RELIGIOUS PLURALISTS
What Are They Upto?
Keywords:
Journey of Religious “Pluralism”, First Order Theology and Second Order Theory, The Ambivalent Relationship between Theology and Philosophy, Second Order and First Order: A Marriage of Necessity, Theology as Communication, Blurring the Differences, Consequences, Restoring the Blurred Distinctions: The Thomist WayAbstract
When John Hick, Paul Knitter and others put forth a theory (rather, a family of theories) which they baptized as “pluralism,” it was hailed as a paradigm shift in theology. It has been hotly debated ever since, widely acclaimed, and roundly criticised. All of this was done on the assumption that it was a theology that they put forth, a “theology” of religions. But what if their proposal was not meant to be theology at all, as the protagonists themselves seem to acknowledge? It is called theology because of a built-in ambiguity of that discipline, an ambiguity that is carried on in fundamental theology and theology of religions today. I suggest that the tension between the two needs to be maintained in a more integral manner. Though the pluralists failed to do that, it is by keeping their concerns in mind together with an awareness of the shortcomings of their attempt that the further step can be taken.
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