The Big Question
At the time of writing the essay about John Hick someone told me they were setting out to write theirs by discussing in turn, the advantages and disadvantages of Exclusivism, Inclusivism, and Pluralism. I didn't do it that way because I didn't interpret the question that way.
-Someone else commented that they weren't sure about which group they belonged to and I said I didn't think we should necessarily fit ourselves into categories defined by Hick.
-Nevertheless, the categories as defined by Hick, are quite helpful I think and I don't know of another paradigm by which we might measure ourselves, though there's bound to be one somewhere.
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So, my thinking on the subject is shaped by two assumptions that I plan to hold on to unless convinced otherwise.
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1. God is good
2. Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God (so far)
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Holding these two ideas in tension leads me, I think, to call myself an inclusivist with pluralist tendencies (but not to shout it from the rooftops).
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The belief that God is good makes exclusivism very difficult I think. The idea that a good God would reject people who earnastly seek him just because they call him by the wrong name, or because they have never had the opportunity to accept 'the Gospel' seems absurd. Perhaps like smacking a child who, when trying to help with the washing-up, puts a knife in the fork compartment of the cutlery drawer.
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And the belief that Jesus is unique makes full-blown pluralism difficult too, I think. For me, at least, it means that Christianity is a divinely founded religion in a way that other religions are not; though they may, in some way, be said to be divinely founded. And devotees of other religions may have access to God through their spiritual traditions, just like Christians do. And I imagine the distribution across the spectrum from those who seek after 'truth' regardless of the consequences (probably not me) to those who hold unquestioningly to dogma (hopefully not me either) is roughly equivalent between the major religions of the world.
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So, there you have it, that's about as heretical as I get, except for the time I suggested that we should eat the flesh of badgers for communion, but maybe you know different...
posted by Rowland @ Saturday, May 06, 2006
4 Comments:
I think your formulation of the problem of exclusivism is great.
I'll steal the cutlery thing and use it one day.
That would make me proud, please do steal it. But don't steal any actual cutlery.
Actually, I was hoping to find a more elegant way of saying it, but I couldn't think of one while writing. (and it's too late now) I'm sure you could find a more pithy way of saying the same thing.
No, I'm sure I couldn't.
But thanks all the same.
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