Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

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eligious uplift is the same... Probably the religion of the future will succeed in incorporating the best insights of them all. Christian missionaries, therefore, should not impose their views on others but should rather sit at a round table and pool their views for the good of all. Confucius, Lao-tse, Asoka, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and then finally Jews! These are the great leaders of mankind (Heinecken, 1957:131). John Hick endorses ‘pluralist theo-centrism,’ a concept that does not put Christ or any other religious figure at the centre. Instead, he suggests that Christ, Allah, Brahman and others are merely planets orbiting the real theos (i.e., god), who remains abstract to humanity. These names are really ‘masks’ by which “the divine reality is thought to be encountered by devotees of those religions... But none of them is ultimately true in the way their worshippers claim” (Chris Wright, in Taylor, 2000:87). Hick argues “we should no longer put Christ or the church at the centre of the religious universe, but only God” (Chris Wright, in Taylor, 2000:87). To John Hick, this generic ‘God’ is like the sun, orbited by many planets, metaphorically representing the different religious constructs. Hick believes all names for ‘god’ -- Yahweh, Jesus, Vishnu, Allah, Brahman, etc., -- are variations on the same personage. Thus, what pluralism does to Christianity, it does to all religions, reducing them to meaningless claims, where none is any truer than others. Of the Jewish voice of God, Hick said, for example: The concrete figure of Jahweh is thus not identical with the ultimate divine reality as it is in itself but is an authentic face or mask or persona of the Transcendent in relation to one particular human community... For precisely the same has to be said of the heavenly Father of Christianity, of the Allah of Islam, of Vishnu, or Shiva, and so on (Hick, 1992:130). What is so incongruous and absurd about all this is that if one will only take the time to compare the major religious figures, profound differences quickly become apparent. Muhammad is called the prophetic successor of Jesus Christ, yet the tenure and focus of their lives were drastically different. Muhammad was a man who conquered territorially via military conquest, and forced his beliefs on others. Jesus, in contrast, healed the lame 102 University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, <strong>South</strong> Africa
103 and sick, conquered ignorance through his teachings, and established an unseen Kingdom built upon the foundations of love and truth. Even the most cursory comparison might show Ghandi closer to Jesus, than Muhammad. How can the pluralists claim these men are variations of the same thing They claim they are simply different and fuller expressions of the greater totality that ‘god’ is. If true, what manner of ‘god’ do the pluralists suggest we follow Should we follow a ‘god’ who is so personally inconsistent that he/she is violent and peaceful, truthful and a liar (cf., various Eastern teachings) The Apostle Paul said of such teachings: “the time will come when they [people in general] will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2Ti. 4:3-4). Questions rooted in the philosophical ‘problem of evil’ also frequently attend salvific and pluralistic discussions. For example, ‘how can a good God allow people to go to hell,’ or ‘would not a loving and good God save all’ Hick and others suggest, at least by implication, that God is somehow obligated to save those He has created. The Bible teaches clearly, however, that God is not obligated to save any (cf., Deu. 8:18-20; 17; Psa. 49; Eze. 33). That He saves any is astonishing. Henry C. Thiessen said, “let us remember that election deals not with innocent creatures, but with sinful, guilty, vile, and condemned creatures. That any should be saved is a matter of pure grace” (Thiessen, 1994:264). Yahweh is not like the capricious and vindictive god’s of some other religions. He does not want to send people to hell. However, Yahweh is just and true, and man’s rebellion must be justly punished (cf., Eze. 18:21-32; 33:11; 2Pe. 3:9; 1Ti. 2:4). The axiom -- ‘guns don’t kill, people do,’ is not far afield here. God does not capriciously send the undeserving to hell, a place of eternal separation from His glorious presence; people send themselves there because of their rebellion against a loving, just, good and true God. For many, religious pluralism is nothing more than a way that allows and enables people to avoid difficult questions and decisions. The postmodern influence has further inculcated the Western mind with a relativism and scepticism that doubts nearly everything, including the potential for truth. All ‘gods’ are impersonalized. Religious University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, <strong>South</strong> Africa
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1 POSTMODERNITY: IMPACT AND IMPLICA
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3 Key Terms Postmodern, postmoderni
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5 An Apologetic Response 115 Compro
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killed massively in the name of goo
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9 together in an eclectic, rather d
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11 Postmodernity: Impact and Implic
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13 heights” (Veith, 1994:30). For
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15 autonomy proper to human reason
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inviolability and Divine origin, th
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diminished” (Bosch, 2000:6). The
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‘god’ to keep and to save him.
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Occultism flourished among the Brit
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He was a passionate, powerful chara
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27 record reveals that the church o
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29 eliminating poverty, hunger and
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may simply transform the nature and
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Contrary to Christian notions that
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35 ‘modernize’ the nation. To b
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37 expression. This “first respon
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39 of his own awareness of God” (
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41 Existentialism understandably em
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depends upon our decision makes our
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group Socialisme et Liberte. During
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47 The Mind of Sartre Sartre’s vi
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ethical absolutes (Craig, 1994:67).
Page 51 and 52: 51 Chapter II Postmodernity: The Es
Page 53 and 54: 53 Postmoderns promote individualis
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Page 59 and 60: 59 Ferdinand de Saussure at the tur
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Page 63 and 64: 63 models and then try not to subve
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Page 69 and 70: maximum voluntary community agreeme
Page 71 and 72: 71 something akin to the virtual re
Page 73 and 74: 73 During the 1960’s, Foucault wa
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Page 77 and 78: had been trapped. Through Nietzsche
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Page 81 and 82: elieve the conventions of modernity
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Page 85 and 86: 85 referentially incoherent. That i
Page 87 and 88: 87 the second postmodern wave, whic
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Page 93 and 94: 93 There are three basic forms of (
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Page 109 and 110: 109 and the life. No one comes to t
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Page 115 and 116: 115 An Apologetic Response Beyond t
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Page 131 and 132: 131 Chapter VI Postmodernity and th
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Page 137 and 138: 137 Rome, ‘The Way’ (i.e., Chri
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Page 143 and 144: society. State authorities quite of
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Page 149 and 150: 149 Christendom West. For example i
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creative times has been, about doin
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155 Ours is not a faith rooted in i
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157 of Washington, D.C., have now d
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says, “Homosexual practice is inc
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the position held by the non-Wester
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163 Chapter VII Postmodern Spiritua
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With the dawn of the Enlightenment,
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contemporary West look not to the c
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adherence overall declined from 86.
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171 (Johnson, 2004). Contemporary n
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173 The postmodernists undertook th
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deconstruction leads to a foundatio
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177 postmodernity has opened the do
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Pagans are usually worshippers of t
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most Catholics in Brazil. Many Musl
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which is one of the key factors tha
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185 1980:viii). For example, when t
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187 the higher religions. The pleth
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whose wrath has been and will be di
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in the movies, further fulfilling t
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to ancient Greek writings, the post
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195 more, the atoning work of Jesus
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197 to develop. Even after several
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199 excesses of scientism and reduc
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Carson, D.A., ed. (2000). Telling t
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Grudem, W. (1994). Systematic Theol
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McMichael, P. (2004). Development a
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207 Riss, R. (1988). A Survey of 20
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209 Bibliography of Electronic Sour
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211 Foucault, M. (1982). Truth, Pow
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Montgomery, J.W. (2002). Defending
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215 The University of Zululand Esta
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