vol. 35, Issue #4

Online Journal Article: "THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH'S RESPONSE TO PLURALISM" by ALISTER E. MCGRATH * JETS 35/4 (December 1992) 487-501

https://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/35/35-4/JETS_35-4_487-501_McGrath.pdf

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Complete article may be found here:
https://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/35/35-4/JETS_35-4_487-501_McGrath.pdf

"THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH'S RESPONSE TO PLURALISM"
by ALISTER E. MCGRATH *
JETS 35/4 (December 1992) 487-501

In an earlier paper I outlined the difficulties that are raised for Christian thought and practice by the rise of a pluralist ideology. In this second contribution I propose to address some of those difficulties. I begin, however, by making a point that needs to be heard, especially in relation to religious pluralism. The pluralist agenda has certain important theological consequences.
It is a simple matter of fact that traditional Christian theology does not
lend itself particularly well to the homogenizing agenda of religious pluraliste.
The suggestion that all religions are more or less talking about
vaguely the same thing finds itself in difficulty in relation to certain essentially Christian ideas—
most notably, the doctrines of the incarnation and the Trinity. Such distinctive doctrines are embarrassing to those who
wish to debunk what they term the "myth of Christian uniqueness." We
are invited, on the weak and lazy grounds of pragmatism, to abandon
those doctrines in order that the pluralist agenda might be advanced.
--from the first page of the article