A Trinitarian Theology Of Religions

Named by the International Bulletin of Missionary Studies as an Outstanding Book of 2014 for Mission Studies Over the last four decades, evangelical scholars have shown growing interest in Christian debates over other religions, seeking answers to essential questions: How are we to think about and relate to other religions, be open to the Spirit, and at the same time remain evangelical and orthodox? Gerald R. McDermott and Harold A. Netland offer critiques of a variety of theologians and religious studies scholars, including evangelicals, but also challenge evangelicals to move beyond parochial positions. This volume is both a manifesto and a research program, critically evaluating the last forty years of Christian treatments of religious others and proposing a comprehensive direction for the future. It addresses issues relating to the religions in both systematic theology and missiology, taking up long-debated questions such as contextualization, salvation, revelation, the relationship between culture and religion, conversion, social action, and ecumenism. It concludes with responses from four leading thinkers of African, Asian, and European backgrounds: Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Vinoth Ramachandra, Lamin Sanneh, and Christine Schirrmacher.

A constructive new proposal for Christian dialogue with other faiths. Religious pluralism is today the most challenging issue facing traditional Christianity. This constructive work by a leading voice on the subjects of religious pluralism and interfaith relations probes the Christian understanding of God and salvation and offers a new perspective on religious pluralism that affirms unique salvation in Christ while also recognizing the religious ends of other faiths. The questions explored here are both difficult and enlightening. What is the distinctive nature of salvation? Is there a place in Christian theology for recognizing other religious ends in addition to salvation? In pursuit of meaningful answers, S. Mark Heim uses the classical doctrine of the Trinity to develop a theology that allows Christians to respect the possibility that alternative relations with God exist in other religions.

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.

The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most distinguishing marks of Christian faith. This is the first book to present an overview of the role of the Trinity in Christian theology in relation to religious pluralism and other religions. Approaching the study of the relationship between Christianity and other religions from the perspective of the Trinity, this book surveys all the major contributions to the topic by leading theologians at the international and ecumenical level. Veli-Matti Karkkainen points to future challenges and areas in need of development, examining in detail a case study exploring how the Catholic Church has responded to Islam from the perspective of the Trinity. Students of theology and religious studies will find this an invaluable text for courses that discuss religious pluralism and Christianity's relation to other religions. Pastors, other Christian workers, and academics will also find it a handy reference tool for teaching and further study.

(Peeters 1994)

The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most distinguishing marks of Christian faith. This is the first book to present an overview of the role of the Trinity in Christian theology in relation to religious pluralism and other religions. Approaching the study of the relationship between Christianity and other religions from the perspective of the Trinity, this book surveys all the major contributions to the topic by leading theologians at the international and ecumenical level. Veli-Matti Karkkainen points to future challenges and areas in need of development, examining in detail a case study exploring how the Catholic Church has responded to Islam from the perspective of the Trinity. Students of theology and religious studies will find this an invaluable text for courses that discuss religious pluralism and Christianity's relation to other religions. Pastors, other Christian workers, and academics will also find it a handy reference tool for teaching and further study.

How are Christians to think of non-Christian religions? How are they to relate to people who do not share their faith? Two senior scholars survey the field of theology of religions from an evangelical perspective, and propose fresh approaches to long-debated questions such as salvation, revelation, the relationship between culture and religion.

This work brings to light the Trinitarian riches in Thomas Aquinas's Christology.