents on behalf of a religion or group of religions
  • wisdom, everyone is united in their desire for wisdom coming out of discussion
  • collegiality, everyone is an equal participant; all contributions are equal
  • hospitality, it is non-judgemental
• Assessing the scriptural reasoning movement - pros

  • has clear guidelines about what it aims to achieve
  • has clear spiritual benefits for an individual participants and encourages tolerance
  • it encourages participants to engage deeply in the origin of these religions
• Assessing the scriptural reasoning movement - cons

  • is there any point in having these discussions if there is no official teaching of the religion?, in some situations people might leave with an incorrect view of another faith
  • scriptural reasoning will not work for people from certain traditions within faiths, such as exclusivists or literalists
  • it could relativise religious beliefs because the methods require that all points are treated as equally important
• Matthew 28:19 - conversion of faith

  “therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”
• Barth

  • and example of how boundaries between exclusivism and inclusivism can blur
  • God is only knowable through his choice to reveal himself to people when he wishes
  • humans cannot choose when to identify God
  • the Trinity and the person of Jesus are unique to Christianity and this makes the Christian understanding of God’s self-revelation unique
  • the only accurate way of understanding God’s self-revelation is through the Bible
  • God can only be properly known through Jesus Christ
  • the Christian revelation overcomes all other faiths
  • election is open to anyone who is willing to receive God’s grace