Only One Way?. Gavin D'Costa

      

      Contents

       Preface

       A Brief Note on the Authors

       Part 1: Position Papers

       1 Christianity and the World Religions: A Theological Appraisal

      Gavin D’Costa

       2 The Meeting of Religions: A Christian Debate

      Paul F. Knitter

       3 Perilous Exchange, Precious Good News: A Reformed ‘Subversive Fulfilment’ Interpretation of Other Religions

      Daniel Strange

       Part 2: The Dialogue Begins

       4 Gavin D’Costa Responds to Paul Knitter and Daniel Strange

       5 Paul Knitter Responds to Gavin D’Costa and Daniel Strange

       6 Daniel Strange Responds to Paul Knitter and Gavin D’Costa

       Part 3: The Dialogue Continues

       7 Gavin D’Costa Re-responds to Daniel Strange and Paul Knitter

       8 Paul Knitter Re-responds to Gavin D’Costa and Daniel Strange

       9 Daniel Strange Re-responds to Gavin D’Costa and Paul Knitter

       Further Readings

      Preface

      In Part 1 readers will be presented with three very different approaches by three influential authors in the field: Gavin D’Costa, Paul Knitter and Daniel Strange. The authors give a brief autobiographical background and then outline the theological and practical approaches to other religions in three essays with matching subheadings so that students can see how the topics of philosophical presuppositions, theological presuppositions, creation, fall, God, Christ, Trinity, salvation, eschaton, dialogue, social justice, and mission are handled when related to other religions within these three differing theological approaches. Using these subheadings also creates a unified treatment despite the serious differences between the authors. Part 1 alone will act as a major introduction to this field of study as the authors between them comment on a wide range of approaches other than their own.

      In Part 2 each author has written a critique of the other two positions so that the reader will see both questions of method and content being debated in a sophisticated and rigorous manner. This will allow the reader to make their own judgements on questions being discussed as well as facilitate a deeper engagement with contemporary theological debate on these issues. This will also allow for a unique interactive element that will hopefully act as a valuable teaching aid allowing for class or church group discussion, further debate, and even role play by students. Parts 1 and 2 are self-standing and can be used on shorter courses or as basic primary readings and secondary critical readings. Furthermore, Parts 1 and 2 have been designed so that a single theologian’s work can be read, and then two critical views of that work can be pursued.

      In Part 3 there are three final ‘defences against the critics’ presented by each author in the light of the critiques presented by their fellow writers. Each theologian sets out to defend and develop their thesis in the light of these criticisms. This level of interaction and in-depth argumentation makes the book especially helpful to thinking through these difficult and important questions.

      At the conclusion, each author presents a very brief bibliography for students to engage with further readings related to their approach. We collectively hope that this book will help people reflect upon this pressing and urgent task. As authors we have learnt that in conversation and discussion, we might move closer to the truth. We are grateful to each other for the opportunity to share that process with the reader.

      Our thanks to Sven Ensminger for helping with the technical preparation of the manuscript.

      Gavin D’Costa

      A Brief Note on the Authors

      Gavin D’Costa is Professor of Catholic Theology, University of Bristol, UK. Among his recent publications are The Meeting of Religions and the Trinity (2000); Disputed Questions in the Theology of Religions (2009); co-ed. Becker and Morali, Catholic Engagement with World Religions (2010). D’Costa is a Roman Catholic and advises the English and Welsh Catholic bishops as well as the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Vatican City, and has published widely in this field. His work has been translated into seven languages.

      Paul Knitter was Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture at Union Theological Seminary, New York and Professor Emeritus of Theology at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, where he taught for 28 years. Knitter serves on the Board of the International, Interreligious Peace Council, formed after the 1993 World Parliament of Religions to promote interreligious peace-making projects. His main publications are No Other Name? (1985); Introducing Theologies of Religions (2002); and ed. The Myth of Religious Superiority (2005).

      Daniel Strange is Tutor in Culture, Religion and Public Theology at Oak Hill Theological College in London. His main publications are The Possibility of Salvation Among the Unevangelised: An Analysis of Inclusivism in Recent Evangelical Theology (2002); co-ed. David Gibson, Engaging with Barth: Contemporary Evangelical Critiques (2008). Strange is a Reformed evangelical concerned with defending and developing an evangelical ‘theology of religions’.

      PART ONE

Position Papers

      1

      Christianity and the World Religions: A Theological Appraisal

      Gavin D’Costa

      Method

I write as a Roman Catholic theologian, which has a variety of entailments – in fact three for the purposes of this chapter. First, this means that my theological job, shaped by the Church’s teachings about the role of the theologian, is to convey the teachings of the Catholic Church on the matter at hand.1 I hope this will not put off readers, as it is my conviction that everyone doing theology comes from ‘somewhere’ with specific allegiances and commitments, authority sources and special texts and so on. Even the theologian who says they are not aligned to a church and are simply open to truth, not to doctrines of the inerrancy of scripture, are making strategic decisions about their starting point and the assumptions contained within that starting point. This is one of the great insights from postmodern philosophy, or rather it is an insight that helped call into question one of the ‘idols’ of modernity: