In the well-worn debates about religious pluralism and the theology of religions there have been many different rubrics used to account for, comprehend, or engage with the religious other. This book is chiefly a work of Christian theology and seeks to bring the doctrine of creation and the theology of religions into dialogue and in so doing it comes at things from a different direction than other works. It contains an extensive exploration of the doctrine of creation and asks how it might intervene distinctively in these discourses to produce a new conceptual and practical topography. It will consider inter-religious engagement from the perspective of the doctrine of I creatio ex nihilo /I that forms the dominant view in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. The book pays close consideration to anthropology (i.e. creaturehood), the quotidian and wisdom, the idea of 'sabbath, ' human action and work, and vivifying the immanent through a consideration of some representative phenomenologists. The book will develop these ideas in a more practical direction by considering sacraments and rituals in the public sphere as well as attempting to describe the kind of 'creational politics' that might bring traditions into dialogue. Whilst these themes challenge more conventional ways of considering relations between religions, such themes - because they are different from concerns commonly found in the literature - can also be profitably engaged with across the spectrum of opinion (i.e. exclusivist or pluralist etc.) Thus, whilst the position adopted in this work is I creatio ex nihilo /I part of the motivation is to review the ways in which this focus helps to broaden rather than limit the discussion.

Harold Netland traces the emergence of the pluralistic ethos that challenges Christian faith and mission, interacting heavily with philosopher John Hick and providing a framework for developing a comprehensive evangelical theology of religions.

One of today's foremost theologians presents the case for embracing religious pluralism as integral to the Christian gospel. Religious pluralism is a fact in North American society today. More than at any other time, adherents of different religious traditions live, work, and play side by side. Yet the fact of religious pluralism creates a tension for a large number of Christians. At the same time they have realized that Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and members of many other religious groups have become their neighbors, they are also aware of Christian teachings that seem to exclude these groups. Statements such as "no one comes to the Father except through me," and "outside the church there is no salvation," seem to imply that these new neighbors are not part of the family of God, or at least that their religious beliefs and practices are not viable avenues to human wholeness and salvation. In this insightful and irenic work, Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki demonstrates that Christians need not ignore, nor even compromise, the teachings of the gospel in order to accept and rejoice in religious pluralism. She argues that the Christian doctrines of creation, incarnation, the image of God, and the reign of God make the diversity of religions necessary. Without such diversity the rich and deep community of humanity that is the goal of the Christian gospel cannot be realized. Along the way Suchocki rejects the exclusivist claim that there can be no relationship with God apart from the church, and the inclusivist idea that Christianity is the highest expression of the search for God, with other religions possessing in part that which Christians possess in full. She argues instead for a pluralist position, insisting on a full recognition of the distinctive gifts that all of the religious traditions bring to the human table.

Proposes an original approach to religious diversity, from religious pluralism and inter-faith dialogue to new existential challenges.

In the well-worn debates about religious pluralism and the theology of religions there have been many different rubrics used to account for, comprehend, or engage with the religious other. This book is chiefly a work of Christian theology and seeks to bring the doctrine of creation and the theology of religions into dialogue and in so doing it comes at things from a different direction than other works. It contains an extensive exploration of the doctrine of creation and asks how it might intervene distinctively in these discourses to produce a new conceptual and practical topography. It will consider inter-religious engagement from the perspective of the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo that forms the dominant view in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. The book pays close consideration to anthropology (i.e. creaturehood), the quotidian and wisdom, the idea of 'sabbath,' human action and work, and vivifying the immanent through a consideration of some representative phenomenologists. The book will develop these ideas in a more practical direction by considering sacraments and rituals in the public sphere as well as attempting to describe the kind of 'creational politics' that might bring traditions into dialogue. Whilst these themes challenge more conventional ways of considering relations between religions, such themes - because they are different from concerns commonly found in the literature - can also be profitably engaged with across the spectrum of opinion (i.e. exclusivist or pluralist etc.) Thus, whilst the position adopted in this work is creatio ex nihilo part of the motivation is to review the ways in which this focus helps to broaden rather than limit the discussion.

Inspired by pragmatism, this book addresses religious plurality with the aim of bringing forth how it may be approached constructively by Christian theology. Accordingly, not doctrine, but practices are focussed in its analyses of interreligious topics. Henriksen argues that engagement with the diversity of religious traditions should be grounded in openness towards the other, and resistance against making others similar to oneself. Accordingly, the book presents a theological approach where interaction between religious practitioners is considered a benefit and a necessity for the positive future of religious traditions. It will be of interest to anyone who is interested in the understanding of religious pluralism from the point of view of Christian theology.

Christian theologians have for some decades affirmed that they have no monopoly on encounters with God or ultimate reality and that other religions also have access to religious truth and transformation. If that is the case, the time has come for Christians not only to learn about but also from their religious neighbors. Circling the Elephant affirms that the best way to be truly open to the mystery of the infinite is to move away from defensive postures of religious isolationism and self-sufficiency and to move, in vulnerability and openness, toward the mystery of the neighbor. Employing the ancient Indian allegory of the elephant and blind(folded) men, John J. Thatamanil argues for the integration of three often-separated theological projects: theologies of religious diversity (the work of accounting for why there are so many different understandings of the elephant), comparative theology (the venture of walking over to a different side of the elephant), and constructive theology (the endeavor of re-describing the elephant in light of the other two tasks). Circling the Elephant also offers an analysis of why we have fallen short in the past. Interreligious learning has been obstructed by problematic ideas about “religion” and “religions,” Thatamanil argues, while also pointing out the troubling resonances between reified notions of “religion” and “race.” He contests these notions and offers a new theory of the religious that makes interreligious learning both possible and desirable. Christians have much to learn from their religious neighbors, even about such central features of Christian theology as Christ and the Trinity. This book envisions religious diversity as a promise, not a problem, and proposes a new theology of religious diversity that opens the door to robust interreligious learning and Christian transformation through encountering the other.

This text presents a new critical theory addressing religious diversity, Christian religious privilege, and Christian hegemony in the United States. It meets a growing and urgent need in our society—the need to bring together religiously diverse ways of thinking and being in the world, and eventually to transform our society through intentional pluralism. The primary goal of Critical Religious Pluralism Theory (CRPT) is to acknowledge the central roles of religious privilege, oppression, hegemony, and marginalization in maintaining inequality between Christians and non-Christians (including the nonreligious) in the United States. Following analysis of current literature on religious, secular, and spiritual identities within higher education, and in-depth discussion of critical theories on other identity elements, the text presents seven tenets of CRPT alongside seven practical guidelines for utilizing the theory to combat the very inequalities it exposes. For the first time, a critical theory will address directly the social impacts of religious diversity and its inherent benefits and complications in the United States. Critical Religious Pluralism in Higher Education will appeal to scholars, researchers, and graduate students in higher education, as well as critical theorists from other disciplines.

Founding his argument on a close reading of St. Augustine?s De Trinitate, Keith Johnson critiques four recent attempts to construct a pluralistic theology of religions out of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity.

with a Postcript coauthored by Michael W. Goheen In print for two decades and translated into eight languages, Albert Wolters's classic formulation of an integrated Christian worldview has been revised and expanded to reach new readers beyond the generation that has already benefited from this clear, concise proposal for transcending the false dichotomy between sacred and secular. Wolters begins by defining the nature and scope of a worldview, distinguishing it from philosophy and theology. He then outlines a Reformed analysis of the three basic categories in human history -- creation, fall, and redemption -- arguing that while the fall reaches into every corner of the world, Christians are called to participate in Christ's redemption of all creation. This Twentieth Anniversary edition features a new concluding chapter, coauthored with Michael Goheen, that helpfully places the discussion of worldview in a broader narrative and missional context.