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    Tuesday Conference: To Make Humanity United in Worshipping God

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    The document discusses Christian responses to other religions throughout history. It analyzes responses from biblical times through Vatican II, noting four fundamental attitudes: exclusivism, partial acceptance, recognizing positive values, and a more positive approach finding God's plan of salvation for all. The document then discusses biblical views of pagans, noting exceptions of genuine religious experiences. It examines the idea of cosmic covenants with humanity and identifies pagan saints in the Old Testament like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Job, and Melchizedek. Finally, it discusses Jesus' positive attitudes towards Gentiles and the New Testament's portrayal of the Spirit's activity extending to all.

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    Tuesday Conference: To Make Humanity United in Worshipping God

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    tonymalivc
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    The document discusses Christian responses to other religions throughout history. It analyzes responses from biblical times through Vatican II, noting four fundamental attitudes: exclusivism, partial acceptance, recognizing positive values, and a more positive approach finding God's plan of salvation for all. The document then discusses biblical views of pagans, noting exceptions of genuine religious experiences. It examines the idea of cosmic covenants with humanity and identifies pagan saints in the Old Testament like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Job, and Melchizedek. Finally, it discusses Jesus' positive attitudes towards Gentiles and the New Testament's portrayal of the Spirit's activity extending to all.

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    Christian Response to Other Religions

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    TC 01

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    The document discusses Christian responses to other religions throughout history. It analyzes responses from biblical times through Vatican II, noting four fundamental attitudes: exclusivism, partial acceptance, recognizing positive values, and a more positive approach finding God's plan of salvation for all. The document then discusses biblical views of pagans, noting exceptions of genuine religious experiences. It examines the idea of cosmic covenants with humanity and identifies pagan saints in the Old Testament like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Job, and Melchizedek. Finally, it discusses Jesus' positive attitudes towards Gentiles and the New Testament's portrayal of the Spirit's activity extending to all.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    1K views8 pages

    Tuesday Conference: To Make Humanity United in Worshipping God

    Uploaded by

    tonymalivc
    The document discusses Christian responses to other religions throughout history. It analyzes responses from biblical times through Vatican II, noting four fundamental attitudes: exclusivism, partial acceptance, recognizing positive values, and a more positive approach finding God's plan of salvation for all. The document then discusses biblical views of pagans, noting exceptions of genuine religious experiences. It examines the idea of cosmic covenants with humanity and identifies pagan saints in the Old Testament like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Job, and Melchizedek. Finally, it discusses Jesus' positive attitudes towards Gentiles and the New Testament's portrayal of the Spirit's activity extending to all.

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    of 8

    V o l.

    0 3
    I s s ue 0 1 Tuesday Conference
    Theology e-magazine To make humanity united in worshipping God

    Christian Response to other


    Religions Our Heavenly Patron
    We live in a very turbulent periods of religious intolerance
    and fascist ideologies coming back to our personal lives, whether
    it is on worship, food, dress, marriage, love etc. What shall be our
    responses to various religions we encounter?
    There are many religions is more a sociological fact than a
    doctrine. As a Christian theological attempt at articulating a
    positive appreciation of other religions,
    pluralism por tr ayed itself as the m ost liber al view ,
    with exclusivism as the least liberal and
    inclusivism as falling in betw een conser vative
    exclusivism and the progressive pluralism.
    We analyze the responses in the biblical times, moves forward
    with the early Church fathers, and finally reaches until Vatican II.

    Moral life is already worship. This is why


    conscience is a revelation of God and there
    exists no a-religious morality.
    Jacques Dupuis writes, the present is the outcome of the past and
    Page - 02 whatever newness it may bring does not cancel its historical
    roots.

    Various Christian Response in History


    Adopted 4 fundamental attitudes to other religions. The
    Our first is a negative attitude- often articulated as outside church
    Assumption: there is no salvation. The second is a partial acceptance and
    limited openness towards other religions. It simply meant that
    We cannot those religions offer an innate desire for union with the absolute.
    The third attitude recognizes the positive values in those
    construct a
    religions, which may in some way conducive to the salvation of
    Christian
    their members. The fourth is a more positive approach, which
    theology of finds in other religion Gods plan of salvation for humankind in
    religious the context of the universal value of the Jesus Christ event,
    pluralism which Christian faith holds.
    apriori or The Problematic of Each Response
    without The first: Is th er e any possibility of salvation for

    referring to the one who lived either before or outside Christ event? The
    second: Is th er e possible substitutes for faith in Jesus
    the past
    Christ leading to salvation? The third: What would be the role of
    twenty
    such values in the salvation of the adherents of those traditions?
    centuries of
    All the above three problematic are centered on the idea of
    developments
    individual salvation.
    in this field. The fourth one
    goes beyond this and asks:
    how to interpret the
    religious pluralism
    inscribed in the concrete
    realities of the present
    world?

    Here certain theologians find the traditional understanding of Christian faith in


    Jesus Christ under unprecedented strain and questioning. Since it inquires into the
    significance and value of other religions in themselves. We leave these questions to
    be answered in some other editions of our magazine.
    Page - 03 Biblical Times
    The Pauline concept of We trace out the evolution of the theological
    the Law written on the hearts consciousness in biblical times towards other
    religions. Of course there is no comprehensive
    makes the Gentiles worthy of
    solution of Christianitys relation to other
    the saving grace in a
    religions. We can understand that,
    mysterious manner and can
    the sharp self-consciousness of Israels
    attain saving faith religious identity as Gods chosen people
    without explicit faith in resulted in the negative judgments to other
    Jesus Christ at least religions;
    through a fundamental but, with exceptions of certain biblical authors
    option vis-a-vis the Absolute. offering genuine religious experiences of pagans.

    Cosmic Covenant with Human Kind:


    Christian tradition has rightly valued 4covenants made by with the humanity;
    in Adam, in Noah, in Abraham and Moses and in Christ.
    In the case of Adam, we may not see a covenant relation between God and Adam.
    But the mind of the Church Fathers finds a symbolic universal covenant with
    human race for the first time in this incident.
    The significance of the covenant with Noah is of a personal, universal covenant
    prior to the chosen people. This is a cosmic, everlasting with the sign of rainbow.
    Of course, this is a part of the salvation history.
    Theology understands salvation history as general or
    universal salvation history, unfolded in the first two
    covenants and the special salvation history begins with
    Abrahamic and Mosaic covenant which culminates in the
    Christic.
    The cosmic covenant is
    already a supernatural
    covenant.- Jean Danielou

    The history of salvation is


    not limited to a chosen people
    but extends to all humankind
    and human history.-St. Iraneaus
    The holiness in the cosmic covenant is a response to God
    made through the conscience. To obey a moral law is to Page - 04

    recognize Gods loving will. - Danielou

    Pagan Saints of the OT


    We are interested here to find
    those individuals who were righteous
    before God even though they were
    outside the Gods chosen people.

    The Abel inaugurates the line of the saints of the cosmic covenant and he is the
    first pagan saint on whom God has lavished his love. The blood he shed
    prefigures the sacrifice of Christ.
    Enoch as the pr ototype of th e salvation of th e pagans . Th e Genesis
    depicts him as man walked with God, and the Sirach, Enoch pleased the Lord
    he was an example of repentance to all generations.
    Noah becam e an instr um ent of w or ld s salvation and thereby prefiguring
    Christ. The deluge showed Noahs faith to be right and escaped Gods judgment
    through his righteousness. His faith was considered as a scale to condemn the
    world.
    Job has shown us the possibility of being
    righteousness and holy even in the order of
    the cosmic covenant. He proved to be loyal
    even when his life was shattered.
    Lucian Legrand - Melchizedek is ranked among the most
    The God of Israel does eminent non-Jewish figures of the Old
    not limit his action to the Testament. He is accommodated well in the letter
    of Hebrews where the type of Christ the priest is
    one people of Israel; but
    attributed to him.
    he is the Lord of
    Lot, another model of a just man in whom the
    universal history. The OT
    blood inscribed the Law.
    manifests a universalism
    Queen of Saba w h o cam e to K ing Solom on
    where everything is in search of Wisdom is another saint. Because she
    placed under Gods adored the true God of Solomon revealed to her
    providence. through conscience.
    God of Israel & Gods of the Nations: Page - 05
    Israel did not condemn the people among other nations altogether
    idolatrous. Rather they could recognize the living God manifesting through the
    cosmic covenant. Evidently,
    Cyrus the pagan conqueror is accepted as the anointed of God;
    The conversion of the pagan city Nineveh witness the universality of Gods love
    and the pardon extending to the other peoples.
    Deutro-Isaiah says; all the nation from the ends of the earth are invited to sing
    to the Lord. The focus is that all nation will walk in the light of Gods glory.

    Jesus Attitude:
    We have numerous instances where Jesus praises the faith of Gentiles,
    reaches out to them with miracles and healings. He showed full admiration for ;
    the entry of the others into the kingdom of heaven ,
    the parable of the banquet to show the universality of the Reign of God.
    the healing of the possessed daughter of the Canaanite women.

    the faith of
    the
    Centurion

    The New Testament Time The speech in the Aeropagus


    The NT testifies to a life giving and values the riches of human
    transformative activity of the Spirit, extending religious experiences, the search
    to the entire world. The Lucan account of for God since God reveals himself
    Pentecost suppose at least an intentional by being sought. Also the Peters
    universality of the gift of the Spirit. We have acceptance that God shows no
    every right to assume that the apostles received partiality helped the apostolic
    a mission for all. St Paul teaches that we have Church to go beyond the
    no monopoly of gifts. boundaries built by human.

    We should refrain making an exclusively Christian


    reading of the Gospel. We need greater attention in
    interpreting the biblical statements that are
    affirmative and not tend to make them exclusively.
    Page - 06 The Cosmic Christ in the Early Fathers

    St Justin: Th e m anifestation of God Clement of Alexandria: He has


    through his Word is not limited to the no hesitation to call philosophy a
    Christian dispensation. He writes, it covenant made by God with men a
    took place before the incarnation of the stepping stone to the philosophy of
    Word, among the Jews and Greeks; Christ. He thought, for Jews the law,
    everywhere there have been people and the Greeks the philosophy, were
    who lived by Word and deserve to be designed by God to lead people to
    called Christian. However Justin Christ. Succinctly we can say that the
    makes a distinction that the fullness of authentic guides of mankind are truly
    the Logos is only in Christs advent in inspired by God, acted upon by the
    flesh. Logos.

    To say Jesus Christ is the only mediator between


    God and human beings does not necessarily lead
    to the conclusion that there are no saving values
    and seeds of truth and grace out of him, even
    possibly participated mediations connected to his
    mediation.Jacques Dupuis SJ

    No Salvation outside the Church


    The axiom is usually associated with St. Cyprian. But scholars are of opinion
    that Ignatius of Antioch held such a view. Origen made even sharper use of it even.
    Later Augustine also taught the necessity of baptism for the salvation. This axiom
    came into the magisterial teaching as;
    1. the Letter of Innocent III as the first instance.
    2. The second came out of the deliberations of 4th Latern Council (1215).
    3. The third and the weightiest, is Boniface VIIs the Unam Sanctam, in the long
    history of the axiom. Here we read a submission to the Roman Pontiff is
    necessary for salvation.
    4. The fourth document is the Decree of the General Council of Florence (1442). It
    follows in the same vein asserting, no one can be saved unless one remains in
    the bosom of the Catholic Church.
    Page - 07

    This assertion in the history cannot be studied aloof of its context. A proper
    hermeneutics is required to interpret the universal condemnation involved in it.
    Dupuis argues, the axiom is totally unacceptable today citing Pope Pius XIIs
    objection to the same while correcting a Jesuit priest. The Pope wants us to
    understand this dogma to be understood as the Church itself understands it. We
    understand the value of this axiom as positively formulated in Vatican II that Church
    as the general instrument of salvation.

    Theological Perspectives Surrounding Vatican II

    Fulfillment Theory:
    According to the Fulfillment theory the mystery of Christ reaches the
    members of other religious traditions as the divine response to the human religious
    aspirations. But these religious traditions themselves play no role in their salvation
    mystery. They distinguish religions into two,
    natural supernatural.
    Non-Christian religions belong to the ordinary natural reason and Judeo-Christian
    to the supernatural. The natural religions are considered to be preparation for the
    gospel. Christianity is the universal means of salvation and the normative way.
    After analyzing different versions of Fulfillment theory, Dupuis seems to have
    two reservations.
    The first one, how can we say other religions if positively taken, in matters of
    granting salvation, place them in competition with Christ?
    The second one, can there be various modalities of mediation in relation with
    the mystery of Jesus Christ.
    The Inclusive Presence of Christ:
    The religious traditions of humanity have a salvific value by virtue of the
    presence of the mystery of Jesus operative in them. However this presence is
    hidden and unknown to their adherents. For Rahner, Someone of other religion
    lives his own religion sincerely, he is living anonymous Christianity. So to say,
    Christian salvation reaches out to them anonymously through their religious
    practices. Raimon Panikkar wrote that there is a living presence of Christ in
    Hinduism. Even though this presence of Christ is unknown to others, it is no less
    real in their religious traditions, believed Panikkar.
    Dupuis doubts whether Panikkar has answered the distinction he made about
    Jesus as Christ of faith and Jesus of history. Page - 08
    Dupuis raises a few question about the difference between Anonymous Christian
    and the explicit Christian as simply a matter of subjective awareness.
    He also expresses serious difficulties with Rahners talk of the absoluteness of
    Christianity and of Christ as absolute Saviour. He argues that absoluteness is the
    attribute of the ultimate reality. Even the human existence of Son of God made
    man makes him only a universal saviour. It does not make him absolute
    saviour, who is God himself.

    Vatican II and the Post Conciliar developments


    We have documents of the Council asserting the patristic idea of evangelical
    preparation and seeds of the Word.
    Vatican II is the first council to speak positively
    about the other religions. the main texts that
    appeal positively to other religions as in Lumen
    Gentium (16, 17) Nostra Aetate (2), Ad Gents
    (3, 9, and 11).
    We can summarize the Council teachings in to these themes;
    a) the salvation of the people outside the Church,
    b) the authentic values found in non-Christian religions and their traditions,
    c) Churchs appreciation of these values.

    For all these the Council had an affirmative answer. Later dur ing the
    pontificates of Paul VI and John Paul II, we had documents calling for greater
    dialogue. To Conclude: A fully satisfactory Christian theology of religions is
    still in gestation and has been struggling to be born, says George Nedumgatt SJ.
    The present times demand a great need of tolerance from the part of all religions in
    matters of faith affirmations. Let us walk together in spirit of dialogue.
    Editor: Tony Maliyekal VC Published from Vincentian Vidyabhavan, Aluva.

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