“No one comes to the Father except through Me.”- Jesus Christ

by Ronan

I’ve been reading recently about inter-religious dialogue and I’m beginning to realise that the issue isn’t as simple as it always appeared to me. The problem stems from what is the Catholic view of those of other Churches or religions. Catholic theologians have been divided into three groupings which highlight their views on other faith groups. These groupings are exclusivists, inclusivists and pluralists.

Exclusivists believe that as members of Christs Church only Catholics truely know God and will be saved. At the oposite end of the spectrum are pluralists who believe that all Churches and religions are equally valid paths to God. Finally….., inclusivists. They believe that while the true faith is that of Rome there is much to be learned from other faiths. The key passage which effects the views of such theologians is Jn14:6 when Jesus said to those around “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” Does this mean then that we are right and they are wrong?… Is is really that simple? Some (Exclusivists) say “yes”. The would suggest that such passages proove that we Christians are the only ones to know God.

Now that I think about it I suppose I see myself as an inclusivist. I agree that the Catholic Church is the true Church but we don’t know everything. We can learn so much from other groups. Within Christianity for instance…we could learn about the importance of scripture from Lutherans or we could pick up some evangelising zeal from evangelicals. To look further afield we could learn about meditation from Buddhism, reverence from Judaism or the personal aspect of faith from Hinduism. I’m not suggesting that we change our theology but that we could learn more about what we have from others.For me though, whatever your view of other faith groups, the question of interreligious dialogue comes down to another of Jesus’ commands: “Love one another as I have loved you.” If we are to love our enemies as well as our friends then surely we can stretch to loving Buddhists, Hindus, Jews or Muslims.

In 1986 Pope John Paul II extended the arms of the Church to those of other Christian faiths for an meeting dedicated to interreligious dialogue in the mountainous village of Assisi. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger famously disagreed with the pontiff on the venture but this coming October Pope Benedict XVI will fly to Naples to try his hand at expressing the Church’s call to love of mankind in the name of Jesus. What news for faith when love once again takes it’s central place at the core of Christianity.What news for mankind to think that what many call weak is the strongest option for humanity.