No One Ascends Alone

2020 ◽  
pp. 70-107
Author(s):  
John J. Thatamanil
Keyword(s):  
Religious Diversity ◽  
John Hick ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Catherine Keller

This chapter surveys and assesses major contemporary versions of pluralist and particularist theologies of religious diversity including those of John Hick, David Ray Griffin, and Mark Heim. While finding commendable elements in each, the chapter argues for a relational pluralism derived from the work of Roland Faber and Catherine Keller. Central to the work of this chapter is the challenge to accounts of “religion” which tend to homogenize out difference and accounts of “religions” which tend to reify traditions over against each other. Even positive pluralist accounts that seek to speak of the different religions as valid paths up the same or even different mountains often fail to recognize just how deeply intertwined religious traditions are. Relational pluralism, by contrast, rightly recognizes that religious traditions have always emerged in relation and that their ongoing flourishing will continue to require relational encounter.

scholarly journals Getting off the Omnibus: Rejecting Free Will and Soul-Making Responses to the Problem of Evil

Open Theology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
Brian C. Macallan
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
John Hick ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Greater Good ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Powerful Process

AbstractThe nature of suffering and the problem of evil have been perennial issues for many of the world’s religious traditions. Each in their own way has sought to address this problem, whether driven by the all too present reality of suffering or from philosophical and religious curiosities. The Christian tradition has offered numerous and diverse responses to the problem of evil. The free-will response to the problem of evil, with its roots in Augustine, has dominated the landscape in its attempt to justify evil and suffering as a result of the greater good of having free will. John Hick offers a ‘soul-making’ response to the problem of evil as an alternative to the free will response. Neither is effective in dealing with two key issues that underpin both responses – omnipotence and omniscience. In what follows I will contrast a process theological response to the problem of evil and suffering, and how it is better placed in dealing with both omnipotence and omniscience. By refashioning God as neither all-knowing nor all-powerful, process theodicy moves beyond the dead ends of both the free will and soul-making theodicy. Indeed, a process theodicy enables us to dismount the omnibus in search of a more holistic, and realistic, alternative to dealing with the problem of evil and suffering.

In defence of a contented religious exclusivism

2000 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEROME GELLMAN
Keyword(s):  
Religious Belief ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
John Hick ◽  
The Face

In this paper I defend the possibility that a ‘contented religious exclusivist’, will be fully rational and not neglectful of any of her epistemic duties when faced with the world’s religious diversity. I present an epistemic strategy for reflecting on one's beliefs and then present two features of religious belief that make contented exclusivism a rational possibility. I then argue against the positions of John Hick, David Basinger, and Steven Wykstra on contented exclusivism, and criticize an overly optimistic conception of rationality. Finally, I describe a contented exclusivist who might very well not be fully rational in the face of religious diversity.

Secularism and Multiculturalism in India: Some Reflections

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rochana Bajpai
Keyword(s):  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Hindu Nationalism ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

What role does secularism have in the governance of religious diversity in an age marked by the assertion of religio-cultural identities across the world? India, with its long history of religious pluralism, a state ideology of secularism, and the ascendancy of Hindu nationalism, is a key site for examining the disposition of secularism towards religious identities and diversity. Secularism and multiculturalism are often seen as opposed in political debates involving religious minorities, notably the well-known French headscarf case. Several scholars have suggested that religious traditions offer better resources for toleration than modern secularism (for India, see, for example, Madan 1998: 316; Nandy 1998:336–7). Others, more sympathetic to secularism, have also suggested that it may be deficient in the normative resources required for the accommodation of religious practices, particularly in the case of minorities (Mahajan, this volume; Modood 2010).

Ties and Identities

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 69-104
Author(s):  
Doriano Saracino
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Statistical Data ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Prison System ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Inclusive Approach ◽  
Meaningful Relationships

Abstract Immigration from the Global South is a recent phenomenon in Italy, which is turning from a prevalently homogenous Catholic country into a multi-faith one. This transformation is evident too in prisons, where people from different religious traditions share space. The long road from religious diversity to social acceptance of differences is difficult. The public debate concerns essentially Muslim inmates, and the arguments swing from ‘securitarian’ views to an inclusive approach as an alternative way to prevent radicalisation. The lack of meaningful relationships between inmates of different faiths and their religious communities can be a serious obstacle to social reinsertion. An analysis of the Italian prison system with statistical data and qualitative research enables us to outline a model of the evolution of the penitentiary systems.

Presbyterians, Religious Diversity, and World Religions

2019 ◽  
pp. 437-456
Author(s):  
Martha L. Moore-Keish
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Traditional Religions ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
African Traditional Religions ◽  
The Church

This chapter on Presbyterians, religious diversity, and world religions offers a few important caveats and then describes major themes in Presbyterian engagement of religious diversity: the sovereignty and freedom of God, the significance of Jesus Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, the nature of revelation, the role of scripture, and the church. It then walks through the five centuries of Presbyterianism, noting how Presbyterians have engaged with and interpreted the changing world of many religions, drawing from philosophical, theological, and historical sources. It briefly describes Presbyterian interaction with the particular religious traditions of Judaism, Islam, African traditional religions, and Hinduism. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of contemporary challenges and theological trajectories.

scholarly journals Religious Belonging in the East Asian Context: An Exploration of Rhizomatic Belonging

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daan Oostveen
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Philosophical Concept ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Asian Context

This article explores the hermeneutical challenges to understand religious belonging and religious identity in the East Asian context. In East Asia, religious identities have not always been as exclusively delineated, as is the case in Western models of religious diversity, for example in the so-called World Religions paradigm. Various theoretical frameworks are discussed in religious studies, sociology and anthropology of religion in China and East Asia, to acquire a better understanding of religious belonging. It is observed that two hermeneutical frameworks are used by scholars to discuss religious diversity: a hermeneutics of multiple religions and a hermeneutics of religiosity. The former analyses “religious belonging” as a “belonging to religious traditions”. In the latter, “religious belonging” is understood as transcending particular religious traditions. It is argued that we need to take another look at the philosophical concept of “multiplicity” to understand religious diversity and religious belonging. We can use the Deleuzian concepts of “rhizome” and “assemblage” to describe religious belongings in East Asia specifically and also religion in general. A rhizomatic thinking about religion enables us to reimagine the concept of religious belonging as rhizomatic belonging, and also, as is argued by Haiyan Lee and Mayfair Yang, make it possible to subvert power structures inherent to religion.

scholarly journals Religious Experience, Hindu Pluralism, and Hope: Anubhava in the Tradition of Sri Ramakrishna

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffery Long
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Ultimate Reality ◽  
John Hick ◽  
Direct Experience ◽  
William Alston ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Religious Subject ◽  
Pluralistic Approach ◽  
Swami Vivekananda

The pluralistic turn in modern Hindu thought corresponds with the rise of an emphasis on direct experience of divine realities in this tradition. Both pluralism and a focus on experience have precedents in premodern Hindu traditions, but have become especially prominent in modern Hinduism. The paradigmatic example in the modern period of a religious subject embarking upon a pluralistic quest for direct experience of ultimate reality as mediated through multiple religious traditions is the nineteenth century Bengali sage, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836–1886), whose most famous disciple, Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) played a prominent role in the promotion of the idea of Hinduism as largely defined by a religious pluralism paired with an emphasis on direct experience. The focus in the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda on Brahman as a universal reality available, at least in principle, to being experienced by anyone, and interpreted using the categories of the experiencing subject’s religion or culture, gives rise to a corresponding pluralism: a move towards seeing many religions and philosophies as conducive to the experience of a shared ultimate reality. This paper will analyze the theme of experience in the thought of these two figures, and other figures who are representative of this broad trend in modern Hindu thought, as well as in conversation with recent academic philosophers and theorists of religious experience, John Hick and William Alston. It will also argue that aspects of Hinduism, such as pluralism and an emphasis on direct experience, that are often termed as ‘Neo-Vedantic’ or ‘Neo-Hindu’ are not simply modern constructs, as these terms seem to suggest, but are reflective of much older trends in Hindu thought that become central themes in the thought of key Hindu figures in the modern period. Finally, it shall be argued that a pluralistic approach to the diversity of religions, and of worldviews more generally, is to be commended as an approach more conducive to human survival than the current global proliferation of ethno-nationalisms.

Dialogue and the Imagination: Reflections by an Indian Christian Artist

Exchange ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-70
Author(s):  
Jyoti Sahi
Keyword(s):  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Buddhist Tradition ◽  
Biblical Narratives ◽  
Indian Aesthetics ◽  
Modern Context ◽  
Implied Meaning

AbstractAs an Indian Christian artist, I have reflected on Jesus’s dialogue with the Woman at the Well . Here we see the relation of Jesus to cultures beyond the Jewish one. The Biblical text has many layers of meaning. In Indian aesthetics, we learn of the ‘Dhvani’ or ‘implied meaning’ of a text. This implied meaning is discovered by the imagination, and is the basis for a re-interpretation of the text in our modern context of religious diversity, and ecological challenges. Attempts to relate Biblical narratives to images found in other religious traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, have sometimes been questioned as being syncretistic. However, a story like that of the woman at the well, has echoes in a similar story to be found in the Buddhist tradition, and in the universal theme of water, and its importance for life.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document