The Inter-Religious Frontier

The article explores the phenomenon of Christians who seek to maintain forms of multiple religious identity. It offers a dual-belonging theology from an Evangelical missiological perspective, with special reference to Christian and Buddhist traditions. The article seeks to offer some trajectories whereby softer forms of dual religious identity may not be incompatible with Evangelical faith. It uses theology of religion as a framework for understanding the phenomenon of multi-religious belonging. First, various types or expressions of multi-religious belonging are described in order to provide a more precise tool for analyzing various forms of religious belonging. Secondly, some of the apparent issues surrounding insider movements are framed in relation to the three typologies of pluralism, inclusivism and exclusivism, demonstrating how different paradigms in the theology of religions raise different sets of questions, add new perspectives and hopefully contribute toward theological clarity on some pastoral or mission issues. Finally, some brief considerations are offered for building a dual-belonging theology.