Modern societies are for the most part pluralistic in their compositions and world views. As such, we are given a variety of possibilities to embrace in our everyday lives and social interactions. The plethora of religious choice is a prime example of societal pluralism. John Hick is an eminent proponent of religious pluralism. His adoption of the religious pluralist stance arises from his experience and observations of various religions and their practices wherein he has noted similarities in the development of moral individuals in spite of vastly different and exclusive truth claims made by their religious systems. Hick, in a huge leap of faith, believes these similarities among such great differences must indicate a unitary source of revelation from a Transcendent Ultimate Reality to humankind sometime during the great Axial Age of human development more than two thousand years ago.<p> Religious pluralism, in its Hickean formulation, is a call for individuals to not only abandon their religions claims to exclusive truth about the Transcendent Ultimate Reality but also to reduce religious dogmas to their essential elements and modify them in order to preclude contradictory assertions that would exclude other religious systems. The benefits would be to reduce or eliminate religious intolerance and claims to superiority; incidents of religious violence should also be expected to decrease.<p> This thesis critically examines Hicks thesis and finds that religion has a greater role to play in individual lives than Hick acknowledges. For those with weakly held religious beliefs, the call to religious pluralism may find appeal. However, for those with strongly held religious views, operating within religious structures that serve their needs and eschatological hopes, the adoption of religious pluralism of the Hickean variety may cause them to abandon something that is working well for them without replacing it with something of equal benefit. In the final analysis, I find Hicks call to embrace religious pluralism to be unpersuasive since it is not in itself a religious system; it is, rather, a philosophical system which attempts to address the epistemological challenges associated with the myriad systems of faith and belief found within the great world religions.

Modern societies are for the most part pluralistic in their compositions and world views. As such, we are given a variety of possibilities to embrace in our everyday lives and social interactions. The plethora of religious choice is a prime example of societal pluralism. John Hick is an eminent proponent of religious pluralism. His adoption of the religious pluralist stance arises from his experience and observations of various religions and their practices wherein he has noted similarities in the development of moral individuals in spite of vastly different and exclusive truth claims made by their religious systems. Hick, in a huge leap of faith, believes these similarities among such great differences must indicate a unitary source of revelation from a Transcendent Ultimate Reality to humankind sometime during the great Axial Age of human development more than two thousand years ago.<p> Religious pluralism, in its Hickean formulation, is a call for individuals to not only abandon their religions claims to exclusive truth about the Transcendent Ultimate Reality but also to reduce religious dogmas to their essential elements and modify them in order to preclude contradictory assertions that would exclude other religious systems. The benefits would be to reduce or eliminate religious intolerance and claims to superiority; incidents of religious violence should also be expected to decrease.<p> This thesis critically examines Hicks thesis and finds that religion has a greater role to play in individual lives than Hick acknowledges. For those with weakly held religious beliefs, the call to religious pluralism may find appeal. However, for those with strongly held religious views, operating within religious structures that serve their needs and eschatological hopes, the adoption of religious pluralism of the Hickean variety may cause them to abandon something that is working well for them without replacing it with something of equal benefit. In the final analysis, I find Hicks call to embrace religious pluralism to be unpersuasive since it is not in itself a religious system; it is, rather, a philosophical system which attempts to address the epistemological challenges associated with the myriad systems of faith and belief found within the great world religions.

Magister Theologiae - MTh / This study begins by recognising the religiously plural context in which the Christian churches currently exist. It discusses the various forces that impel the churches towards recognition of and dialogue with those of other faiths, as well as factors that hinder this process. It mentions a variety of ways in which theology - in particular, the theological understanding of the relationship between the Christian churches and other faith communities - is influenced by its context. In an attempt to identify a model within the Judaeo-Christian tradition that will provide a basis for inter-faith dialogue, the study proposes an exploration of the relationship between Yahweh and the gods of the nations as reflected in the the prophetic writings known as Deutero- and Trito-Isaiah, writings that almost certainly emerged from two particular periods in the history of the people of lsrael: the Babylonian exile and the early post-exilic period in Palestine. The study outlines historical developments within these two periods. It explores the various religious beliefs - Babylonian, Palestinian and Persian - that together formed the multi-faith context for Deutero- and Trito-Isaiah.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:48:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ROGERIO REGIS DE AZEVEDO.pdf: 775898 bytes, checksum: 2dc864d88845eb2a4b16a22fd3d49839 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-22 / This work was done in an attempt to introduce other paths to salvation, beyond salvation from the Christian point of view, considering the plurality of beliefs and the growing understanding that the dialogue between religions needs to be broaden as a means towards world peace. Religion is a human manifestation that interpellates for its origin and its destination, and is present in all places and cultures. Thus, religious plurality is in the world, and everybody hopes to, somehow, feel good already in this life, and, for those who believe, there is hope for a peaceful life after death. This dissertation certainly does not intend to provide a complete treatment on the theological and philosophical issues raised by religious pluralism, nor does it present a historical overview of the attitudes adopted by Christians and non-Christians, but it focuses on the current debate around the arguments for and against the salvific possibilities presented by the great religious traditions of the world. Therefore, we seek the most important contemporary thinkers to compose our bibliographic list that could produce a dialectic enters the theoretical principles of religious pluralism. / Este trabalho foi realizado na tentativa de apresentar outros caminhos de salvação, além da salvação do ponto de vista cristão, tendo em vista a pluralidade de crenças e o crescente entendimento de que é preciso ampliar o diálogo entre as religiões em busca da paz mundial. A religião é uma manifestação humana que interpela por sua origem e por seu destino e está em todos os lugares e culturas. Dessa forma, a pluralidade religiosa está no mundo e todos esperam, de alguma forma, sentirem-se bem já nesta vida e, para os que crêem, há esperança de uma vida de paz depois da morte. Esta dissertação certamente não pretende oferecer um tratamento completo sobre as questões teológicas e filosóficas suscitadas pelo pluralismo religioso, tampouco faz um panorama histórico das atitudes adotadas por cristãos e não-cristãos, mas está voltada para o debate atual em torno dos argumentos favoráveis e contrários às possibilidades salvíficas apresentadas pelas grandes tradições religiosas do mundo. Para tanto, buscamos os principais pensadores contemporâneos para compor nosso rol bibliográfico que pudesse produzir uma dialética entre os princípios teóricos do pluralismo religioso.

Visigothic Hispania, Islamicate al-Andalus and Christian Spain are names representing three scriptural monotheistic civilizations in Iberia. Al-Andalus has stood apart from this list by representing a time and a place of convivencia in which Christians, Jews and Muslims cooperated and coexisted. Why and how the Islamicate civilization in al-Andalus differed from the Visigoths or the Spanish, despite all three sharing a religious orientation is an historical puzzle. By exploring the legal status of Jews within the legal regimes of Christian Rome and Visigothic Hispania, this thesis will suggest that it is cosmopolitanism and its converse exclusivism that best explain concepts of convivencia or coexistence in the face of religious diversity.

Thesis (DTh (Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / This study offers an overview and critique of the growing movement in American evangelicalism of what is popularly known as “inclusivism.” The mounting uneasiness expressed in many evangelical circles in North America concerning the fate of the unevangelised, and how that may square with the traditional evangelical view of their lostness, has produced a vigorous Soteriology which means to address what is viewed as inadequacies in the traditional model of salvation found in the American evangelical community.

Religious diversity is the inevitable corollary of globalization and with it comes the challenge and opportunities of greatly increased interaction with religious Others. The United States was founded on an Anglo-Saxon Protestant basis but has now become "the world’s most religiously diverse nation" according to one Harvard religious studies scholar. To deal with this development, American thinkers, mainly Christians, have devoted a good deal of scholarship in the past three to four decades construing strategies how to meet and interact with the religious Other. During the 70’s and 80’s, a typology of exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism was developed by Christians as a response to religious diversity. Many see today that it is a necessity to find an alternative to hostility and violence and therefore dialogue is the order of the day. Since Christians are still by far the largest faith-group, and the US has economic resources, US Christians have a natural predominance in dialogue. Is that good or bad from the stand point of the minority Other? One such minority is a major sub-division of Hinduism, namely Vaishnavism. Christian-Vaishnava dialogue in the US is a new phenomenon in the past two decades and an emerging minority representative is a globalized Vaishnava organization ISKCON, popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement, which has its Western roots in the counter-culture of the 1960’s. While ISKCON struggled for legitimacy in the 70’s and ‘80’s, it has in recent decades become a major factor in Hindu and especially Vaisnava representation. How American Christians respond today to Vaishnava dialogue and how this typology arose and functions as a theoretical basis for the on-going development of Christian-Vaishnava dialogue is the subject of this action-research minor field study.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-01-25T10:09:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 suelyribeirobarra.pdf: 2001060 bytes, checksum: 59c074b121f0c32254269f7f3e9f006d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-01-25T18:57:32Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 suelyribeirobarra.pdf: 2001060 bytes, checksum: 59c074b121f0c32254269f7f3e9f006d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-25T18:57:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 suelyribeirobarra.pdf: 2001060 bytes, checksum: 59c074b121f0c32254269f7f3e9f006d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-18 / O presente estudo procura descrever a trajetória teológica de John H. Hick, filósofo e teólogo inglês que se notabilizou por defender, ao que se refere ao diálogo inter-religioso, uma posição pluralista de acolhimento igualitário a todas as religiões. Escritor prolixo publicou inúmeros livros e artigos defendendo a sua hipótese pluralista em confronto com posições tradicionais do Cristianismo. Neste trabalho seus principais textos são apresentados e discutidos comparando-os com as demais posições nas diversas tradições religiosas com respeito à soteriologia humana tendo em vista o entendimento entre elas. / The present research try to describes the theological trajectory of John H. Hick, English philosopher and theologian who become well-know distinguished himself by defending, a pluralistic position regarding an equal treatment for all religions in religious dialogue. Wordy writer has published numerous books and articles advocating its pluralistic hypothesis in comparison with traditional positions of Christianity. In this work its main texts are presented and discussed by comparing them to other positions in the various religious traditions with respect to human soteriology in view of the understanding between them.

The contemporary debate concerning the Christian theology of religions has been profoundly shaped by Alan Race’s three-fold typology of exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism. Although the insufficiency of this typology’s descriptive and critical capacity has become increasingly acknowledged within the field, widespread agreement about its replacement remains elusive. This thesis argues that a replacement can be found in Hans Frei’s five-fold typology of Christian theology, which differentiates between a range of approaches to theology, from theology as philosophical discourse (Type 1) to theology as quarantined, Christian self-description (Type 5). It is suggested that the more basic question posed by Frei’s typology of how Christian theology is understood in relation to philosophy and other external discourses, provides a better means of accounting for the different positions in the Christian theology of religions within 20th century ecumenical movements. It is shown how Frei’s typology emerges from his emphasis on both the limitations and the significance of external discourses for Christian theology, an emphasis which results from his construal of the mystery of Christ’s universal presence as a function of the particular incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth. Chapter one considers the philosophical foundations upon which Race’s typology is constructed, with particular emphasis on Troeltsch’s historicism, Hick’s epistemology of religious experience and WC Smith’s phenomenological hermeneutic, concluding that they determine the typology’s apologetic approach. It is shown how these commitments lead Race’s typology to differentiate between types of Christian theology primarily in relation to the philosophical viability, as Race understands it, of their Christology. Chapter two focuses first on the theology of Hans Frei and his analysis of the relationship between Christology and historicism, epistemology, and hermeneutics. It is suggested that Frei’s focus on the ordering of the relationship between Christian theology and external discourses, while undermining Race’s approach, affirms the possibility of a theologically valuable relationship between Christian theology and external discourses. Moreover, unlike Race, Frei’s emphasis on the significance of external discourses for Christian theology is derived in light of, and not in spite of, a faith in the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Chapter three looks at Frei’s fivefold typology as a better means of accounting for the differences Race posits between exclusivists, inclusivists and pluralists. It is argued that in following Frei’s typological logic and the historical, epistemological and hermeneutical considerations characteristic of a Christian theology between types three and four, an approach to the theology of religions emerges which addresses the question of the universality of divine revelation – the central concern of Race’s typology – while also showing the inadequacy of Race’s typology and its prioritisation of philosophy. This will be shown by applying Frei’s typology to 20th century ecumenical movements and the positions on the theological significance of non-Christian religions that have emerged therein. Though Frei did not directly take up the issue of the Christian theology of religions, chapter three will demonstrate how his typology of Christian theology is of particular importance for this discussion. For his typology highlights the central question driving the theology of religions – how the ‘internal’ discourse of Christian self-description in reference to the gospels’ history-like witness to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ relates to the historically contingent, public world outside the church. The conclusion will point toward a constructive proposal for a theology of evangelism and interfaith dialogue in pluralist societies of the 21st century, drawing on the ecumenical discussion viewed in relation to the theological and typological insights of Hans Frei.