Essay Example on God is One: Dialogue with Other Religions and Controversies

Introduction

The various question has been raised on why we have so many religion if at all, God is one. Dialogue with other religions can present some problems and issues for one's religion. Most of the puzzle that Christian find themselves facing when they dialogue with other religions is about Jesus, which brings a lot of controversies in the discussion. This controversy is based on traditional Christian claim that Jesus is the only son of God and the single savior who brings the only, or at least the fullest, the revelation of God's truth. During the search of the truth, the various model with different beliefs was introduced. These models are the exclusive, inclusive, and pluralist model analyst below.

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The Exclusive Model

The exclusive model is the traditional understanding of how to understand the uniqueness of Jesus concerning other faith. The background attitude of this model is characterized by the most history of the church roughly from the fourth to the seventeenth centuries, (1 Paul V. 1990). This model views Jesus as one and only savior and the Christian church as the one and the true religion. There is no salvation outside the church according to this model since Jesus is the salvation, and he is to be found in the church. Anyone in need of salvation must, therefore, be within the church for them not to have a rough time in knowing God and making to heaven. This attitude in the model has characterized how a Christian view of other faiths. For one to receive salvation, baptism was essential which was one of the reason most of the missionary such as Francis Xavier were motivated to travel to foreign lands to baptize as many souls as possible

The inclusive model

The background of this model came from people who felt that they were being excluded from salvation in the exclusive model. As more of the 'News world came' outside the old Europe and Christians became aware of millions of people who through no fault of their own had never known Christ, they had to ask themselves how God of love could pack off many people to hell just because they had not been born in Europe where salvation started (2 Paul V. 1990). A new model had to be developed for understanding the uniqueness of Jesus and other religions that of inclusivism, which brought the introduction of the inclusive model. The model was formulated during the sixteenth century when the council of Trent stated that people who had never had of Jesus could still get salvation and be saved through 'baptism of desire' as long as they follow their consciences and live moral lives. The inclusive model holds to Jesus as the only, or at least the most explicit way of finding salvation. It finds much more value in the other religion, where it advocates for Christian believers to value, recognize, and dialogue with other religions (Hill, Knitter & Madges). However, in the end, according to this model, the other religion is to be included in the in Christ since Christ remains the final and normative expression of God' will for the people. Christ is still the one, and the only savior for all people/Church has all the means of salvation.

The Pluralist Model

After the introduction of the inclusive model, various Christians and theologians raised a lot of questions and critiques on the model. Some of the issues raised are whether does it allows for dialogue and whether it is consistent with what Jesus thought of himself. This resulted in theologians exploring a new model for understanding the uniqueness of Jesus concerning other religions, and they came up with a new model called the pluralist model (3 Paul V. 1990). The theologians agreed on the affirmation of uniqueness and distinctiveness of Jesus Christ as the savior of all persons, but open up on the possibility that Jesus may not be the only savior for all persons. They suggested that Christians could learn much from other religions as the other religion learns on Christianity. According to this model there are many sons of God (incarnations), and many saviors and all religions are paths to salvation. There is also a denial of redemption of Jesus Crist, and they don't believe that Jesus' death is a unique act of atonement.

Critical Commentary

According to my analyses, an exclusive model is not the best religion path to approach since it brings unfairness to other people who didn't know Jesus, yet their lack of knowledge was not their fault. Christians should believe that God loves us all and is for everyone and not for the specific individuals. Most people who were not part of Europe can feel excluded for the only reason that salvation started outside their country.

The inclusive approach is the best model since it brings all persons to the salvation of God regardless of their state of origin. People are given free will to have their desire baptism for them to acquire salvation. It also acknowledges other people who were not part of Europe where the salvation of Jesus is believed to have started hence giving them a chance to know God.

The Pluralist model, in my view, is something that Christians should not accept since it is against their belief about Jesus. The model is also faced with many controversies such that it does not believe in the superiority or finality of Jesus Christ. The models thus go against Christian belief in Jesus, who without him, Christianity cannot exist.

Conclusion

All people who have the desire to know and accept Jesus' salvation should be given a chance to do so regardless of their historical traditions and origins. Religion should also not be used by being unfair to other people since the majority of people believe in the existence of one God. However, no one is supported to think he has the final answer about which religion people should follow since religion is a matter of beliefs that someone holds.

Works Cited

Paul V. Martinson. "A Theology of World Religions" University of Hawaii Press, Chapter 7 pp. 209-216 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1390216Page Count: 3. (1990)

Hill, Knitter & Madges. "Faith, Religion, and Theology" The Interreligious Dialogue, Raimon Panikkar; Documents of Vatican pp. 191-209)