Philip Geister & Gösta Hallonsten (red.), Faithful Interpretations: Truth and Islam in Catholic Theology of Religions

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Christianity as “True Religion” According to Karl Barth’s Theologia Religionum: An intercultural Conversation with Selected Asian Christian Theologians

This article orchestrates an intercultural theological conversation between Karl Barth’s theology of religions and selected Asian Christian theologians. The latter rightly stress that Barth’s criticism of religions is mainly concerned with Christian religion, although it does allow for the recognition of “other true lights.” Yet, insufficient attention is paid to the fact that Barth considers Christianity in particular “the true religion.” In critical conversation with these Asian reflections, it becomes clear that we need to move beyond Barth because (1) his Christocentrism neglects God’s presence as Creator and Spirit in other religious traditions, (2) Barth’s actualism does not allow him to properly distinguish between the word of God in the Christian Scriptures and in the “other lights,” and (3) this actualism stands in the way of a full recognition of the historical nature of revelation and salvation in Christ.

ROH KUDUS BEKERJA DI AGAMA-AGAMA LAIN?

Christian thinkers are trying to seek a new way to relate to other religions, a more contextual way compared to the ways that have been constructed before. One of the new ways is a reconstruction of Christian theology of religions by focusing not on Ecclesiology or Christology, but on Pneumatology. This writing highlights the phenomenon of this pneumatological approach by exploring two views in the pneumatological approach to religions., namely, the views of Second Vatican Council and Amos Yong. This article will show that these pneumatological views to some extend underestimate the particularity of Jesus Christ. Keywords: Amos Yong, salvation, Holy Spirit, theology of religions, Vatican II. Abstrak: Di dalam berpapasan dengan agama-agama lain, pemikir-pemikir Kristen mencoba mencari pola hubungan yang dianggap lebih kontekstual dibandingkan pola-pola yang telah terbangun sebelumnya. Salah satunya adalah upaya merekonstruksi pemikiran Kristen tentang teologi agama-agama yang bukan lagi berporos pada eklesiologis maupun kristologis, tetapi melakukan pendekatan yang lebih pneumatologis. Tulisan ini menyoroti fenomena pendekatan pneumatologis ini dengan melakukan eksplorasi terhadap dua pandangan dalam pendekatan pneumatologis terhadap agama-agama, yaitu Konsili Vatikan II dan Amos Yong. Tulisan ini akan memperlihatkan bahwa pendekatan pneumatologis seperti yang diajarkan oleh Vatikan II dan Amos Yong cenderung menafikan partikularitas Yesus Kristus. Kata-kata Kunci: Amos Yong, keselamatan, Roh Kudus, teologi agama-agama, Vatikan II.

Graded Theism: A Fundamental Theology of Religions

This article is set in the context of the pastoral difficulties in embracing interreligious dialogue. Tracing the problem to the seeming incompatibility between dialogue and proclamation, it goes on to argue that this difficulty can be overcome by providing an adequate conceptual framework. Using some recent work in fundamental theology, the article proposes ‘graded theism’ as providing the needed conceptual grounding for overcoming the said incompatibility. This article clearly distinguishes fundamental theology from theology of religions, philosophy and theology from scientific study of religions, the common ground required for dialogue from the lowest common denominator of religions postulated on the basis of scientific study. The last distinction enables one to maintain both commonalities as well as particularities of religions, and collaborate with people of other faiths without undermining proclamation.

Merawat Hidup Bersama Di Tengah Kemajemukan dan Konflik Antarumat Beragama

Wayame is one of the villages that did not get involved in the social conflict in 1999. This does not mean that Wayame village does not care about other villages because it does not participate in conflicts. However, in Wayame village, it is true that the conflict only brings destruction in the social ties of the community which in turn can have a traumatic impact on the pluralistic Wayame community. Wayame Village, which is not involved in the conflict and looks harmonious - is not as easy as one might imagine. The existence of a harmonious life process in the midst of diversity in Wayame village has hard efforts made by village governments, religious leaders, and especially people who have a love for Wayame village. Efforts and work to maintain harmony in Wayame village require the involvement of all elements of society, therefore Wayame village formed a TEAM 20 consisting of 10 Christians and 10 Muslims to maintain the stability of the village and the community so as not to get involved in the conflict at that time. In efforts to maintain harmony in the midst of a pluralistic society, it is necessary to understand the religions that exist in society, therefore the theology of religions is necessary to find a common goal as religious human beings in the midst of diversity.

Attitudes toward Civil Human Rights among Italian Students of Sociology: The Effects of Religion and Theology

Connecting with and building on the research tradition established by The International Empirical Research Programmes in Religion and Human Rights, this study explores the power of two measures shaped within empirical theology (the Theology of Religions Index that distinguishes seven ways in which religions may be viewed and the New Indices of God Images that distinguishes between the God of Grace and the God of Law) to predict individual differences in attitude toward civil human rights among students of sociology under the age of thirty who had lived in Italy all their lives, after taking into account the effect of baptismal status (Catholic or not Catholic) and frequency of mass attendance. Data provided by 1046 participants demonstrated that more positive attitudes toward civil human rights are associated with being male, with not being baptised Catholic, with not attending mass, and with the God of Grace, but not with the God of Law. Five of the positions identified within the framework of the theology of religions are significant predictors of attitude toward civil human rights: the most positive attitude is associated with atheism and the least positive attitude is associated with exclusivism.