Patrick R. Briggs – ST502 – Winter 2008Critical Reflection on Books – Final Project – Theological Statement on the Meaning and Uniqueness of Christ in Our Pluralistic World

There is no universally true answer to the question – what is the meaning and uniqueness

of Christ in a pluralistic world. I have a perspective which might help illuminate the discussion,

however. My answer is a tentative one which starts experientially.

My faith starts with the attempt to answer this question: Why am I here? It is in the

concreteness of Christ’s life and death that I begin to find an answer. In the beginning of my

faith journey at age 9, having accepted Jesus Christ as my savior independently of my parents (in

an evangelical church down the street) it was a relatively orthodox and simple rationale. I didn’t

want to go to hell. I wanted to be good and believed Christ could help me be so. At that time, all

that mattered was that I had found Him and importantly, felt maybe He had found me. It was in

a community of loving people (I still have the bible given to me by the Sunday school teacher

who encouraged me).

Clearly I did not contemplate theological areas of study like Christology, pneumatology,

or soteriology. It was a personal and simple call I had taken up. I can see now, that at that time,

this was the one area of my life which was beyond this world – a special place. It seemed to

transcend my immediate worldly needs, school, friends and even the love of my parents. It

perhaps gave me the foundation upon which I could identify myself as an independent being. It

became the frame within which my inner nature developed and grew.

Christ was eminently meaningful in my young life. I did not consider other faiths. I do

not think I was aware of other faiths outside of Christianity. In this sense, Christ was the only

object of my life in faith.

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As a teenager, I began to question my faith for the first time. It is interesting that one of

the primary issues which triggered this is an exposure to other faiths. I asked myself, “why

should somebody who doesn’t know Christ be condemned?” There are two reactions I could

have taken: view mission work and conversion as an important part of my faith life and in the

life of the church, or question the relevancy of my faith. I chose the latter. It is this pluralistic

world which I had become aware of which became the source of my falling away from the

Christian faith.

The significance of the question regarding the meaning and uniqueness of Christ in our

pluralistic world is that it addresses the relevance of the Christian faith. This is useful from an

ecclesiastical perspective because without relevance – read ‘meaning’ – the church will die. The

Christian faith will lose its ability to influence human beings and stand against the chaos and

moral relativity of a world whose faith is fundamentally located in itself. There is no

transcendence in this kind of world. Christianity, at its core, has to be the alternative to this.

This is the cosmic significance.

This question is also useful from an individual human being’s perspective. It is from this

point that an individual may deepen their faith, the purpose of which is not to bind oneself more

closely to God, but to move more profoundly into relationship with God. When I consider the

biblical command “to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,” I

believe “heart and soul” somehow must include my mind. Thus, even as this question can cause

a person to fall away from their faith, it may often lead them back in ways unexpected with a

more thoroughgoing faith.

How then can the study of systematic theology, particularly Christology, pneumatology

(the Holy Spirit), and soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) be factored into this discussion?

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One should start with several key precepts. One, systematic theology’s purpose is not to

formulate a more perfect and single doctrine on the Christian faith. Its purpose is to form the

basis for an ever-widening range of study such that the system includes a greater interweaving of

perspectives (i.e. liberation, feminist, womanist, Pentecostal, and eco theologies). Each

spotlights an aspect of Christian faith that prior to their respective developments, had not been

incorporated into our understanding of the faith.

A second key precept is that there is no place that one may stand that is not influenced by

the contextual location of the thinker. It is a mistake to assume that there is one single universal

perspective from which to describe any one aspect of the Christian faith, let alone the entire

Christian faith. This does not mean that assertions cannot be made about our faith. It does mean

that one should do so with a humility and willingness to actually listen to other voices within and

without of the Christian faith community.

From my perspective, the Pentecostal movement offers a good example for honoring

these two precepts’ contribution to a good systematic theology. The Pentecostal movement is a

fairly recent phenomenon with its emphasis on the Holy Spirit. It now makes up 25% of all

Christians in the world. As a liberal seminarian, I have found this movement in opposition to

values I hold dear. Despite its early ecumenical and liberationist impulses, it aligned itself with

the Christian right.

And yet it offers something very important to systematic theology – a strong case for an

emphasis on the study of pneumatology. People are drawn to this movement which emphasizes

the Holy Spirit active in their everyday lives. Through this lens one can be led to study

pneumatology in greater depth, certainly with greater attention to the role which the Holy Spirit

played in history (i.e. the Monatanists, the mystics: Hildegard of Bingen, Bernard of Clairvaux,

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and Catherine of Siena, and development within orthodox Christian communities: Catholic,

Reformed and Lutheran). One can be led to study other Christian sects (i.e. the Eastern

Orthodox Christian faith, where the Holy Spirit plays a central role). Finally, one can be led to

understand the socio-cultural conditions of a non-Western part of the world in which the Holy

Spirit plays a central role in the Christian faith (i.e. Africa where the spirit world has – until

modern times – played a significant role).

If these are valuable precepts which lead to a richer understanding of the diversity of

Christian truth, should this not then apply to Christianity’s place among the world’s religions? I

would suggest they do. In doing so, I believe one must be able to hold a core belief in

Christianity in tension with this – that Jesus Christ, according to the Church creeds of Nicea and

Chalcedon and as revealed in Scripture uniquely saves mankind. It may be that these will always

be unresolvable but a consistent systematic theology demands that the pluralist view of Christ be

held concomitantly with the exclusivist view that only Christ saves.

Much difficulty arises from attempting to hold to this grand tension of seemingly

contradictory positions. What are these difficulties? To adopt the pluralist perspective is to

relativise the historical significance and saving nature of Jesus Christ. The cosmic nature of

Christ is also minimized. For example, Jürgen Moltman expouses a theology in which Christ

reveals a transcendent and immanent God who has given us and continues to give us via the

Holy Spirit, proleptically, a vision of what awaits mankind at the end of time (the eschaton) – the

Kingdom of God. It is this eschatology which shows mankind what awaits it by believing in

Christ; it is what saves us from death. Is this not compromised by a pluralist perspective which

allows for human beings to be saved by other means? My limited study of theology does not

allow me to conclusively answer this yet.

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On the other hand, in taking an exclusivist position regarding the saving nature of Christ,

what is one to make of the other world’s religions? It seems to imply that they are wrong and

people who do not believe in Jesus Christ will not be saved, at least not in the way Christians

will be. That is a difficult position to take when, experientially, we find ourselves in contact with

good people from other faiths, and some who have no faith at all. It seems to point to a need for

a better understanding of Christ which does not condemn non-Christian religions and non-

religious people.

Some have staked out a middle ground of inclusivism which, along the lines of Karl

Rahner, states that people who have not been exposed to the Christian faith but show a goodness

in being will be saved by Christ. Interestingly enough, evangelicals who have been more

exclusivistic regarding the uniqueness of Christ are trending towards this inclusivistic

perspective. Because they do much of the missionary work in the world, they have been exposed

more to non-Christian people and experienced more often the goodness of many of these people.

They have had to struggle with doctrine versus experience. In this inclusivistic position, Christ

retains the unique ability to save.

This middle way is not satisfying enough for me to adopt however. It does not fully

engage the tension between an exclusivistic and pluralistic perspective. The question remains

open and virtually unengaged with this view. It also condescends to those of other faiths or non-

faith that somehow they are included in something they have chosen not to be a part of.

The importance of holding the uniqueness of Christ in tension with the pluralist

perspective, despite the difficulties, is underscored by the results of not doing so. The wars by

religions that claim the exclusive truth have solved nothing and hurt many. The current conflict

in the Middle East between the Israelis and the Palestinians has served as a proxy war between

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the Muslims and the Jews around the world (with the understanding that this conflict is much

more complex than this – socio-cultural-political issues contribute to this problem as well). The

Holocaust, in which a largely Christian nation allowed and participated in the mass

extermination of 6 million Jews, is the culmination of one dominant truth-speaking religion’s

(Christianity) historical animosity towards Judaism.

Modern society, with its worship of the false idols of nation, free market capitalism and

media-created fame is drowning in individual alienation and a fundamental breakdown in

community. Morality has become relativized in this environment. America, for example, is

struggling on the cusp of an economic depression, involved in two wars and is unable/unwilling

to care for its neediest citizens. Its problems go beyond simple policy changes (though these are

desperately needed). The lack of coherent Christian communities which could work

ecumenically, courageously, and tirelessly to lead their respective congregations into the streets

and political chambers to advocate for a moral vision consistent with the Kingdom of God, is a

significant contributor to this breakdown. If we are honest, without an alternate, if we are

honest, revolutionary message to counteract the incessant and powerful voices in our media

today, there seems little hope much change can come. Liberal protestant churches which reduce

the role of Jesus to great teacher or conservative protestant churches which find new idols in the

bible, country or a strictly personal Jesus do nothing to provide that strong alternative voice

which this broken society so desperately needs.

Thirty three years later, the faith that mysteriously reached out to me is profoundly

deeper and vastly more meaningful to me. It serves as the basis for everything. It is the lens

through which I see the world and attempt to understand its tragedies and beautiful wonders.

The Christian faith with its imagery of being born into new life through Christ is something I do

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not hesitate to share with others. I do it out of the great joy for the meaning and gifts it has given

my life – not for the sake of converting others.

I am enriched by my exposure to other religions however. Their perspective on the world

and their sense of meaning has forced me to look at the faith I love in different ways. I come to

know Christianity better through them.

In all of this, I am a better man for it. I am equipped to help others in restoring the

communities I belong to, whether this is my work community, my political community or amidst

the community of my neighbors and friends. My faith makes me uncomfortable enough that I

am compelled in anger and frustration to continuously work at it. My faith makes me secure

enough that I am compelled to love often and see beauty in the most unlikely of places or people.

This is the power of my faith, which is uniquely in Christ. I believe that this paradox of

exclusivist and pluralist Christian perspectives is an example of something I’ve come to believe

about the mystery of God. He is more often than not, found in the paradoxes of life, acting in

relation with us to do what we have been called to do, living into the Kingdom of God.

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I think my boy is the best boy in the world and you better give him an A or else...

Atonement – use stuff from my paper and book review on “Scandal of the Cross” Knowing other faiths

o Deepen one’s own faitho Open way to further dialogueo Prevent or resolve sources of religious violence

Salvation through other means besides Christianity?o Inclusivist seems unengaged means to deal with thiso Exclusivist gives concreteness but:

Discourages dialogue Makes Christian faith irrelevant to too many Could be wrong (God is greater than the Bible or the Chalcedon Council)

o Pluralist encourages dialogue but: Relativizes Jesus’ uniqueness Not open to non-pluralist dialogue Not strong enough bulwark against narcissistic.... Possibly condescending to the diversity of faiths in trying to homogenize them – not

respecting the differences Often not biblically based

Ordo Saludis – is that really necessary? Early Christian faith development

o Council of Nicea and Chalcedono Heresy

Classical Liberalismo From below approacho Ignores the mystery of Godo Barth was a major reaction against this

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