Inclusivism

Inclusivism**:** is the view that although Christianity is the normative means to salvation, anonymous Christians may also receive salvation.

Karl Rahner

Inclusivism is found within the ideas of Karl Rahner.

Rahner shared his view at the second Vatican in 1965 (it is worth noting that the catholic church did reject the ideas).

Through this, no other religion can offer salvation.

Underpinning his idea is the view that "somehow, all men must be capable of being members of the church" he is stating that there must be a way for all people to know God.

He believed that human knowledge is finite, but all humans have an 'unconditional' openness to the existence of God, this is in built whether they know it or not, they desire grace and salvation.

Rahner built on Aqunias' idea of votum ecclesiae, whereby some people want God's Grace shown through salvation by faithfully following God, even though they may not explicitly know Christ.

As such any religion whose structures develop an openness as revealed in Jesus is enough to gain grace.

The salvation of other religions

However, he did believe that in some circumstances a non-Christian religion can mediate salvation stating that '...a non-Christian religion (even outside the Mosaic religion) does not merely contain elements of a natural knowledge of God, elements, moreover, mixed up with human depravity which is the result of human sin and later aberration. It also contains supernatural elements arising out of the grace which is given to men as a gratuitous gift on account of Christ.'

For this reason, a non-Christian religion can be recognized as a lawful religion (although only in different degrees) without thereby denying the error and depravity contained within it.' In this, he indicates that it is not the perfect way to gain salvation, but it can be achieved through other faiths.

Anonymous Christianity

Anonymous Christians: A person who lives in the grace of God and attains salvation outside of explicitly constituted Christianity.

He disagreed with Kraemer and concluded that though there were failings in other faiths there could be a partial truth in other world religions, whose followers do not know about Jesus.

This is because Christianity and the Church have not always existed. Christianity has a pre-history (Rahner believed that the Old Testament pointed forward to Jesus) and it would obviously be impossible for people to believe explicitly in Jesus before he lived or to be a member of the Church before it had been established. '...the Christian religion...has a beginning point in history; it did not always exist.

But this is not always the case as there are those who are referred to as the inculpably ignorant, these are people who have no knowledge of God through no fault of their own.

An example of someone who could be inculpably ignorant would be someone who lives in an Amazonian tribe and has never been exposed to Christianity, but, lives a good life regardless.

Rahner calls these people 'anonymous Christians' in that they are following Christianity, even if they are unaware that they are doing so.

He took issue with the consequences of an exclusivist approach for those who had lived before Jesus or, who had not heard the gospel message through no fault of their own as he thought that their denial of salvation would be inconsistent with an omnibenevolent, just God. People can be considered to be inculpably ignorant if they cannot be blamed for not knowing about the Gospel due to age, place, culture, time in history, or poor teaching.

Biblical support:

The story of the Unknown God in Acts 17-23: (named passage on the spec) where Paul sees that the Greeks are carrying out Christian practices such as worship, but, does not know that they are worshiping the Christian God until Paul evangelizes them.

The anonymous Christians are therefore said to be a part of the invisible Church. Transfiguration (Mark 9:2-8): Rahner's view that those who came before Jesus will still be saved is where prophets from the Old Testament (Moses and Elijah) can be seen talking with Jesus indicating that there is a future for them with Christ despite them being born before him, thus having no knowledge of him. The parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Lk 16:19-31): also indicates that those that proceeded Jesus still have a place in salvation as in the parable Abraham is seen to be in hell with the rich man, but there in a guiding role and not there as a consequential action. This is seen as Abraham, unlike the rich man not feeling any of the pain of being in hell.

The parable of the sheep and the goats (Matt 25: 31-46): in which Jesus is clear that the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?' showing that they do not know him, yet salvation is for them due to their actions.

In Acts 10 we see that Cornelius due to his right acts is afforded salvation through God sending a message through an angel, up to this point Cornelius had been Theo-centric, not Christo-centric

The Old Testament

The Old Testament of the Bible argues that people who do not know Christ, can have genuine faith in God and, that God recognizes this.

The Romans said: "Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not know the law, do by nature the things the law requires, they are a law for themselves.

They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts".(Romans 2:15). We understand this passage from natural law, and that within this passage is accepted that humans have God's law within them that they can follow even when divine law is not accessible. (synoptic link)

Strengths of inclusivism

• Many people would argue that Inclusivism provides a successful middle way between exclusivism and pluralism.
• It allows Christians to continue to see a central role for Jesus and for the Church but avoids some of the theological problems of an omnibenevolent God sending good people who have not heard of Jesus to hell, which is the problem associated with exclusivism.
• Allows for a just God, as he does not condemn to hell those who through no fault of their own have not heard the gospel message. This ensures that the God of classical theism is intact.
• Recognizes the view that within other religions structures are in place that allow people to know God, even if it is not the Christian God, this preserves a value for other faiths and recognizes their truth, even if it is a mirage of the truth found in Christianity.
• Biblically supported, so Christians can justify belief in this approach as at the transfiguration it is clear that those before Jesus are still valued by Jesus. As are those who have not heard of Jesus like Cornelius or the unknown God.
• Does not undermine Jesus' sacrifice, as those who have the opportunity to hear the message are still judged by their response to Jesus' death and resurrection.

Weakness of inclusivism

• It is disguised exclusivism and still supports the elitist idea that there is only one way to God and that is through Jesus, it has simply put some footnotes in the response.
• Rahner undermines the role of the Church, through his idea of existential openness to grace. This has been referred to as 'open Catholicism' as the role the Church plays has been diminished.
• This view holds no value to the catholic perspective, so even though Rahner was so influential through Vatican II, his ideas of inclusivism are wholly rejected by the Catholic church.
• Weak biblical support and poor exegesis imply that the transfiguration means people will be saved from before Christ, but this was not said by Jesus and the New Testament shows that anybody who was met by Paul, even if they were living religious lives was introduced to Christianity.
• In the story of the unknown god, Paul does not allow the Greeks to continue believing in an unknown God but instead teaches them about Christianity showing that Rahner's interpretation easily falls apart. So, this interpretation should be met with hermeneutics of suspicion.
• Hans Urs von Balthasar, a colleague of Rahner's, argued that the Church should not present a watered-down version of the Christian message in order to appease people of other faiths in the modern secular world. As inclusivism undermines the comprehensive nature of Jesus' sacrifice, why do some people need Jesus for salvation and others do not, either Jesus' sacrifice is the cornerstone of salvation or it is worthless. Inclusivism allows for a bit of both.
• Hans Kung- 'It would be impossible to find anywhere in the world a sincere Jew, Muslim or atheist who would not regard the assertion that he is an 'anonymous Christian' as presumptuous' But this he means that Rahner has gone beyond what other faiths would consider acceptable as they believe they have the truth.