vol. 35, Issue #3

Online Journal Article: "THE CHALLENGE OF PLURALISM FOR THE CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN CHURCH" by ALISTER E. MCGRATH* JETS 35/3 (September 1992) 361-373

https://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/35/35-3/JETS_35-3_361-373_McGrath.pdf

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Complete article may be found here:
https://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/35/35-3/JETS_35-3_361-373_McGrath.pdf

"THE CHALLENGE OF PLURALISM
FOR THE CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN CHURCH"
by ALISTER E. MCGRATH*
JETS 35/3 (September 1992) 361-373

Excerpt:
One of the most perceptive analysts of the consequences of pluralism for
Christian churches is Lesslie Newbigin, who is able to draw on his substantial firsthand experience of Christian life in India as he reflects on what pluralism means—and does not mean—for contemporary Christianity:
It has become a commonplace to say that we live in a pluralist society—not
merely a society which is in fact plural in the variety of cultures, religions
and lifestyles which it embraces, but pluralist in the sense that this plurality
is celebrated as things to be approved and cherished.1
Newbigin here makes a distinction between pluralism as a fact of life and
pluralism as an ideology—that is, the belief that pluralism is to be encouraged and desired and that normative claims to truth are to be censured as imperialist and divisive. With the former there can be no arguing. The
Christian proclamation has always taken place in a pluralist world, in
competition with rival religious and intellectual convictions.
--from the first page of the article