Read more
Informationen zum Autor Gavin D'Costa is Professor of Christian Theology at Bristol University. He also works with the Church of England and Roman Catholic Committees on Other Faiths, and the Pontifical Council for Other Faiths, Vatican City, advising these communities on theological issues. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including Theology and the Public Square (Wiley-Blackwell, 2005), Sexing the Trinity (2000), and The Meeting of Religions and the Trinity (2000). Klappentext Why has the reality of other religions become a big problem for Christianity? In the past, Christianity has been able to largely ignore other religions but in recent decades, not just the reality, but the vitality of other religions has become a challenge. This accessible book tackles a number of questions arising from these changes: is belonging to one religion rather than another merely a matter of cultural preference?; is salvation the same among all religions?; and what can be learned from other religions? Considering wider issues of how modernity has defined "religion," Gavin D'Costa provides a substantial critique of secular ways of controlling religions, and shows how Christianity is very well suited to deal with religious plurality at the doctrinal and social level. The book makes a decisive contribution to debates about the clash between Islam and the West, arguing that the major threat to religious freedoms come from secularism, and that Islam and Christianity both have the resources to develop a vibrant and pluralist "public square" informed by intellectual debate. By engaging with the core questions and suggesting a pathway through the various answers that have been proposed in recent years, this is an ideal introduction to the field, and one which will help stimulate ideas and discussions. Zusammenfassung An engaging and accessible introduction to Christianity's relationship with other world religions, addressing the questions of why the reality, and vitality, of other religions has become a challenge, and showing how Christianity is equipped to deal with religious plurality at both the doctrinal and social level. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface ix Part I: Charting the Territory: Theology of Religions 1 1 Early Map Making 3 Introduction 3 Pluralism 9 Inclusivism 19 Exclusivism 25 2 Changing the Angle: Recent Maps 34 Some Criticisms of the Threefold Typology 34 Comparative Theology 37 Postmodern Postliberalism 45 Part II: The Making and Meaning of Religions 55 3 Modernity's Story 57 Introduction 57 Modernity's Story about Religions 58 4 An Alternative: The Secular Construction of the Sacred Modernity as the Establishment of a New Ruling 74 Religion 74 Conclusion 102 Part III: Religions in the Public Square 103 5 Whose Religion and Which Public Square? 105 The Public Square 105 A Taxonomy of Secular Modernity and Postmodernity 107 6 Christian and Muslim Public Squares 128 Roman Catholicism, Modernity and Religious Plurality 128 Islam, Reasoned Debate, and Religious Plurality 136 Part IV: Christ's Descent into Hell 159 7 Old Doctrines for New Jobs 161 Introduction 161 "The Descent": Introduction to the "Circles of Hell" 165 The Limbo of the Just and the Unevangelized 167 8 Further into the Inferno 188 Purgatory and the Non-Christian 188 The Children's Limbo 194 The Descent into Hell 201 Bibliography 212 Subject Index 225 Index of Works 233 ...
