Faithful and pluralistic: engagement among people of living faiths.

Brian Wren, writer of hymns, titled one "Each Seeking Faith" (# 13, Bring Many Names). The verses expect a person to seek faith through light, truth, peace and life. Verse 2 states:

   Each seeking faith is seeking truth, for truth is lived by seeking,
   and though our faiths conflict, no dogma can restrict
   the power of truth set free on earth in honest meeting.

The hymn concludes: "In every faith the Light, the Life, is shining, speaking."

In a Roundtable discussion of feminist theology, Grace Burford asked whether, "one must reject claims to religious truth in order to engage fruitfully with someone who holds different religious truth claims" (Gross, et. al., 88).

People loyal to diverse religions meet God in this, God's world. Hindu bhaktin may reveal their devotion through poetry. Compassionate Buddhists know discipline beyond attachment to material things. Jews feel "chosen" to tell of God's love for all nations, faithful when not claimed as personal or national privilege. Through the parables of Jesus, Christians discover the character of God and God's gracious ways of relating with humanity. In this God's world, people of living faiths worship through distinct rituals. They make claims of spiritual truth and realize the need to cooperate to bring about justice for more people.

Christianity is not a synonym for the term religion. Yet, the term theology has been narrowly tied to the Christian faith. Yvonne Chireau suggests that theology was "wedded to a confessional and apologetic, bible-centered project" (Gross, et. al., 103). Perhaps "pluralist religious discourse" might well replace the term theology. For, any study of God or thought about that which is central to religious traditions needs to bring together concepts from varied living faiths. Christians cannot presume that our distinct piece reflects the whole. Nor need we fear diversity, be hostile toward difference, or denounce those with God-concepts that name Allah or value a goddess form. To forever expect others to see things the way we do--to accept exclusive, western truth claims, for example-shows our refusal to respect their licit worldview.

Religious language will be flexible yet intentional. The concept of faith surrounds the title for this article. Here, pluralistic refers to being open to the fact that more than one sacred path reaches toward the One God or the Real. Multiple options enable a good and meaningful life for religious people. Plurality reflects much of life, as the Creator designed and desires it. Pluralist is also often compared with exclusivist and inclusivist to describe Christian postures toward salvation or theologies of religions. The verbal in the title--engagement--suggests active connection and exchange. To relate across living faiths may involve both social activism and spiritual depth. Sensitive people regret referring to those who differ as "other" if doing so presumes that the speaker's stance alone is normative. Those who meet in honesty claim a common energy, perhaps called Spirit or Shakti, as present through all time to empower all people.

Feminist theology, a key shaper of my worldview, values and hopes to further divulge diverse religious voices. As Christian feminists address the suffering caused by exclusive thought in certain Christian truth claims, we listen to feminist voices of distinct religions. The voice of Amina Wadud that grieves when she is "marginalized for the most important decision of her life--surrender to the embrace of Islam" (Gross et. al., 92). The voice of Susan Sered that longs for others to value new, vibrant rituals created by Jewish women (Ibid., 106). The Buddhist voice of Judith Simmer-Brown that names qualities of deep engagement across living traditions: openness or mutual inquiry, curiosity, self-critique, willingness to experience the partner's religion "from within," and trust that the engagement will transform the self (Ibid., 110). The voice of Carol Christ that suggests issues to discuss across religious boundaries: the self(relationship, community and autonomy); embodiment, suffering, and death; nature and the environment; prayer and meditation; social ethics; method, symbols, and rituals; and conceptions of divine power (Ibid., 81).

Exclusivist, Inclusivist, and Pluralist

Karl Koop states that the Christian exclusivist position declares: "only those who hear the Gospel proclaimed and explicitly confess Christ as their Savior will be saved" (87). Likewise, Lesslie Newbigin hears exclusivists declare that "all who do not accept Jesus as Lord and Savior are eternally lost." (174). Shirley Guthrie marks exclusivism as the assertion among some Christians that their religion is the one true religion in contrast to all other false ones. They believe that they have the truth while others do not (45).

According to Guthrie, Christians with a pluralistic view believe that for them Jesus is "the way, truth, and life." They know that multiple paths to God exist and believe that Jesus is one way but not likely the only way to know God. While Christians are saved through the name of Jesus, other people of faith know other saving "names," other channels to a meaningful life unknown to most Christians. A common faith exists in one God, and believers understand that God is "at work saving in all [faithful groups]." Not suggesting that "all religions are equally true," the pluralist posture values religions that reveal distinct qualifies. They credit mystery in a loving and just transcendent Being. They give direction and meaning to life, promote psychological wholeness, maintain high ethical standards, work to liberate all people, and integrate individuals and nations into a larger human community (46).

Writers also question religious pluralism. Lesslie Newbigin affirms Jesus Christ as the "unique and decisive revelation of God for the salvation of the world." He then presumes that pluralism denies the uniqueness of Jesus. But, rather than deny the unique death and resurrection or redemptive nature of Jesus the Christ, pluralists recognize that all living faiths claim distinct qualifies. Koop sees the pluralist position as modernist. He says that pluralist Christians: 1) support a relative argument that "all religions are equally valid," 2) claim "Christ as one revelation among other equally important revelations," and 3) view "the history of religions as a story of God's activity without making any special claims for Christianity" (88). Koop's use of the word "equally" in the first two statements and his denial of any special Christian claim reveal how people can distort a pluralist stance or confuse it with a universalist posture.

Some indusivists are called mediators between the pluralist and exclusivist views; others believe that they reject both. Inclusivists, like exclusivists, argue "that Christianity is the true, unique, and definitive religion" (Guthrie, 46). They acknowledge Christ as the only Savior. But with pluralists, they insist that God's grace also works outside Christianity and the church. Although people of other living faiths do not confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, inclusivists believe that those people will be saved because God's grace enables them to be truly religious and ethically engaged. Mediated divine grace makes those people Christian, in their own way. Karl Rahner identifies them as "anonymous Christians." Whether Christians would value being called "anonymous" Hindus or Muslims by people loyal to those religions, if we met a certain criterion of theirs, needs to be asked. A key task of interreligious dialogue requires making sure that the other is accurately heard and described.

All labels risk being inadequate. Newbigin claimed to both reflect and reject all three types:

   He is exclusivist [as] he affirms the unique truth of revelation in
   Jesus Christ but not exclusivist in the sense of denying the
   possibility of the salvation of a non-Christian. He is inclusivist
   [as] he refuses to limit the saving grace of God to Christians but
   he rejects the inclusivist stance that non-Christian religions are
   vehicles of salvation. He claims to be pluralist as he acknowledges
   the gracious work of God in the lives of all human beings, but he
   rejects pluralism that [he presumes] denies the uniqueness and
   decisiveness of what God has done in Jesus Christ. (182-83)

Alternative Models

People have given alternative names to theologies of religion, or offered additional views. Paul F. Knitter's recent book, rifled Theologies of Religions, suggests four models. He calls them: Replacement: "Only One True Religion"; Fulfillment: "The One Fulfills the Many"; and Mutuality: "Many True Religions Called to Dialogue." This terminology takes the place of the three more common terms (exclusivist, inclusivist, pluralist). Knitter adds an Acceptance model: "Many True Religions: So Be It." He identifies specific adherents to each model, offering insight and questions. Without disclosing his own stance, Knitter reveals "intellectual empathy" in describing the speakers and positions presented.

Key insights named for the Replacement model are Centrality of Scripture in the Christian Life, Reality of Evil and Need for Help, and Jesus as the One and Only. In essence, those who do not know Jesus cannot "know and experience God's embracing, saving love" (73; all page numbers in this section refer to Knitter's Theologies of Religions). Identified primarily as Evangelical Protestant, the Replacement model is presented through spokesman Karl Barth.

Miroslav Volf cautiously suggests a stance of "provisional certitude." Because people are not God, we cannot presume to possess the final truth or to assert having absolute knowledge regarding Jesus Christ as "the way, truth, and life." Since all Christian beliefs are personal human beliefs, they are provisional. And to declare that our beliefs are provisional means that we also "understand the views of others as possibly true" (54). Further, for Christians to declare "Jesus as the only Savior" would mean that we know and have experience with other religions enough to know that in fact those others do not have figures who affect people's lives similarly to the way Jesus transforms life for Christians (58).

Knitter's Fulfillment model presumes more Roman Catholic representation; Karl Rahner and Jacques Dupuis are key voices. A central idea is that those who do not know Jesus can still experience the saving love of God, though for them it will be less full or clear. Significant change came with Vatican II. Prior to the 1960s, most Christians presumed that God could not utilize religions other than Christianity. Nor did Roman Catholic Church members believe until then that Protestant churches were authentic, or "really Christian." (Knowing how this seemingly arrogant view disturbs me, a Protestant, gives insight into how offensive some "only" Christian truth claims can be for people loyal to other living faiths.)

Protestants, perhaps notably Evangelicals, have resisted the movement toward interreligious dialogue and openness that followed Vatican II action. A personal experience prodded my interest in it. As Mennonite Board of Missions board members in the mid-'80s, we were looking toward the next five-year program block, global and local. On seeing statistics, I said: "In light of centers of population growth, that Christianity has continued to be the chosen faith of 30 to 33 percent of the world is remarkable. Further, God is likely vital to and interactive with people of faiths other than Christian." That last sentence prompted the chairman to call an executive session of the board "to assess whether Dorothy's theology is compatible with being an MBM board member." Surprised to have my sincere faith in God questioned, I nevertheless stayed on the board, silently vowing to explore God's limits to or breadth of salvation. Conviction to value and engage in interreligious dialogue increased. This article continues the journey.

Rahner's Fulfillment view did indeed stun others at the time. He said that non-Christian religions can be "a positive means of gaining the right relationship to God and thus for the attaining of salvation, a means which is therefore positively included in God's plan of salvation" (71). Then in 1996, the Vatican International Theological Commission also affirmed that: "other traditions have a 'saving function' and therefore can be 'a means [that] helps for the salvation of their adherents.'" That people in other living faiths feel the presence of God suggests their being saved. However, the Fulfillment model believes that Christ is the fulfillment of the yearning active in all religions of the world. Knitter also notes related themes of Pope John Paul II: 1) The religions can be considered "ways of salvation"; 2) The church must be dialogical; and 3) The church is in the service of God's Reign or Kingdom (81-84).

Asian Catholics have endorsed a "Kingdom-centered" understanding of the church for decades. Following Jesus' pattern, the church's purpose is to enable God's Reign. Because talk about "Jesus as the one and only Savior" creates hostility, Asians prefer to speak about Jesus as the "Teacher of wisdom, the Healer, the Liberator, or Compassionate Friend of the Poor." These titles commend what was special about Jesus without denying that other religious figures are also special. Such efforts move toward creating harmony rather than comparing negatively, even though religious differences will always exist. The goal for Christians is to have strong conviction that God truly calls us in Christ but not to presume that our call is the only one that God offers to all of humanity (105).

Knitter's ecumenical Mutuality model stresses both God's universal love and God's presence in religions. It expands the above ideas of truly and God's Reign. While Christians say that "Jesus truly embodies and expresses God's love," we stop short of saying that he does so solely or fully. Not the whole of God, Jesus is wholly God. Other religious figures might also be wholly God (122-23). For mutual dialogue, participants value the fact that more than a single figure or religion can convey God's love and grace.

Those in honest dialogue also look to basic global needs. Through his core message of the Reign of God, Jesus' focused on transforming society, not on increased numbers of followers. Not centered on himself or his authority, Jesus cared for how people live with each other, for how victims are released from what binds them. Edward Schillebeeckx sees the Reign or Kingdom of God as the saving presence of God--in active justice, peaceful relationships, and restored life (145, 143). So, too, Christians committed to dialogue will choose to be faithful to Jesus' unique way of sharing God's love with victims. Doing so, they attract rather than repel their conversation partners of other living faiths.

Knitter discusses four key issues that describe the Mutuality model: the Need for New Answers, Jesus as Sacrament of God's love, a Spirit Christology, and a Christology of Mutuality (152-57). A comment about each follows. 1) As Christians experience signs of grace in other religions, they see the need to revise the traditional concept that Jesus is the sole source of God's salvation. To listen first to another's conviction reshapes (makes more modest) how Christians formulate their own true claims. 2) As the sacrament or symbol of God's love, Jesus saves. Not intent to stand alone to fix something, he stands with others. He welcomes others to also reveal the One God. 3) The same Spirit who has been present since the world began actively empowered Jesus; [she] continues to enable all people. Totally attuned to the Spirit when human, Jesus was not the only incarnated expression of God. The Spirit's agenda neither contradicts Jesus nor is confined to him. 4) Jesus the Word of God connects with other Words of God. Or, as John Cobb suggests, "Christ is the Way that is open to other Ways." So the mutual needs to witness and be witnessed to persist-dialogue prevails. Participants engage from within their own religious experience, directed by God or Truth. They claim both distinct differences and common ground.

Knitter's Acceptance model moves beyond the traditional three. In an earlier resource he had presented a co-relational focus; whether he will develop a kenotic (self-emptying) approach is yet to be seen. Central to the Acceptance model is acceptance of real diversity among living faiths. A key thinker presented is S. Mark Heim. In a straightforward manner, the reality of diversity is valued. For example, "'the many' cannot be boiled down to 'the one.' Truth always takes different shapes, assumes different identities." It is plural not singular. "Diversity doesn't dominate; it invites and exhilarates.... There is nothing that can be truly declared 'common' to all religions ... adherents of different religions have different experiences" (175, 178, 181).

Heim explains that plurality invades both religions and God, To be either human or divine is to be in relationship. Each religion sees the world from its own perspective; each thinks that it is in some way superior. A worthy goal is suggested: "Any final prize goes to the religion that can best call the other religions together" (200). Religions value both integration and distinction. For two reasons, Heim is Christ-centered: because through Christ Christians understand God as triune--"inherently and profoundly relational"--and because Christ makes clear that God relates well to the particular and the diverse (201). The goal of dialogue for the Acceptance model is to maintain and learn from diversity, whether of salvations or absolutes.

So, truly, all Christian theologies of religions need to work at balance-between the particular and universal, between diversity and unity, between personal spirituality and social engagement (242). When implemented, such counsel enables "pluralist religious discourse" (theology).

Further Pluralist Issues

I return to other writers, first Shirley Guthrie. His main concern is that Christians not glorify themselves or the church through statements about Jesus. Rather than confuse the gospel with personal or cultural biases, he calls Christians to look again at who Jesus the one they confess is. For Guthrie, to confess Jesus means to discover anew the Work of God the Creator, the Work of God the Reconciler and Redeemer, and the Work of God the Renewer of Life. Such declared faith then prompts openness to recognize others as also created in God's image. It becomes a strategy for seeking truth through interreligious dialogue. The truth sought is God's truth, not Christian truth. Modest about wisdom and virtue, the faithful person expects to meet God through dialogue with people whose faith is different (48-57).

According to George W. Stroup, "pluralism is not only diverse religious traditions and communities." It is also a "vast array of ideologies, symbol systems, social structures, and 'points of view' that may or may not be 'religious'" (167), Pluralism, perceived as a gift or sign of God's grace at work to transform the world, challenges Christians to create new ways of noting other paths. For, Christians often fail to value the grace of Buddhist nirvana, Hindu bhakti, or Sufi mysticism. Further, Christian thought of pluralism is often narrowed to truth claims: whether Jesus Christ is the only access to God, whether Christians alone "know the truth and experience grace," or whether "the Christian faith is truly the way or only one way among many."

Rather than reconstruct Christology, Stroup invites readers to rediscover the significance of the Holy Spirit--as a response to pluralism. The Spirit [also known as Wisdom and Sophia] gives life and faith. The Spirit infuses all religions and is present throughout the world. Not subordinate to Jesus, God's Spirit brings good news to the oppressed. [She] is present and at work to build up (not tear down) and to cause increased love (not foster division). The Spirit, not confined to the church, searches all things (1 Cor 2:10).

Along with Catholic and Protestant theology, Orthodox theology, with its emphasis on the ever-present Holy Spirit, sees how God's revealing truth continues in all nations. As Peter confessed (Acts 10:34-35), God has no favorites. In every nation, the person who fears God and does right is acceptable. Orthodox thought absorbs the good, wherever found, as part of truth. For, no one can limit God's presence. Intent that humanity be "absorbed" into God--through worship or acts of social responsibility--the Orthodox perceive all religions that elevate human to divine life as God's instruments (27).

In Pluralism: Challenge to World Religions, Harold Coward uses another scheme for approaching religious plurality--the terms: Theocentnc, Christocentric, and Dialogical. With the God-centered approach, God's covenants with Abraham and Sarah and with Noah's people apply to all of humanity. Further, the theocentric statements of Jesus-his emphasis on God's kingdom--recognize the greatness and freedom of God. This approach does not ignore the divinity of Jesus the Christ, but advocates realize that limiting discussion to Jesus severely restricts positive bonding with people of diverse living faiths. Because all religions value some concept of Ultimate Reality, except for Buddhists and Advaita Vedantists, to focus on God enables rich engagement (26).

The central tenet for Evangelicals, according to Harold Netland, is that "salvation is available only through the person and work of Jesus Christ." Such a Christocentric approach holds that Jesus, the unique incarnation of God, is the universal revelation for all people. Coward believes that Evangelical theologians hold a high view toward the Bible's authority and a low view toward other religions (36). Evangelicals fault those who welcome dialogue without being willing to persuade the partner to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, for salvation. For them to be faithful to their commitment, evangelicals witness with intent to convert (290-94). Yet, Netland explains evangelism as an announcement; morally neutral, it is communication of a message. Methods used may be more or less tolerant, he adds (281, 311).

Evangelicals who believe that truth is most fully present in Jesus Christ expect to learn little through dialogue. Yet, David Hesselgrave admits how dialogue can be useful for evangelicals--discussing the idea of dialogue itself, in order to present a strong biblical stance. Also worthy is dialogue that 1) promotes freedom of worship and witness, 2) is concerned with meeting human physical and social needs, and 3) breaks down barriers of prejudice and distrust (299-300, in Netland). Such worthy features meet Netland's list of assumptions that evangelicals dislike about dialogue:

   That God is revealed through all major religious traditions.
   That all religions are relative or limited.
   That Christian belief, though supreme for Christians, reflects one
   stance among options.
   That dialogue is a common search for religious truth.

Within Coward's dialogical approach, the absolute or essential identity of each religion is maintained. Opposites co-exist without converging (39). In this approach, Christian, God-centered advocates see the Holy Spirit as the universal presence that enables dialogue and Jesus as the exemplar of its practice. Consider how Jesus dealt with his disciples, Nicodemus, the woman from Samaria, and the Roman centurion. Dialogue partners expect to deepen their spiritual experience. They avoid the Christocentric approach in order to avoid its exclusive sense of possession "that, [as Coward says,] petrifies revelation and monopolizes truth" (39).

On Dialogue and Learning from Others

Two strong dialogue advocates from India speak from daily encounter with people of living faiths. Stanley Samartha defines dialogue as "an attempt to understand and express our particularity not just in terms of our own heritage but also in relation to the spiritual heritage of our neighbours" (40). For him, engagement continues: because God in Christ has offered the good news of salvation to people of all faiths. Because communities forgive and are reconciled, dialogue follows. Because of Jesus' promise that the Spirit will lead, dialogue becomes a "means of quest for truth" (40). Wesley Ariarajah quotes him in a tribute that followed Samartha's death in 2001: "The basic question is how our understanding of and obedience to Truth critically illumines and directs our struggle for justice.... Therefore, joining hands [Hindus and Christians] in the quest for Truth has consequences for the continuing struggle for justice as well" (18).

Raimundo Panikkar names three prerequisites for encounter between people of living faiths: deep human honesty in the search, intellectual openness (devoid of prejudice), and profound loyalty to one's own tradition. His thesis is that "through dialogue, the particular experiences of truth--Christ for the Christian, Veda for the Hindu--may be enlarged and deepened so as to open new experiences of religious truth" (41). For, beyond all dialogue is the divine Mystery that religions know through worship. Open to seeing how diverse believers treasure different signs of revealed truth, each enriches and qualifies the same global experience of Mystery.

Anselm Kyongsuk Min quotes David Tracy regarding the deepest need in our world: "the drive to face otherness and difference" (587). Min sees religious pluralism as one way to do that. Among a typology of pluralisms, Min explains in detail the dialectical type. This type is confessional and pluralist. It takes the particular feature of each religion seriously but also tests each one for its ability to work and live together with diverse others. The dialectical type is a pluralism of solidarity, where all are "other" to one another yet where all enter into the solidarity of "we." Dialectical pluralism rejects traditional exclusivism and inclusivism, while it respects the distinct identity of each religion. It values qualities that each religion brings to our pluralistic society, These qualities include: a historical sense, spiritual discernment, force for solidarity or division; courage or wisdom to rethink inherited doctrines in light of the [times]; and commitment to struggle for peace and justice (600).

Min names three purposes for interreligious dialogue from the perspective of dialectical pluralism. First, to "know" and appreciate the other as a lived totality. The intent is to understand others from within as they understand themselves or as they experience the world. To know means to comprehend the other's religious texts and to penetrate its tradition. Dialogue's second purpose is to learn from others in order to expand our self. The hope is to make Christian theology less parochial by incorporating lessons from other religions. And the third purpose expects a Christian to share the good news, to confess unique features without imposing them or using them to convert the other. Each religion shares its good news and distinct genius. (594-95)

In The Uniqueness of Jesus edited by Leonard Swidler and Paul Mojzes, a number of writers dialogue with Paul Knitter. Knitter provides the following theses about Jesus' being unique:

   Given the nature and history of christology, previous
   understandings of the uniqueness of Jesus can be
   reinterpreted.
   Given the ethical imperative of dialogue, previous understandings
   of the uniqueness of Jesus must be reinterpreted.
   The uniqueness of Jesus' salvific role can be reinterpreted in
   terms of truly but not only.
   The content of Jesus' uniqueness must be made clear in Christian
   life and witness. For today, that means being faithful to his
   insistence that "salvation or the Reign of God must be realized
   in this world through human actions of love and justice."
   The orthodoxy of this pluralistic approach must be grounded
   primarily  in its ability to nurture a holistic Christian
   spirituality, that is, a devotion to and a following of Jesus
   (6).

Knitter endorses commitment to Christ "because of who he is and what we have found in him," not because we think that he is better than all other reflections of God. Other religious traditions have their unique features too. From such distinct views, Christians will learn. For instance, from:

1. Hindu insights into the non-duality between the Ultimate and the Finite [Brahman and Atman].

2. Buddhist calls for change of mindfulness (through meditation).

3. Native American spiritual insight into the sacredness of the earth. (13)

As Knitter suggests, "what makes one unique is not what makes one different but what makes one oneself"--one's integrity or essence (Swidler/Mojzes, 163). Being loyal to one religion can lead an adherent to oppose features of another vision. So, engagement with others across diverse views and practices calls one to hold conviction "faith-fully but grace-fully." For, as Harvey Cox notes, "Religion is essentially divisive" (Cox, et. al., 273). But Divine Wisdom enables such holy tension to thrive (280-81).

Understandings vary among participants engaged in exchange and those who observe them. For example, K. P. Aleaz and Wilbert Shenk view Lesslie Newbigin's approach to Indian Hindus quite differently. Mission writer and professor, Shenk warmly commends long-term British missionary Newbigin for his "attitude of readiness to fearlessly confront the intellectual and theological demands of each situation." But, Aleaz, an Indian Professor of Religions, describes Newbigin's engagement as often troubling. Though Newbigin talked of dialogue, Aleaz calls it monologue because Newbigin was "not willing to receive from other faiths." Because Newbigin used a preformulated, sectarian and Western Christian gospel as criterion for judging other faiths, he missed enriching the gospel's meaning through intercultural, interreligious communication.

Aleaz firmly believes that Christians are not "the sole custodians of the gospel of God in Jesus" (195-96). If Jesus has meaning for all, then all people deserve to formulate the meaning of his person and function. Through engagement, people of diverse living faiths help Christians move beyond a sectarian gospel to a more universal one. The meaning and message of Jesus then grows through God's presence in people loyal to diverse faiths. If Christians wish to reconnect spirituality and social activism with people of living faiths, we need to expect that God will enable them to teach us--about our faith and theirs.

We will learn from a Zen Buddhist about finding peace, though s/he may not talk about the existence of God. For, the term God will have different functions and meanings in different religions. People loyal to diverse faiths will not use terms like savior or Son of God. But they may speak about God's "saving Word" through Muhammad or coming to enlightenment and Nirvana or assurance from a Glorious One (like Krishna) who loves them without reservation. They may experience submission to Allah (Islam) or total oneness with Brahman the Ultimate (Hindu) or living in the harmony of yin-yang (Chinese) and therein reveal or express how something More enters into or issues from themselves or the world.

Christians cannot presume that others will experience God as described in the Bible or express salvation in ways that they do. Buddhist enlightenment and Christian salvation are really different--in reality and fulfillment. As Mark Heim states: "All the different religions of the world are envisioning and attaining salvations (plural), not salvation.... There is no 'sole fate' for all human beings" (Knitter TR, 193). To observe how individual Native Americans or remnant Jews live reveals an inner peace or oneness with the Divine. From Buddha, his mystical followers absorb "the interconnectedness of all things." That singular way can be as vitally useful to them as a Christian's claim of Jesus' "only"/distinct resurrection might be. For Christians, salvation comes through the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus; for Hindus, knowledge of Brahman offers the needed truth. Only the Ultimate can judge the intensity and integrity involved for different peoples of faith. Francis Clooney reminds us that truth-claims "can be valued and understood only within their own cultural-linguistic soil" (Knitter, TR, 224). Every religion believes that God or the Ultimate has done something distinct or special through a particular person or event. As adherents dialogue about meaning, as they retain their sacred differences, as they mutually confront human needs, spiritual depth for all will grow.

Faithful and Pluralistic Examples

Finally, I wish to highlight a few faithful, pluralistic thinkers who engage people of living faiths:

John Dunne--For him, a "holy" person is one who "passes over and comes back" (Scott, 6-7). Graced with sympathetic understanding, the person moves from her religion to another's and then returns, energized, to enrich her own. As she passes over, she notes her relative beliefs. Always with more to know, she reaches further partial answers. She may recall Panikkar's insight: "real dialogue...must begin with my questioning myself and the relativity of my beliefs." And like Dunne, she "holds herself open toward mystery." Aware of another's myth, she tries to grasp its meaning and the historical-cultural world that it exudes as she returns to her distinct myths and truth.

Walter Brueggemann--I value his discussion of a lesson about pluralism exposed in Amos 9:7: "Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, / O people of Israel? says the LORD. / Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, / and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?"

Israel believed not only that Yahweh alone is God but that Israel alone is Yahweh's people. "Amos seeks to undermine the assured mono-ideology of Israel ... by introducing a radical pluralism...[pluralism] that subverts Israel's self-confident mono-faith" (20).

Yahweh cares for many peoples, some of whom are Israel's long-standing enemies [like the Philistines, perhaps]. Other peoples [like the Arameans, perhaps] share a history with Yahweh, unknown to Israel. As Yahweh cared for Israel when oppressed, so Amos concludes that Yahweh acted for others, [like the Ethiopians, perhaps] to liberate them too. Not meaning that Israel cannot think of itself as "exodus" people, they need to be jarred out of presuming to be the exception. Amos wants Israel to know that they have no monopoly on God (26).

Diana Eck--Comparative religion professor at Harvard University, Eck understands at a deep level the complexity of multi faiths, the pervasive presence of the sacred in India. Her discussion of pluralism is useful. She begins with the fact that the language of pluralism is not just about difference. It expresses engagement. For Eck, pluralism is "the dynamic process through which we engage with one another in and through our very deepest differences." Pluralism does not displace commitments; it is the meeting of commitments (A New ..., 70-71).

Stanley Samartha--He clarifies that pluralism does not make Truth relative. Rather, pluralism makes relative, or shows the limits of, "different responses to Truth which are conditioned by history and culture (Koyama, 160). Samartha notes that "No truth, subjected to human language, is perfectly received or perfectly communicated." When the prophet Micah (6:8) advised hearers to "walk humbly with your God," he counsels them to humbly note the distance between "naming of the truth and truth itself." So also, Paul reminds his hearers (1 Cor 13:12) that they see but a dim reflection of truth.

Krister Stendahl--He notes that "The Christian tendency toward exclusiveness is rooted in the fact that although Jesus preached [God's] kingdom, the church preached Jesus" (Coward, 34). What results from those two messages is quite different, I believe. People of living faiths feel included in God's universal kingdom. To emphasize the messenger Jesus alone--unique as his role is in God's redemptive work for Christians--can fail to faithfully convey Jesus' central message of God's Reign.

Stendahl also provides insight into Peter's statement of confession in Acts 4:12. Peter declares that the man under discussion was healed by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene ... the only name by which people are saved. Not a dogmatic statement of theology, Peter expresses the language of love. Like a husband might say of his wife--"She's the only one for me," so Peter gives faithful witness to his keen love for Jesus.

Kosuke Koyama notes that Christians often misuse the text about "no name" to say, "We are inside and you are outside." Taught to define truth by exclusion, need we recall that "the excluded will not seek spiritual advice from those who have excluded them"? (167, 169). Paul Knitter identifies statements like "only name" as religious confessions, religious language that is innately symbolic or metaphoric. Although the "one and only " biblical passages speak about Jesus, their truth lies foremost in calling followers to discipleship, Knitter contends. Their intent was not to give us a definitive meaning of who Jesus was or to show people how he "lines up" with other religious figures (Swidler/Mojzes, 149).

God has been and will be the God of all nations. Stendahl suggests that in a pluralistic world, "it is important for Christians to find their right and particular place as faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ, leaving the result of the witness in God's hands." In Romans 11 Paul notes that Christians were witnessing to Jesus in a manner that equated God's way solely with their mission. They mistook their particular witness for what God intended to be inclusive. Becoming proud, they failed to "stand in awe" (34). Wesley Ariarajah (Sri Lanka) worked with the World Council of Churches dialogue program for sixteen years. His framework for dialogue begins and ends with God--from God's love and justice, to working with all who connect the values of God's Kingdom.

Despite religious labels, diverse people of living faiths will move to what Katherine Young calls "side-by-side" conversation. Engaged, they confront the world's needs. Loving the neighbor, they practice their faith. For, as Paul Knitter states, "... many Christians know that they cannot truly and effectively carry out the last commission of proclaiming the gospel to all nations unless they are truly and effectively carrying out the first commission of loving their neighbors among those nations" (Swidler/Mojzes, 6). Need we wonder whether we must reject claims to religious truth as we honestly meet with someone who holds different religious truth claims? I think not. For,

   Each seeking faith is seeking truth, for truth is lived by seeking,
   and though our faiths conflict, no dogma can restrict
   the power of truth set free on earth in honest meeting....

Bibliography

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Cox, Harvey, et.al. "World Religions and Conflict Resolution," & "Implications for Religious Communities: Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity," by William Vendley and David Little, in Religion: The Missing Dimension of Statecraft, Douglas M. Johnston, Jr. & Cynthia Sampson, eds., NY: Oxford Univ Pr, 1994, 266-81, 306-15.

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Nyce, Dorothy Yoder, "Disciplined Interreligious Dialogue," Anabaptist-Mennonite Scholars Network, 3/2, Dec 2000, 1-3.

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Scott, David C. "Pluralism and the Religious Imagination: An Ongoing Dialogue of Life," Shalom Papers A Journal of Theology and Public Policy, Winter 2000, 11/1, 41-57. Also, "Imagination and Pluralism," xerox copy given by author, 11 pp.

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Dorothy Yoder Nyce has written/edited numerous articles and ten books including Rooted and Branching: Women Worldwide, Jesus' Clear Call to Justice, and Dialogues to Foster Interreligious Understanding. She recently received a grant (Lilly funded, 2001) to plan ecumenical events and create related resources.