Despite the predictions of some in the nineteenth century that religion would eventually wither away under the onslaught of modernization and science, the world today remains vigorously religious. Eighty percent of people worldwide profess some religious affiliation.5 There are today roughly 2.1 billion Christians, 1.3 billion Muslims, 860 million Hindus, 380 million Buddhists, 25 million Sikhs, and 15 million Jews.6 A complete picture of religion today would also include the many millions who follow one of the thousands of new religious movements.7

Until the modern era, Christians largely took it for granted that Christianity is the one true religion for all humankind. Allowing for minor modifications for Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant distinctives, the common understanding went something like this: God has revealed himself in a special manner to the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets, and his self-revelation culminates in the incarnation of Jesus Christ (Heb 1:1–4). The written Scriptures—the Old and New Testaments—are the divinely inspired written revelation of God and thus are unlike any other sacred writings. Salvation is a gift of God’s grace and is possible only because of the unique person and work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Sinful human beings are saved by God’s grace through repentance of sin and faith. Thus, Jesus Christ is the one Savior and Lord for all people at all times.

On this view there is an inescapable particularity concerning Jesus Christ. While God’s love and mercy are extended to all, salvation is limited to those who repent and accept by faith God’s provision in Jesus Christ. Numerous biblical texts could be cited in support of this particularity: Peter declares, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12); Jesus responds to a question from Thomas by stating, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6); the apostle Paul claims, “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5); and so on.

The particularity of the Christian gospel has always been a stumbling block to many. It was widely accepted in the ancient Mediterranean world that the same deity could take on various forms and be called by different names in different cultures. According to historian Robert Wilken, “The oldest and most enduring criticism of Christianity is an appeal to religious pluralism.… All the ancient critics of Christianity were united in affirming that there is no one way to the divine.”8 Significantly, it was within this context of religious syncretism and relativism that we find the New Testament putting forward Jesus Christ as the one Savior for all people.

After the seventeenth century, the broad consensus among Christians concerning Christianity as the one true religion began to fragment, although it was not until the twentieth century that the full effects of this became evident. Many factors were involved in the erosion of confidence in traditional Christianity: widespread disillusionment at the rampant corruption of the institutional church; ongoing fighting among various “Christian” factions; the growing awareness of other peoples, cultures, and religions as a result of the European voyages of “discovery”; increased skepticism about our ability to know religious truth; and the effects of higher critical views of Scripture that treated the Bible as just one among many sacred texts. While Jesus was still revered as a great moral teacher, many openly questioned orthodox teachings about his deity, and suggested that Jesus was just one of many great religious figures through whom we might relate to God.

By the mid-twentieth century, the subject of the relation of Christian faith to other religions was a central concern of Christian theologians and missiologists with a surprising variety of perspectives.9 Many, to be sure, remained firmly committed to the orthodox position. However, more liberal Protestants and post-Vatican II Roman Catholics adopted far more accommodating views of other religions and modified their views of Jesus Christ and salvation.

“Inclusivist” theologians, as they were often called, tried to keep in balance two divergent themes: (1) God’s salvation is somehow based upon the person and work of Jesus Christ, and in this sense Jesus has a special relationship with God and is unlike any other religious figure; and (2) God’s salvation made available in Christ is also available to adherents of other religions just as they are, so there is no need for followers of other religions to be converted to Christ. Thus, while the fullest expression of God’s truth and revelation are in Jesus Christ and the Christian Scriptures, other religions can be accepted positively as part of God’s plan for humankind.

By the late twentieth century, however, there were growing numbers of those identifying themselves as Christians who explicitly rejected such inclusivistic views and called for a radical pluralism in which Christianity is just one among many possible ways of responding to the divine. Religious pluralism, as understood by these thinkers, means that all the major religions are more or less equally true and effective ways of responding to the religious ultimate; no single religion—including Christianity—can claim legitimately to be superior to others in terms of truth or in relating appropriately to the divine.

There are many reasons that religious pluralism, as defined above, is so attractive today. We are much more aware of religious diversity today, due to globalization, increased immigration, international travel, and the impact of media and the worldwide web. As the West encounters religious others, there is often the realization that Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs are not at all as previously imagined; they are often intelligent and morally respectable people who are similar to Westerners in many respects. Furthermore, in light of the tragic history of Western colonialism during the past four centuries, many have a deep sense of “post-colonialist guilt” over past injustices. It is often assumed that the way to atone for the past sins of colonialism is to accept uncritically other cultural and religious perspectives. The desire to affirm the increasing diversity of the West is often accompanied by the assumption that doing so means not rejecting other religions as false or somehow deficient. It is not surprising, then, that religious diversity is causing many, including Christians, to question traditional Christian perspectives. Peter Berger captures the spirit of the times when he observes,