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Four Views on Salvation in a Pluralistic World (10)
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Paul Jang
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2008-12-03 14:46:20, hit : 3,111 |
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(8) Being God-centered would be more helpful than being Christ-centered in order to understand pluralism, but that is not so.
1) Pluralist and mutual understanding stopped regarding Jesus Christ as of central importance and instead began to focus their attention on God.
2) But Christian understanding deals with, at the same time, the doctrine of creation and salvation based on the Trinity and Incarnation.
① For pluralists, the idea of the Incarnation is rejected, often as a myth. They regards Jesus as one of the great religious teacher.
② For pluralists, the idea that God is in some manner made known through Christ has been dismissed.
3) But they fail to recognize that the "God of the Christians" (Teretullian) might be different from other divinities and that the doctrine of the Trinity spells out (explains) the nature of that distinction.
4) They have driven a wedge between God and Jesus Christ, as if Christians were obliged to choose between one or the other. But God and Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit are one, within which there is no distinction.
(9) For Christians, the particularistic element is Jesus. Christian theology, spirituality, and above all, Christian worship are strongly Christ-focused.
(10) Pluralists have argued that there is a common core structure to all religions, which "are fundamentally alike exhibiting a soteriological structure. They are all concerned with salvation, liberation, enlightenment/fulfillment. They insist that there is difference between religions as that of the ways between "kitten salvation" and "monkey salvation" in the tradition of Hinduism. But the only Savior is Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
(11) Differences between notions of salvation are also reflected in the worship of religious community- for instance, Buddhist notion of salvation could not co-exist with that of Christianity.
(12) For Christian theology, worship and prayer are closely interwoven with a definite series of beliefs concerning both the person and work of Jesus Christ.
(13) The distinctive character of each religion may and must be affirmed. The Christian vision of salvation is not the same as the other religions.
1) Christianity has a particular understanding of the nature, ground, and means of salvation. The Christian understanding of salvation must be Christologically determined. Salvation is a particularity, not universality.
2) Christianity is the only religion to offer salvation in the Christian sense of that term. (Christian concept of salvation is unique).
3) Salvation in the Christian sense is proclaimed as a real and attractive possibility for those who are presently outside the Christian community.
4) By responding to the Christian gospel and embracing the salvation it confers, individuals as a matter of fact become member of the church.
5) It is thus proper to affirm that, in the often quoted words of Cyprian of Charthage, "There is no salvation outside the church.
(14) Although all religions are salvific in their own terms, Christian conception is grounded uniquely in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
(15) Christian salvation is not only particular but also universal. In other words, the Christian proclamation of salvation is not bounded by any geographical, cultural, or social divide.
(16) God's revelation is not limited to the explicit human preaching of the good news, but extend beyond it. (even to the non-Christian world). So what about those who have never heard the gospel?
(17) Where the word is not or cannot be preached by human agents, God is not inhibited from bringing people to faith in him, even if that act of hope and trust may lack the fully orbed character of an informed Christian faith.
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Introduction
Theology 