We have no good reason to believe that any one of the great religious traditions has shown itself to be more productive of love/compassion than another. – John Hick

As we move beyond the exclusive and inclusive view that God’s revelation in Jesus Christ is unique and normative, we find a complex array of options. As we begin to make our way into this labyrinth, we must first understand that pluralism is another one of those words that can have a variety of meanings.

The first year that my congregation observed Pluralism Sunday, a member emailed to ask exactly what “pluralism” was. Depending on my answer, he wasn’t sure he could support it. I appreciated his question because the word is thrown around a lot; you will often see it used interchangeably with diversity, interfaith and multi-culturalism.

But as a theological position, it is much more specific. A pluralist affirms other religions as authentic ways of salvation or liberation on their own terms. Claims of Christianity as either the only way (exclusivism) or the hidden fulfillment of other ways (inclusivism) are rejected. So, for instance, the original Pluralism Sunday web site, Celebrating the Many Paths to God said:

“Progressive Christians thank God for religious diversity! We don’t claim that our religion is superior to all others. We recognize that other religions can be as good for others as ours is for us. (italics mine) We can grow closer to God and deeper in compassion—and we can understand our own traditions better—through a more intimate awareness of the world’s religions.”

Although the last decade of the 20th century brought about a flurry of writing about pluralism, the position is not new. It can be traced back to Ernst Troeltsch (1865- 1923) in his essay “The Place of Christianity among the World’s Religions” and William Hocking (1873–1966) in Rethinking Missions. Both argued that Christianity could not claim any special status among the world’s religions; it was one among many equally valid paths to salvation. This shift in thinking challenged the claim that Christ was the only revelation of God. Troeltsch, for instance, acknowledged the experience of God through Christ, but countered with the qualification that “this experience is undoubtedly the criterion of its validity, but be it noted, only of its validity for us.”

A good place to begin an exploration of pluralism is with the work of Diana Eck, arguably the most familiar pluralist today. She has become well known through her work on the Pluralism Project at Harvard University and books such as The New Religious America and Encountering God: a Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Benares. Her description of pluralism is “the engagement of our differences in the creation of a common society. On the Pluralism Project web site, rather than offering a more concise definition, she give us “four points to begin our thinking.”

In the first point she clarifies the distinction between diversity and pluralism: “Pluralism is not diversity alone, but the energetic engagement with diversity.”

The second point addresses the limitations of religious tolerance: “Pluralism is not just tolerance, but the active seeking of understanding across lines of difference.”

The third point begins to get at the often-expressed fear that pluralists are on a slippery slope of relativism: “Pluralism is not relativism, but the encounter of commitments. The new paradigm of pluralism . . . means holding our deepest differences, even our religious differences, not in isolation, but in relationship to one another.”

Finally, Eck’s fourth point gives us the methodology of pluralism: “Pluralism is based on dialogue. The language of pluralism is that of dialogue and encounter, give and take, criticism and self-criticism. Dialogue means both speaking and listening, and that process reveals both common understandings and real differences. Dialogue does not mean everyone at the “table” will agree with one another. Pluralism involves the commitment to being at the table — with one’s commitments.”

These points give us a way to begin our thinking, however they do not answer all our questions. Nor do they try; Eck is not offering a pluralist theology or Christology. Is such a thing even possible? That question was once posed to Welton Gaddy, former executive director of the Interfaith Alliance in Washington, D.C. His response was that he thought that it is not. His advice to those who would enter into interreligious encounters was to listen to one another. While his view, seen from the perspective of a political organization, is understandable, many are making the attempt to make theological sense of our multi-religious world. Ever since the days of Troeltsch and Hocking, other theologians have been busy grappling with the question of how to be faithful to Jesus while also opening up to others for whom Jesus is not “the Way.”

And now the subject gets very complicated. Different branches spring (and continue to spring) from the pluralism tree. I could attempt to distill the thinking of theologians on the subject, but that would take a whole other book, and frankly others have already done that. My intention is to give you a taste of where scholarship is today – with the caveat that it is a work in process; scholars themselves are creating a river that is flowing and alive with life. For those who want definitive answers, this concept may seem like their worst nightmare. But if we step into the river without fear, with openness to learning about other ways of answering our deepest questions, perhaps we will discover some answers for ourselves.

From The INTRAfaith Conversation: How Do Christians Talk Among Ourselves About INTERfaith Matters by Susan M. Strouse, Wilgefortis Press, San Francisco (April 13, 2016)

Footnotes
(1) Hick, John, The Metaphor of God Incarnate: Christology in a pluralistic age, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006, 138.

(2) Troeltsch, Ernst, The Place of Christianity Among the World Religions in Christian Thought: Its History and Application (1957), 26.

(3) Eck, Diana. “Our Religion, Our Neighbors, Ourselves.” PBS.org.

(4) Eck, Diana, “What is Pluralism?” pluralism.org.

(5) The Interfaith Alliance, 1331 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005, was founded in 1994 to promote interfaith cooperation around shared religious values to strengthen the public’s commitment to the American values of civic participation, freedom of religion, diversity, and civility in public discourse and to encourage the active involvement of people of faith in the nation’s political life.

(6) Gaddy, Welton, “A Strategy for Interfaith Cooperation and Understanding,” (lecture presented at the Chautauqua Institution, June 27, 2001), Chautauqua, NY.