Christianity and World Religions

Disputed Questions in the Theology of Religions

Gavin D'Costa

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9781405176736, 9781405176743
• eBook ISBN: 9781444308365
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: History of Christianity

An engaging and accessible introduction to Christianity's relationship with other world religions, addressing the questions of why the reality, and vitality, of other religions has become a challenge, and showing how Christianity is equipped to deal with religious plurality at both the doctrinal and social level.

• Timely and accessible, this book tackles the question of why the reality, and vitality, of other religions has become a challenge for Christianity
• Makes a decisive contribution to debates about the clash between Islam and the West, arguing that the major threat to religious freedoms come from secularism, and that Islam and Christianity both have the resources to develop a vibrant and pluralist public square; one informed by intellectual rigor and debate
• Considers the wider issue of how modernity has defined 'religion', and provides a substantial critique of secular ways of controlling religions
• Shows how Christianity is very well suited to deal with religious plurality at the doctrinal and social level
• Addresses the core issues and describes the various answers that have been proposed in recent years – making it an ideal introduction to the field, and one which will stimulate ideas and discussions

Table of contents

• Preface
• PART I Charting the Territory: Theology of Religions
• 1 Early Map Making
• Introduction
• Pluralism
• Inclusivism
• Exclusivism
• 2 Changing the Angle: Recent Maps
• Some Criticisms of the Threefold Typology
• Comparative Theology
• Postmodern Postliberalism
• PART II The Making and Meaning of Religions
• 3 Modernity’s Story
• Introduction
• Modernity’s Story about Religions
• 4 An Alternative: The Secular Construction of the Sacred
• Modernity as the Establishment of a New Ruling Religion
• Conclusion
• PART III Religions in the Public Square
• 5 Whose Religion and Which Public Square?
• The Public Square
• A Taxonomy of Secular Modernity and Postmodernity
• 6 Christian and Muslim Public Squares
• Roman Catholicism, Modernity, and Religious Plurality
• Islam, Reasoned Debate, and Religious Plurality
• PART I V Christ’s Descent into Hell
• 7 Old Doctrines for New Jobs
• Introduction
• “The Descent”: Introduction to the “Circles of Hell”
• The Limbo of the Just and the Unevangelized
• 8 Further into the Inferno
• Purgatory and the Non-Christian
• The Children’s Limbo
• The Descent into Hell
• Bibliography
• Subject Index
• Index of Works