lische Missionswissenschaft," Zeitschrift fiir Missionswissenschaft, 1911, pp.
Mission Theology among Roman Catholics 129
bring matters of great interest to the area of systematic missiology.
What about this area of systematic missiology (dogmatic and moral)? It is mission theology in the strictest sense. It is concerned with the theological elaboration of mission. At the end of the Second World War scholars still noted a lack of serious studies in this field for several reasons.*1 The deficiencies of the approach
established by Schmidlin were matched by a near vacuum of ideas
for a more proper orientation. There was skepticism from mis-
sionaries who were unwilling to delve into theory and doctrinal
principles. There was a degree of proud contempt from some
theologians, perhaps very competent in traditional scholastic dis-
putations, who were not inclined to leave the sphere of speculation
in order to devote' doctrinal study to the complex ecclesiological
realm of missionary realities. Now the spirit of things has changed.
Missionaries everywhere are seeking for an elaborated systematic
theology of mission that will help guide them in the difficult
apostolate they bear in the name of Christ and the Universal
Church. Theologians are increasingly interested in mission ques-
tions, because of the greater emphasis given to ecclesiastical, ecu-
menical, and apostolic problems.
The first problem to be solved in systematic missiology concerns = the concept of mission. Schmidlin defined missionary activity, as noted above, according to the statement of Warneck, empirically based on the ideas commonly held at that time. In an effort to correct this incomplete and inaccurate delimitation, Grentrup in
1925 gave as the specific object of missions the planting of the Church in every country where it is not yet fully established." This theory was endorsed and divulgated by many, especially by Pierre Charles, who made the mistake, however, of minimizing the factor of conversion as well as the virtue of charity in the
2. See P. de Menasce, "Polarité de l'activité missionnaire," Neu Zeitschrift -
fiir Missionswissenschaft, 1945 (2), pp. 81 and 87; Alph. Mulders, Missie en
Wetenschap (Utrecht-Nijmegen: Dekker, 1946), p. 9.
2 Theodorus Grentrup, Jus Missionarium (Steyl, Holland: Typographia domus Missionum a S. Michaele Archang. nuncupatae, 1925), pp. 1-12. He had already expounded this view of mission in 1913 in "Die Definition _ des Missionsbegriffes," Zeitschrift fiir Missionswissenschaft, 1913, pp. 26574. Schmidlin presented his view as early as 1911 in his essay "Die katholische Missionswissenschaft," Zeitschrift fiir Missionswissenschaft, 1911, pp.
10-21; and this concept was further expounded in his Einfiihrung in Mis-— =e sionswissenschaft, op. cit., pp. 11-24, and in his Missionslehre, op. cit. :
130 HISTORICAL STUDIES
course of his argumentation.?* His use of a mold to illustrate his central thesis was unfortunate, for the point he was illustrating is indeed true and traditional in the Church.**
Discussions on this matter were numerous, and they monopo-
lized most of the energy in the field of systematic missiology for
a long while. For several years now, however, the issue has been settled by what is nearly unanimous agreement concerning the essential lines of definition for the missionary function.?> The understanding is that mission activity is a specific task, quite dis-
tinct, in the ecclesiastical ministry. No salvation is possible outside the Church, but there are normal and suppletory ways for justification. The ordinary ecclesiastical ministry is twofold: pastoral (for
the care of the faithful in the Church), and apostolic (for the conversion to the Church). Many kinds of apostolate can be distinguished, but missionary activity is a specific field of the apostolate aimed at bringing the Church to souls where she is not yet established, in order to bring souls to the Church, i.e., implanting the Church in a new area so that a new particular (regional) church may be set up, live, and grow in an autochthonous way by her own personnel and means.
Although there is widespread agreement on this point, there has still been some problem outside missiological circles with language, particularly in France since 1943, with regard to the term "mission." This has come about because of a misunderstanding of the precise meaning of mission activity and an inability to distinguish this function from other forms of apostolate. Despite the
*% Pierre Charles, Les Dossiers de ! Action Missionnaire (Nr. 36-38, 1926— 28; 2nd ed. Louvain: Editions de l'Aucam, 1939), Vol. I fasc. 1, pp. 16-32. Also his Missiologie: Etudes, Rapports, Conférences, 1 (Louvain: Ed. de _ -PAucam, 1939), 304 pp.; and Etudes Missiologiques (Bruges [Louvain]: Desclée De Brouwer, [1956]), pp. 16-43.
"See the writer's essay "La Mission 'Implantation de I'Eglise' dans les documents ecclésiastiques," pp. 39-53 in Missionswissenschaftliche Studien; _ Festgabe Dindinger (Miinster: Metz, 1951), 440 pp. ("Verdéffentlichungen
des Instituts fiir Missionswissenschaftliche Forschungen.")
* Andr. V. Seumois, Vers une définition de l'Activité Missionnaire (Sch6neck/Beckenried, Suisse: Nouvelle Revue de Science Missionnaire,
- 1948), 46 pp. ("Cahiers de la Nouvelle Revue de Science Missionnaire," Nr. 5.) Translated into German by Joseph Peters, Auf dem Wege zu einer
_ Definition der Missionstatigkeit (Gladbach [Miinchen]: B. Kiihlen Kunst
und Verlagsanstalt, 1948), 64 Pes Doings translation in the review
' ei em pki 1948.
Mission Theology among Roman Catholics 131
opinion of some,?* this misuse of terms 2? has not affected the reality defined as the implanting of the Church regionally.
The question of the moral constitutive foundation of mission can be considered solved.?8 A special organic study has been devoted to the missionary duty of the Church and to the whole area
of systematic missiology dealing with missionary efficiency in
ordine causalitatis principalis.?® The theological shape of the par-
ticular indigenous church is a matter that has attracted much
attention and occasioned substantial study.2° This issue is of
*J. C. Hoekendijk, "L'Eglise dans la pensée missionnaire," Le Monde non chrétien (Paris), 1951 (Oct.—Dec.), p. 427. Attempts to confuse the concept of mission apostolate have been made by the journal Parole et Mission (Paris), which began in 1958 and is preoccupied with emphasizing a Theology of the Word especially directed toward the apostolate in the dechristianized milieux of France. This journal presents also some legitimate missionary articles, and then tries to force an analogy between the real mission countries and lands with a dechristianized social milieu where the Church is still geographically implanted, making an identification of the two. li applies the wrong and vaguely analogical expression "espaces humains" to the situations of social milieux, thereby increasing the chance for confusion between the apostolate of social milieux and the proper — missionary task. Such isolated attempts at confusion have, however, re- = mained without success in missiological and missionary circles; and the ~° Sacred Congregation "de propaganda Fide" has shown no inclination to extend its missionary jurisdiction to those dechristianized ' 'espaces," which a
are left in the care of the apostolic activity, not of the proper missionary =e action. = * Edouard Loffeld, "Notre concept de Mission," Le Bulletin des Missions (Bruges), 1951, pp. 91-108. Gillés de Pélichy, "Qu'est-ce qu'un pays de Mission?" Le Bulletin des Missions, 1952, pp. 1-11.
* Ton. Omaechevarria, "La caridad en la teologia misionera," Missionalia Hispanica (Madrid), 1951 (24), pp. 523-89; Andr. V. Seumois, "La Charité Apostolique, fondement moral constitutif de l'activité missionnaire," Nouvelle Revue de Science Missionnaire, 1957, pp. 161-75; 256-70. ;
2 Andr. V. Seumois, "L'Anima dell'Apostolato Missionario," Studi Mis- — sionari, Nr. 1 (Milano: Editrice Missionaria Italiana, 1958), 220 pp. One gentle reviewer (Waigand, Neue Zeitschrift fiir Missionswissenschaft, att : p313) said this work "can be considered as a modern treatise on grace." — © J. Frisque, "La Mission et I'Eglise particuliére," Eglise Vivante (Louvain), 1949, pp. 389-412; Ed. Duperray, "L'implantation des Eglises autochtones," pp. 75-86 in Colonisation et conscience chrétienne, "Recherches et débats," Nr. 6 (Paris: Fayard, 1953); Edouard Loffeld, Le problém cardinal de la missiologie et des missions catholiques, "Publications '
; l'Institut de Missiologie de "Université Nimégue," Nr. 4 ones Holland _ Editions Spiritus, 1956), xe 416 PP. BG eee
132 HISTORICAL STUDIES
primary importance in mission doctrine because the missionary, who brings the Church Universal with the essential factors of her divine constitution, must, however, tend to the planting of new particular churches, fully autochthonous. The whole matter of lay missionaries has been provided now with a solid theological framework,*! and several other issues of doctrinal import have been widely discussed in articles, for which only an extensive bibliography could give account. Problems of a more comprehensive nature regarding the apostolate in general have not been explored as yet to any great extent, but they are questions of great value for a deeper penetration into the question of what constitutes the-missionary function. Some studies have been published concerning the kerygma and conversion,** but there is still no theology of the generic questions concerning the apostolate as such.**
Normative missiology, studying the juridicial figure of mission organization in conformity with the norms of doctrine (being a study of theological order—theologia rectrix—like the whole of ecclesiastical law), is now being treated integrally.** Sooner or later
* For a discussion of this issue and references to the related bibliography, see the writer's articles: "Lay Missionary Organization," Worldmission, 1951 (4), pp. 78-87; "Notion du laicat missionnaire," Eglise Vivante, 1951, pp177-90; "Fonction du laicat missionnaire," Neue Zeitschrift fiir Missionswissenschaft, 1951, pp. 173-83, 282-93; "Vocation au laicat missionnaire," ibid., 1952, pp. 211-29.
™ André Rétif, Foi au Christ et Mission (Paris: Le Cerf, 1953), 185 pp.;
Jos. Gewiess, "Die Bekehrung nach dem Neuen Testament," (pp. 7-21) in Ecclesia Apostolica, Jahrbuch des Katholischen Akademischen Missionsbundes 1949-50 (Miinster: Regensberg, 1950); Laurenz Kilger et al., Die Neuheit des Lebens als Ziel und Frucht der Weltmission, Missionsstudienwoche, 1956 (Miinster i.W.: Intern. Institut fiir missionswissenschaftliche Forschungen, 1957), 287 pp.
"In addition to the questions of kerygma and conversion, a theology of the apostolate should deal with the meaning of apostle in the New Testament, the precise concept of apostolate, the position and value of the catechumenate and the indirect apostolate, the social aim and the eschatological accomplishment of the apostolic function. Some views have been given by A. M. Henry, Esquisse d'une théologie de la Mission, "Foi Vivante"
(Paris: Ed. du Cerf, 1959), 248 pp.
"Note the following reference books in normative missiology: M. Gérin, Le gouvernement des Missions (Quebec: Université Laval, 1944), xxiv + 256 A pp-; X. Paventi, Breviarium Iuris Missionalis, "Bibliotheca Missionalis," Nr. 4 (Rome: Officium Libri Catholici, 1952), 294 pp.; C. Sartori, Juris Missionarti elementa (2nd ed.; Rome: Libreria S. Antonio, 1951), 160 pp.
Mission Theology among Roman Catholics 133
these studies should allow for a simplification of the ecclesiastical law in force in missions by the constitution of a special missionary code that will be discreet and flexible enough to permit necessary adaptations. The law which is in force is largely the Codex of
the constituted Latin Church, which has been accommodated to the younger churches in the process of their establishment through
a series of norms which have come about as exceptional legisla-
tion. A proper mission code that would be binding in all mission
territories, together with another code of a real ecumenical range
for all the churches already established, should permit a readjust-
ment of the universal expression of the Church on a world-wide
scale.
Practical missiology, scientifically theological, covers the study of mission spirituality and mission methodology. Spiritual missiology is still not provided with a fully elaborated exposition, but a fundamental orientation of a plainly apostolic spirituality, quite different from the egocentric and devotionalistic trends of the last centuries, has been established.*5
Mission methodology is very much associated with a deepening of mission theology. Study conferences or congresses which gather missiologists and missionaries for an examination of various mission method topics, more and more reserve the opening lectures for a doctrinal statement or a review of practice on the topic during the first centuries.*® Publications on problems of mission method
*® These recent developments have been sanctioned in the last two mission encyclicals, Fidei Donum of Pius XII in 1957 and Princeps Pastorum of John XXIII in 1959.
* Cardinal Agagianian, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and Patriarch of the Armenians, sanctioned this tendency in his paper that was presented at the World's Fair in Brussels, August 14, 1958, on the topic "Mission and Civilization" ("L'Eglise et le progrés des collectivités €conomiquement sous-développées," La Documentation catholique [Paris: Bonne Presse, 1958], 1317-24). The 1957 and 1958 Missiology Weeks at Burgos were devoted to the problem of adaptation, and started with a study on the theology of mission adaptation (La Adaptacién Misionera [Burgos: Instituto de San Francisco Javier para Misiones, 1959], xl + 479 pp.). The writer presented introductory papers of this nature at the Missiology Week of Louvain in 1954 where the theme was devoted to the question of schools in missions, speaking on "Aspects théoriques et = historiques de l'enseignement dans les missions" (Questions scolaires aux
- Missions, 24° Semaine de Missiologie Louvain [Louvain: Desclée De Brouwer, 1955], pp. 12-42), and in 1959 at the "International Study Week = on Mission and Liturgy" in Nijmegen, Holland.
134 HISTORICAL STUDIES
are also beginning to follow this pattern,?7 so it can be said that
there is a tendency toward doctrinal readjustment and a fresh rethinking in the light of early tradition. In the words of Cardinal Costantini, the trend is toward "a reform that restores the liberty and methods of apostolic times to mission activity." 38
"A good bibliography is given by Herndndez A. Santos, Adaptacién Misionera (Bilbao: Ed. "El Siglo de las Misiones," 1958), 617 pp.
*C. Costantini, Va e annunzia il Regno di Dio (Brescia: Morcelliana, 1943), Vol. II, p. 24.
PART THREE CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
Ideas for a Theology
of the History of Religion *
BY ERNST BENZ
One of the urgent tasks of contemporary theology is to formulate _ a new theological understanding of the history of religion. This in- — volves new insight into the position of Christianity within the general religious development of mankind and a new conception of the relationship of the history of religion to salvation-history
(Heilsgeschichte). The urgency of this task has been caused by the profound changes in the general situation of Christianity _the world, by the great transformations within the non-Chris
religions, and by the universal changes in religious conscious}
: ee have arisen in the ee century.
136 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
religions are the efforts of man to justify himself before God; a way of self-justification which does not save man from his guilt and self-centeredness, nor from being lost. The history of religion from this point of view is the history of the religious dreams of mankind in which man dreams of saving himself but is unable to lift himself up from his sickbed. He is awakened out of his dreams only by the revelation of the true word of the true God. Christianity is the crisis of all religions. It is the revelation of the — "wholly other" God, who utters His divine verdict upon the selfmade gods of man.
The second schema is represented by the Logos theology of the Apologists and is found today especially in Roman Catholic mission theology. Logos theology attempts to place the general history of man and religion in a more positive relationship to Christian salvation-history which has its backbone in the Old and New Covenants. It begins with the idea that there are seeds of the divine Logos in the heathen environment of the Old Testament; in Indian, Persian, Egyptian, and above all in Greek, "philosophy." Sparks from the burning bush have fallen on the land of the heathen. The divine Logos, who spoke through the mouth of Moses and the prophets, called forth some perception of the light in the nonJudaic world before He became man in Jesus Christ and appeared in his completeness and fullness.
Both these schemata, confronted with the development of our modern consciousness of history and of religion, lead to absurd consequences. Both separate the history of mankind from salvationhistory. Both conceive of salvation-history as an arbitrary improvisation which no longer makes possible any meaningful relation between the history of all humanity and salvation-history.
_ The first schema, the assertion that Christ is the crisis of all religions (in the words of a Buddhist philosopher, the "theology of flying saucers,") can no longer be upheld in a world situation
where Christianity is reproached by the non-Christian religions for
its guilty entanglement in the colonial and economic expansion of the European and American West.
The second schema, the traditional Logos theology and its modern versions, proves itself to be a theological ell which is too short to measure our modern consciousness of history. It limits salvationhistory before Christ to the events of the Old Testament and the happenings in the general history of man which accompany these
Ideas for a Theology of the History of Religion 137
events, thereby limiting salvation-history to the development of religious consciousness within this segment of history. Traditional Logos theology regards the development of the history of mankind and of religion as essentially closed with the birth of Jesus Christ and the appearance of the Christian Church. It ignores the history
of religion after Christ, in as far as this history is not identical with the history of the Christian Church. Two important new tasks
arise here for a Christian view of the history of religion.
The first task consists in bringing our contemporary picture of human development, including prehistoric times, into a meaningful relationship with the Christian understanding of salvation-history. The traditional Christian picture of the course of salvation-history
is built upon the ancient Jewish chronology, which believes that world history took place in an extraordinarily brief period of time. According to the Jewish computation of time the date of the creation of the world is not so far distant in the past. In terms of the Christian calendar it took place in the year 3761 B.c. According to the calendar which was accepted in the Byzantine imperial church, Christ was born in the year 5509 after the creation of the world. Into such a picture of history as this the theologians of the ~ ancient Church sketched a schema of salvation-history which had S
its backbone in the history of the Jewish nation, which saw its fulfillment in the incarnation of the Son of God in Jesus Christ and in the Christian Church, that reckoned with the speedy return of Christ and believed that the epochs before and after Christ were held together through the schema of promise and fulfillment. | The problem of whether and to what extent the general history = of mankind in the epoch before the election of the Jewish people
(as the real bearers of salvation-history) can be understood as ge salvation-history arose already for Jewish thought and then more 3 _so for Christian thought. This question was answered with the a idea of the first covenant, before the election of Abraham, between ; God and Noah, the father of all human generations who survived Bee the flood. Jewish theology based the universality of salvationae history upon this idea, and the Christian Church held onto it for Se:
a positive relation between salvation-history and the general his- = tory of mankind. The Apologists thought of the revelation in Jesus. Christ as the fulfillment of the universal development of humanity.
This beginning, however, remained static and did not keep pace with the general consciousness of history. The cleavage between
138 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
the traditional mythological picture of history in the Bible and the modern consciousness of history appeared for the first time with the discovery of America. It seemed absolutely impossible to fit the fact of the existence of such huge continents into the traditional picture of history in Christian doctrine. Christian theologians attempted to explain the origin of the newly discovered peoples in two ways. Some wanted to keep the traditional schema of history by explaining the population of America as the progeny of the ten lost tribes of Israel. Others, to whom this theory seemed too adventurous, considered it necessary to develop the idea of the existence of preadamites, an explanation which came under severe ecclesiastical condemnation.
The cleavage between the traditional picture of salvation-history and the modern consciousness of history has deepened to the degree that the knowledge of prehistory (prehistoric times) and early history has increased. The task of connecting the modern view of human history with the Christian conception of salvation-history becomes even more urgent when we realize that the retention of the traditional historical-theological conceptions goes against the very content of the Christian Gospel. A God who has left man to the power of demons, to the service of idols, magic, and sorcery, and who improvised a salvation-history which could be appropriated by a very small and arbitrary selection of mankind only after thousands of human generations died in sin and went to hell, has more similarity to the God of Marcion or to the Devil than to the God of the New Testament.
Christian theology today cannot escape the task of bringing the . knowledge of the tremendous phases of the development of human __ religious consciousness in prehistory and early history into a mean____ ingful relationship with the theological concept of salvation-history.
__ The modern understanding of prehistory and history demands
from theology a modern theodicy. The claim to universality of
Christianity will be fulfilled only when it is shown that the universal history of religion and the development of the religious
_ consciousness of man in all of history stand in a meaningful relation-
_ ship to Christian salvation-history. The Christian understanding
of man and his history as salvation-history cannot exclude the
prehistory and early history of man. Either the saying is true that
od "did not leave himself without witness" (Acts 14:17) even
Ideas for a Theology of the History of Religion 139
relinquish the belief in a salvation-history and the claim of the Christian message of salvation to universality.
A second task for Christian theology results from the fact that the history of religion continues post Christum. Christian theology has not done justice to this fact; indeed, it has ignored it. Even where Christian theology attempted to establish a positive relationship to the non-Christian religions in the manner of the Logos theology of the Apologists, it started from the assumption that the history of religion had already found its fulfillment, its suspension and historical conclusion. In this view there cannot be
a history of religion after Christ, after the fulfillment of time.
Nevertheless new world religions have appeared post Christum. Some of them can still—with some difficulty—be explained by the traditional theological picture of history. The first world religion which opposed the Christian Church with new holy books, with a new institution and a claim to universality was Manichaeism in the third and fourth centuries. But the apologists of the Christian Church opposed it as a Christian heresy rather than a new religion.
Even Islam was not understood as a new religion. It challenged — = the Christian claim to be the fulfillment of all the prophecies of = salvation. It accepted the previous stages of revelation of Godin Moses, in the Prophets, and in Jesus, but believed them to be surmounted and consummated by the final revelation in the prophet Mohammed. Christian theology fitted Islam into its picture of history by an eschatological explanation. It saw in Islam the fulfillment of the final prophecies of the coming of the false prophet
(Rev. 19:20). And after Islam began to spread over the areas of : the earliest Christian missions by means of holy war, its advance was interpreted as the fulfillment of those plagues and afflictions — ee which had been prophesied for the final sifting of the Church by —
- John in the Apocalypse. ee For nearly a millennium Islam remained the only non-Christian religion with which Christianity had to deal. It engaged Islam in ©
a fight of life or death, and the opposition to Islam became 'thes model for contact and polemic with other non-Christian religions, — The Asiatic religions in India, China, and Japan were discovered only at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Even today on
attempts to explain these religions eschatologically. The obvio = eonsony between Buddhistic and Roman Catholic forms of wors
140 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
and institutions caused the first Jesuit missionaries in China and Japan to interpret Buddhism as a countermeasure of the devil, who used the forms of expression of the Catholic Church to seduce the peoples of Asia by an anti-Christian church of the devil and to keep them away from the true Church of Christ.
The recognition of an independent development of the history of religion beside and outside of Christianity came only gradually. In its expansion Christianity came into contact with all the living non-Christian religions and encountered their opposition. Christian theology must deal with the fact that the history of religions still continues to develop in great variety. The great world religions have not been any more willing than Christianity to remain static in the same forms with which they began. They have gone through an astonishingly diverse internal development in which many varied forms and degrees of religious experience and theological exposition have found expression. These in turn have led to the most varied types of religious forms of social expression. They have also, to a large degree, determined the general political, social, and cultural development of the Asiatic peoples. All of the great Asiatic religions, in the same manner as Christianity, have brought forth new sects and new schools of thought in the course of their historical development and their adaptation to the various national structures. These sects and schools represent new forms of religious consciousness and religious ethics.
All the great religions have influenced one another to a great extent wherever they have come into contact. After Islam had taken up a considerable inheritance from Christianity in its gospel,
its piety, and its devotional forms, it entered the domain of Hinduism in the subcontinent of India and created new religious forms of expression. New forms have originated also in Hinduism. They appeared partly as reform movements, but also partly took on the character of a new independent religion, like Jainism. New religions,
like Sikhism, have arisen in India out of a combination of Hinduism and Islam.
Buddhism, which first appeared in the fifth century before Christ
as a reform movement within Hinduism and which later was driven from India through the reaction of Brahmanism and the coming of Islam, has gone through a multiplicity of variations and even up to the present has called into life new forms of religious experience and social structures.
Ideas for a Theology of the History of Religion 141
Christianity itself has in no small way contributed to this further development of the non-Christian religions. The missionary attack by Christianity has led to an intensification of activity on the part of the great non-Christian religions in Asia, and these religions have copied some of the methods for their renewal from the Chris-
tian mission. Buddhism and Hinduism have partly adopted the practice of the Sunday preaching service and have developed methods of religious education which are copied from Christianity. Likewise the modern Hindu and Buddhist lay and youth organiza-
tions, and above all their various social institutions, have copied
from the corresponding organizations and institutions of Chris-
tianity.
The fact that the history of religion goes on becomes especially obvious and appears as an urgent theological problem where new religions are formed within the best organized working areas of the Christian mission. This is the case above all in Japan. A series of new revelatory religions (religions based on revelation) have appeared there since the middle of the last century. These have attracted millions of followers, while the Christian mission in spite of all its efforts scarcely has acquired its first half million of believers of all confessions. These new religions are noteworthy because they appeal to new revelations—some of them in the form of a new incarnation of God in the person of their founder—and because they put into effect a series of specific Christian claims in their social ethics. Besides such new religions based on revelation a series of syncretistic religions have appeared, which, like the Caodai Religion in Vietnam, consciously take up Christian doctrine and ethics and the "integration" of all previous historical religious forms. = The facts that the history of religion continues after Christ and that the Christian Church and the Christian mission are drawn into this current of universal development of the history of religion should no longer be ignored theologically. A theological conception of salvation-history cannot bypass the fact that the history of religion continues post Christum. This fact must be brought into a meaningful relationship to Christ's claim to be the fulfillment of time. _
It is important to examine the question of whether and to what — eas x: extent the very dynamic and mobile history of religion post
1For further information on this point see the essay by Masatoshi Z eae Doi.— Eb.
142 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
Christum stands in a direct or dialectical relationship to the history
of Christianity and of the Christian Church and to the history of
the Christian mission and its expansion.
The answer to the two questions that have been asked concerning a new view of the history of religion cannot be found in the development of a new schema from the traditional presuppositions of Western theology in place of the old dogmatic schema—be it the schema of "absolute discontinuity" or the schema of Logos theology. Two new ways offer themselves to us.
First it is well to reflect the fact that the view of an exclusive claim to absoluteness (Absolutheit) which is generally accepted as the self-evident presupposition of Christian dogma is not the only self-evident and determinative attitude to be found in the New Testament. The New Testament knows, rather, a series of indications of a completely different conception of the relationship of the Christian Church to the non-Christian religions.
Acts 14 portrays how the miraculous healing of a cripple by the Apostle Paul causes the people of Lystra to see in the Apostles Barnabas and Paul the epiphany of the gods Zeus and Hermes, | and how the people, led by the priest of the temple of Zeus, prepare to honor the Apostles cultically by a great sacrifice of flesh and flowers. Paul wards off this honor shown to divinity with the words:
Men, why are you doing this? We are also men, of like nature with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk
in their own ways, yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.
Pére Jean Daniélou, the only modern Roman Catholic theo-
_ logian who has dealt with the problem of the theology of the history
of religion with any acuteness, has made this passage the basis for his doctrine of the révélation cosmique, the cosmic revelation. Paul emphasizes here the continuity of the self-witness of the living God
throughout the whole series of human generations, and Paul expressly includes his own generation. This continuous self-witness of the living God is an expression of His love. It is completely off
the track here to speak of an absolute discontinuity between Christianity and the history of religion before Christianity. In this passage
Ideas for a Theology of the History of Religion 143
all humanity appears under the sign of the continuity of the selfwitness of the one God who is Lord of creation and of salvationhistory.
Jesus expresses himself very clearly in regard to the claim of absoluteness by orthodox Christians. At the end of a series of sayings on the theme "by their fruits you shall know them," Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23:
Not every one who says to me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?" And then will I declare unto them, "I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers."
Such a saying is quite surprising, for usually the possession of such gifts of the spirit as prophecy and exorcism appears as a sign of election to the kingdom of God. But this saying of "Lord, Lord'— the insistence upon an orthodox Christology, upon the prestige of correct belief—appears here apparently as a negative attitude of the spirit. It cannot even be compensated for by the exercise of such superb charismata as prophecy and exorcism.
The only commentary to this obvious deprecation of charismata is the hymn to Agape in the First Letter to the Corinthians. Here also the usually highly praised charismata are disapproved of as they are measured against the norm of Agape. With increasing intensity the charismatic feats—from talking in tongues to the offering of oneself—are presented. Then if they are not motivated by Agape, they are radically rejected. The lack of Agape, the lack of love for our fellow men, is the real characteristic of this self- — conscious saying of "Lord, Lord." This lack is the reason why simply saying "Lord, Lord" does not lead into the kingdom of God and why all gifts of the spirit are useless if they are related simply to saying, "Lord, Lord." The lack of Agape makes allegiance to
Christ simply a formal, dogmatic claim to absoluteness, which claims for itself the whole truth and all salvation. It creates an
attitude of lovelessness toward those who do not accept this claim—
a lovelessness that comprehends in itself the whole range of nega- —
tive components that are the opposite of love: pen. contempt, disdainfulness and arrogant condescension. = Jesus promises that even those who have never heard of h
s heathen and non-Christians, who to their own sinprise turn
144 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
to be Christians because they have fulfilled the command of love, will be received into the kingdom of God and will sit at table there with him. This promise forms the complement to the exclusion of those who simply cry, "Lord, Lord." The most powerful of these sayings is found in Matthew 25:31, where Jesus describes the coming of the Son of Man at the last judgment and reveals the criterion with which men will then be judged. According to this promise of Jesus many heathen who did not know Christ at all will be chosen by the Son of Man to be subjects of the kingdom. The. criterion which determines the consignment of men to the kingdom of God or to outer darkness is not a definite doctrine about Christ, not a recognition of the Christian claim to absoluteness, nor is it even a knowledge of the historical figure of Jesus, but it is the fulfillment of the commandment of love toward the least of our human brethren. In the final judgment it becomes clear that a formal claim to absoluteness does not exist; the prestige of Christians is not taken into consideration. Many non-Christians in the generations of mankind before and after Christ conducted themselves as children of the kingdom of God without knowing Christ. There are children of the kingdom not only within the congregation of those who confess Jesus Christ, but also within
all of humanity and in all times until the end of time.
Similarly one can see in the prophecy of the coming of the kingdom of God in Luke 13:29 ff. that many will be rejected who consider themselves to be the rightful followers of Jesus and who claim the fellowship of the table (personal fellowship) with him. They insist that they have personally received their doctrine from Jesus. Instead of them, however, others are received into the kingdom and deemed worthy to sit at the table with the Son of Man: "And men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God." Not even the sacramental fellowship of the supper guarantees that nominal Christians belong to the kingdom of God. On the other hand many heathen who never came into contact with Jesus Christ are permitted to enter into the kingdom. In this passage also that which counts in the decisive moment, namely in the final judgment, is not the theological prestige of the Christian claim to absoluteness, but the fulfillment of the commandment of love toward the least of our brethren. This fulfillment of the commandment of love is found also outside of the Christian congregation. Salvation-history
Ideas for a Theology of the History of Religion 145
is realized not only in the area of organized congregations and confessional groups, but in the whole range of the history of religion. Salvationhistory i is human history. This point of view is especially significant in the contemporary situation because the strongest argument against the exclusive Christian claim to absoluteness is precisely the history of the Christian Church and the history of its mission. The bright side of the
history of Christianity is accompanied by a shadow of error and
misdeed which often obscures the light. The "night of history,"
of which Franz von Baader speaks, was often identical with the
night of Christianity. Today more than ever the followers of the
non-Christian religions point to this dark side of church history
as an important argument against the exclusive claim to absolute-
ness of Christianity. A work like Professor Thomas Ohm's Asiens
Kritik am abendlandischen Christentum ? shows that this criticism
can no longer be overlooked, but must be taken by Christianity as
an occasion for a sincere self-examination. Professor Friedrich
Heiler has summed up the result of such a critical self-examination
of the Christian claim to absoluteness in the light of church history
with the words: "Every exclusive view which sees in Christianity
the only saving revelation of God has thereby finally collapsed."
A second way of a new approach seems to me to consist in directing the question of a Christian understanding of the nonChristian religions to those Christian personalities who have them-
selves grown up in a living experience and knowledge of a nonChristian religion and then have become Christian out of personal conviction. The exclusive judgments of non-Christian religions have up to now been made chiefly according to a fixed theological schema by theologians who did not know the non-Christian religions from within. But what do the great Christian converts say who have come out of a personal experience of Hinduism or Buddhism? This question has hardly been asked, let alone investigated. The great religious personalities of the Asiatic religions have characteristically expressed their recognition of the relation
of religions to one another in figures and parables and not in _
abstract concepts. A pious follower of Mahayana Buddhism com-
pares the relation of various religions to the pure light of the moon which is reflected by all the waters of the earth: by the muddy puddle of rain water, by the crystal-clear mountain lake,
Pi pet ee in oti
2 (Miinchen: KGsel, 1948).
146 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
and by the boundless sea. Sarojini Naidu, a spiritual leader of Hinduism, compares the different religions "to the different colors in a beautiful piece of opal." The great Mongolian Mangu
(Mongka) Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, compares the various religions as different ways of God to the different fingers on the same hand. In the Buddhistic Pali-Canon is found the famous parable of the blind men and the elephant. The parable of the three rings, which Lessing used in his Nathan der Weise, also has an Oriental origin. All of these parables of non-Christian origin aim _at a harmonization and comparison of all religions within the context of a universal and inclusive idea of religion. It is characteristic that no such figurative visions of the relationship of Christianity to the non-Christian religions have originated in Western Christianity. I have found only one attempt to place a Christian parable over against the Buddhistic parables, and this came from an Asian Christian, the late Toyohiko Kagawa. He made use of an old Japanese proverb in which Zen Buddhism expressed its conception of the equality of all religions with these words: "Every way leads to the goal; every religion is good. Do not many paths lead to Mount Fuji?" This saying is very vivid for the Japanese, who know the various pilgrim paths which lead to the summit of the holy Mount Fuji, with their stations along the way,
_ which are climbed annually by thousands of pilgrims. Kagawa was
reared a Buddhist and was a believing Buddhist before he turned to Christianity. He takes this proverb which suggests: "Although many ways lead to the summit, we see the same moon from the
summit; therefore why should Jesus Christ be our only leader?" and answers it in the following way:
_ Buddhism, Omoto, Tenri and Islam, all of these religions are good. All contain truth and guidance. But some stop at the sixth resting place
- on the mountainside, some at the fourth and some become tired and rest even before they Have passed the first station. Many rest at the second and some reach only the third. Buddhism may bring us to the
__ ninth resting place, but because it stops there I do not choose Buddhism.
I choose Christianity because I want to climb to the top.
This parable is surprising because it shows that Kagawa counts not only the great classical religions like Buddhism and Islam
among she Oe Hees i but also some of the so-called "new
Ideas for a Theology of the History of Religion 147
teenth century. Kagawa demonstrates that he wishes to apply
this parable to the total religious development of mankind ante Christum and post Christum. The decisive point of importance
in the parable is that it gives up the traditional formulation of
the Christian claim to absoluteness in its exclusive form, yet avoids
a complete relativism of religions. All religions are "good" in so
far as they strive for the transcendent reality of God and have
one final goal in view, but the individual religions attain or arrive
at difierent stations on the way to that goal. They have higher
or lower experiences and perceptions of the transcendent reality.
Christianity alone leads to the summit of the experience of God
and mediates the final fullness of the knowledge of God. Actually
it is amazing that Kagawa assigns such a high rank to Buddhism, which he says out of his own experience leads man to the next
to the last station under the summit, the ninth station. Everyone who has climbed Mount Fuji knows that the stretch between the
eighth and ninth stations is the steepest and most difficult part of
the climb. At station nine one has the worst part of the climb behind him. But it is only Christ who leads to the summit, to the
experience and the view of the full self-disclosure of divine love. There are different degrees and levels-in-the encounter between
the various religions and the transcendent One. These steps are disclosed in the qty of religion. But in Christ the heart of God
is disclosed.
The last instance = to me of an approach to a Christian theology of the history of religion which attempts to overcome —
the traditional claim to absoluteness and to push on to an inclusive understanding of the history of religion from the standpoint << of salvation-history stems from Rudolf Otto. Thanks to his remarkable intuitive ability at identification he was personally very a, close to Eastern thinking and its figurative manner of expression. © He writes in his Vischnu-Ndradyana, Texte zur indischen Galles mystik: . ee =
The Resurgence of
Non-Christian Religions
BY PAUL D. DEVANANDAN
_ This is an age of widespread religious revival. Other religions be-
side our own have become strangely conscious of a new life. The ancient people of Asia are passing through revolutionary social changes; they have made rapid advance as independent nations; and they have turned to their ancestral religions with a new hope. They realize that a good deal of their national culture is closely related to their religious ideas, and that a cultural reintegration is impossible without a religious reconstruction. Thus, in recent times, the ancient religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam have become very real forces in the life and thought of the Asian people.
These resurgent faiths are in fact determining factors in the national and international outlook of modern man today. Whatever form the revival of religion may take, whether in the case of the in-
tellectual, the common man, or the illiterate villager, it finds expression in a new sense of pride which is sensitive to criticism or disapproval. Non-Christians everywhere make the claim "our religion is as good as any other." Sometimes they go further and add, "if not actually in some ways better than other religions."
At the same time, this new religious temper is keenly aware that religion can be a disastrous source of division within a nation and among nations. Modern man is therefore anxious to avoid religious
rivalry. We live in a world that is both tired of war and fearful of an . 148
TeS
; é r]
The Resurgence of Non-Christian Religions 149
imminent breakout of another world war. Religion has caused many wars in past history. Although in recent times we have not seen wars of religion, people suspect religious enthusiasm as a possible source of international controversy. So they hold that in order to prevent war and ensure world peace religions must come to some peaceful settlement.
Moreover, this general resurgence of religions in the plural is bound up with modern man's quest for understanding the real nature and significance of religion, of religion in the singular, of religion underlying religions. The dominant creative urge of this atomic age, contrarily enough, is to build on lasting foundations. Thoughtful men, therefore, affirm the transforming power of spirit over the downward drag of things. In a world where temporal, material values seemingly threaten the reality of eternal, spiritual good, they find assurance in religious faith.
Another characteristic development is the trend to discover a common formula of belief, though not a formulated creed, comprehending the diverse forms of these historic faiths. This is true of Hinduism and Buddhism in particular. There is a determined effort to include what until now had been described as "lower forms" of these religions, so that renascent, historic faiths have become, in a sense, catholic and unitary. Also, each of them makes the claim independently that it has the answer to the world's ills, and it is broadly hinted that Christianity has failed to cure them. Consequently a new emphasis is placed on a "world message" and on "missionary work." Finally, in every case, resurgent nonChristian religions have become socially conscious. Keen interest is taken in reform of social institutions which retard the development of the individual person and the realization of justice in social relations. This emphasis has resulted in a new understanding of personal values, a new stress on creative action and a new interest in contemporary history.
Opposition to Christian Claims ea
Resurgent non-Christian religions differ widely one from another — in their basic credal affirmations. But they are all agreed in their _ opposition to the missionary expansion of Christianity; for obvious reasons. They disapprove chiefly of the proselytizing activity of Christians. Christian missionaries were the first to question the = religious adequacy of other faiths. The sting in all this propaganda
150 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
was the deliberate intention to make people repudiate, as wholly worthless, the faith in which they had been brought up. In retaliation, there was need to show that these historic religions, which had been for centuries closely identified with the cultural heritage and the social fabric of these lands, were very much alive, and still fur- -nished the sustaining drive to true national well-being. At first encounter, therefore, resurgent religions tended to be violently apologetic. They were all the time on the defensive. This reaction was in part also due to the fact that the Western powers who.dominated Asian countries professed the Christian faith. The Arya Samaj movement in Hinduism represented this phase in Hindu resurgence. Theravada Buddhism in Ceylon and in Burma is still in this stage of resentment. But there is a further stage in the development of non-Christian apologetics. This is when resurgent religions set forth the claim not only to regional self-sufficiency, but to universal acceptance. The contention now is not that other religions are inadequate in comparison to theirs, but that whatever other religions profess to offer is also to be found in their own creed, if only it is rightly interpreted.
Therefore the plea that, as Christians, we should not strengthen the reactionary forces of a divisive exclusivism but help the growth of a comprehensive outlook of universalism. In an age of many religions, they suggest, we should give up all talk of mutual exclusion, and find a formula of comprehension which will make for unity in diversity. Every religion in fact possesses what had been regarded so long as peculiar to other religions; nevertheless we should preserve the characteristic identity of each religion as a separate historical phenomenon. Doctrinal differences based on traditional con_ cepts held through many centuries of past history will persist. What
vitally matters is the dynamic of faith undergirding these concepts, making them relevant to present life and meaningful in contem-
porary human history. In consequence, renascent faith consciously Et unconsciously reformulates beliefs that in a previous genera4
_ tion had meant something very different. For instance, such words |
s Karma and moe to the modern Hindu, or Metta and Nibbana
The Resurgence of Non-Christian Religions 151
Common Ground of Humanity
Another thing common to resurgent world faiths today is their concern for man. An overwhelming sense of compulsion to reckon with modern man's predicament is expressed in all their restatement of beliefs. Has religion an answer for problems of human distress in want, disease, and oppression? Can the dynamic of faith be mobilized to create a just social order, a true community of people,
a world in which human rights are guaranteed? This has called for
new emphases in the religious beliefs of all historic religions. So much so that a humanistic corrective to other-worldly mysticism
and a conscious sense of human solidarity as against ethnic separa-
tism characterize all resurgent faiths. Consequently they all claim
to be basically alike despite differences, because they all seek to put meaning to our common humanity and ensure the worth of human
values. Therefore also the call for interreligious cooperation.
Christians should seriously heed this invitation. In our times the impact of secularism, the anxious despair of many men in dire need of food, clothing, and shelter, creates real problems. We face them every day and everywhere. They all stem from the deep longing to find some meaning in our very existence. We stand on the common ground of humanity, then, when we talk together of these concerns that we share as Christians and non-Christians. It is our common humanity that provides both the framework and the context of our conversation. We share a multitude of common concerns which all eventually turn upon the quest for the true meaning of life and the. final destiny of man. In fact, at such times we cease to be conscious that we are Christians and Hindus or Buddhists and Moslems. = And we will discover for ourselves the disarming challenge of the
claim:-
There is indeed a frontier, but it does not lie between the Christian man and the non-Christian man, but within both.... The heathen or Gen- .
tiles are those for whom God has acted and still acts, but God's saving = action has not yet reached them. They are people who live in opposi-
tion. But—and it is a big but—the line does not run between Jew and Gentile, between heathen and Christian, but within each. The unredeemed "old man" of the New Testament, is to be found in me, a Christian; it is a possibility and a fact in me, in exactly the same terms
as the unredeemed "old man" is to be found in the non-Christian. For
152 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
we, in large measure, are heathen still. We need to be converted as does the Hindu.
This is a hard saying, but it brings us up against a very real issue which we often lack courage to face. Renascent non-Christian faith in our day puts it up to us to "Try your own selves, whether ye be in the faith." Are we ourselves involved in all this New Creation, experiencing in the deep within of ourselves the birth-throes of the New Man in Christ?
Fighting on Three Fronts
Thinking Christians of this generation, especially those in Asia, need to give serious thought also to the peculiar difficulties of present day non-Christian leaders. We do not sufficiently appreciate their predicament. They find themselves, at the same time, fighting on three fronts, as it were. At one point, they are up against the unwillingness of Christians to admit that the resurgence of their ancient faith is sure evidence of its vitality and its present worth. They are baffled by the failure of Christian evangelists to see in them allies and fellow crusaders in the fight against the common enemy of skeptism and materialism. At another point, leaders of resurgent religions in Asian lands find that, in their own country and among their own people, their plea for reformation of traditional beliefs and practices is met by reactionary orthodoxy with the charge that the faith of the fathers is betrayed. At a third point, they encounter revolutionary movements of secularistic humanism which would have nothing at all to do with the ancestral religion, because they see in it only the time-old forces of traditional evil which have made for human degradation and social injustice.
The charge of orthodoxy against the leaders of resurgent religions is invariably leveled against the tendency of modern temper to be receptive to new truths. This is regarded as a dangerous compromise, motivated by an opportunism which overstresses the exigent and the temporal to the neglect of the eternal and the abiding. Moreover, orthodoxy disapproves of the reformers' disregard of traditional practices and long-accepted religious observances.
_ The modern emphasis on the "inwardness" of spiritual experience
in worship to the neglect of the "outward" expression in worship is denounced as a move in the wrong direction. For it may even-
: Religion and Society, Vol. VI, No. 1 (1959), pp. 69 ff.
The Resurgence of Non-Christian Religions 153
tually lead to a total abandonment of the claims of all religious sanctions, and result in the unbelief of irreligion. There is again a suspicion on the part of orthodoxy that the modern trend to place more regard on the good life, and the widening conception of what
is good, is to accept the values of contemporary thinking on man and society. The natural conservatism of orthodoxy still cleaves to
standards of right and wrong, of ideals of human relations, which
had been established in times past when social thinking and human
relations were conditioned by circumstances which limited the out-
reach of social relations to a much narrower area of life. Today the
ties that bind mankind together form a complicated network which
encompasses the whole world. Moreover, what binds men to-
gether in a new sense of solidarity are material things and civic
concerns, both of which have acquired global significance. These economic and political factors play an important role in the ordering
of human relations. This is why modern man feels the need for
widening his conception of the good life to include material things
and thought forces, and for regarding political and economic rela-
tions as also belonging in the realm of the spirit. : The secularist disapproval of the resurgence of religion is for an- - other set of reasons. To the secularists all religion is outmoded, because essentially religious beliefs and practices are of the nature of unscientific superstitions which convey no meaning to the rational mind. Therefore they would regard all religion as irrelevant in the circumstances of life today. In fact, they would maintain that any revival of religion is a retrograde step in that it is an attempt either of reactionary ignorance to block progress or the deliberate device
- of vested interests to prevent the liberation of the masses. It may
be that some secularists are willing to concede that religion can be _ permitted to exist as a private possession for the time being, but — they look forward to the time when it would be dispensed with altogether as both unnecessary and invalid.
In their battle against orthodoxy on the one hand, and secularism on the other, what support can leaders of non-Christian resurgent religions expect from the Christian evangelist? Are there issues — here which the discriminating insight of prophetic Christian faith ae can regard as issues in which Christian evangelists should also be concerned? Would any effort to strengthen the forces of renascent — religion to that extent imply that the preaching of the Gospel suf-
fers by default or compromise? These are some of the questions that
154 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
need to be squarely faced. At the same time, we may not expect Christian thinking to be wholly agreed in its answer. A group of Christians in India spent some time together giving serious thought to "The Christian Approach to Renascent Hinduism." In formulating their findings they have stated:
God works in the world which is His world; the Lordship of Christ includes all men and all human situations, and the Christian is therefore privileged to know that every place is his home and every man is his brother. ... Our easy assumption that God works among us Christians alone is plainly and openly called in queston by the creativeness which has been given in our own country to those outside the Church. Such creativeness is from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whether it be found as moral creativeness in Sarvodaya or as scientific creativeness in the sphere of building up the nation. The word of reconciliation in Christ which has been given to us for transmission to others needs to be spoken into all situations; for every creative power of man has possibilities for both good and evil. We can only speak this word if we accept in mind and heart that these gifts of creativeness are from God."
Interpenetration of Specific Doctrines
Christian thinking regards all religions as more or less unitary systems. So it denies that there can be any real interpenetration of particular doctrinal beliefs; not certainly to the extent that it can change the organic whole of any religious system. Nevertheless, it seems true that the outburst of newness of life and release of unexpected power in the resurgent non-Christian religions is due to
the somewhat strange and almost irrational additions of contradictory beliefs from other creeds, and from Christianity in particular. Closer examination shows that invariably the addition is from cor- (ee ee categories. In renascent Hinduism, for instance, the doctrine of the world as a present reality, the validity of
_ creative effort in the here and now, and the recognition of a divine
Be 'purpose as conditioning human history are all the consequence of
the interaction of religious thought in terms of corresponding
doctrinal affirmations in Hinduism and Christianity. The same can
ae said of certain new emphases in renascent Buddhism and
Characterstially Christian truths, abseaciea from the as
Mid, PP: 79 ff
The Resurgence of Non-Christian Religions 155
pattern of the Christian creed, are found now in the context of non-
Christian religious thought. They are woven into the very texture of corresponding doctrinal beliefs and religious categories, undoubtedly enriching them with a new meaning content and life. How far have such additions to specific doctrines, and their conse-
quent restatement, transformed the total creed of non-Christian
systems? We do not know. It is too early in the day to furnish an
answer. But this much is certain. On the one hand, it has resulted
in an inward unsettlement, and some heart-searching inquiry. On
the other hand, it has also led to a noticeable stiffening attitude of
unfriendliness to Christian evangelism. What must give us concern,
however, is that while certain Christian truths are received and ap-
propriated with eagerness by resurgent non-Christian religions, the
total claims of the Christ are rejected. For it is realized that accept-
ing his total claims would mean giving up the whole of the an-
cestral faith as altogether invalid.
There is one other matter we need to consider in this connection: the religious vocabulary which we have perforce to employ both as Christians and non-Christians is the same. We use the same words to convey different meanings. Unless Christians know the meaning content of words which we use along with non-Christians, how can we make clear to others where we differ? Especially is this so in many modern movements within Hinduism, where words used
_ in different sense for similar concepts have come to acquire a noticeable Christian flavor. While we are warned of the danger of 3s syncretism by such traffic in words, should that fear drive us to equally great danger of withdrawal and isolationism? In the providence of God it is quite possible that by making it necessary for us
as Christians to witness to His works, as we understand them, in the words of the religion of others to whom we seek to communicate the Gospel, there may be a purpose which we have yet to fathom.
_ The Central Issue
It is at this point that we come up against the central issue raised by renascent non-Christian religions: Is the preaching of the © Gospel directed to the total annihilation of all other religions tha Christianity? This is of crucial concern to our generation in Asia and Africa. Will religions as religions, like nations as natio continue so to be, characteristically distinguishable, in the king
156 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
when God's redemptive act in Christ Jesus is consummated? In the
final gathering up of all that is of this world, we believe there will be a total transformation of what now is. We will not be able to distinguish in the "New" what there is of the "Old." Therefore it
is not for us to indicate what will be preserved, and in what manner. For the New Creation is not to be regarded as so totally new in that the old is wholly destroyed. Or else, God's activity in the here and now is meaningless and futile. That surely cannot be our belief. If God's redemptive activity in Jesus Christ is a fact with which we should reckon in every human situation, it is not so much by total destruction that He manifests His power but by radical renewal. That is why the Gospel we proclaim is the Good News of the Resurrection, the hope of the New Creation.
It is passing strange that in the parable of the talents, the servant who faithfully preserved the one talent given him by the Lord is severely dealt with. As Christians, we stress the "giveness" of the doctrine, and we do right in so doing. Whatever is true is of God and from God. But the very faithfulness of the servant who zealously safeguarded the one talent came in for harsh condemnation. Faith possesses and profitably utilizes what is given—and to that extent runs a risk. At the same time, faith has no illusion about the "possession" as something "given," to be put to use and increase. Our Lord's words are: "To him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away" (Mt. 13:12). And he may well be talking of faith which increases with the abandon with which one is willing to adventure in assured trust that He who hath "given" can well protect His gifts, if we speculate with it in His name.
Christian faith should learn to distinguish between the Christian hope of the fulfillment of God's promise of the kingdom, and the non-Christian claim that all human desire to reach out to God will eventually be fulfilled. Fulfillment in the second sense would mean that progressive realization of a more or less continuous process which can be traced back to the past, perceived in the present, and finally realized in the future. But fulfillment in the former case would mean that because the final end is so totally assured it is in teality a present fact. Though still of the future, God's promise is being revealed in the present, however incompletely, to those who dare to live in that hope here and now. For present history, to the
The Resurgence of Non-Christian Religions 157
discerning eye of faith, is not the fulfillment of the past but the
realization of the future! So it was to the Seer of Patmos.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.... And I heard a great voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." ... And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold I make all things new."
Revelation 21:1, 3 and 5
Christian Presuppositions
for the Encounter with Communism
BY FRANK WILSON PRICE
The amazing and alarming twentieth century in which we live may be described in many ways. We shall not be far amiss if we characterize it as the century of Communist power. In the Russian Revolution of 1917 Marxism, which for seven decades had been only a provocative revolutionary philosophy, seized the reins of government and began to press its challenges and demands upon the whole world. Today nearly a billion people are under Communist rule, and another billion find themselves deeply stirred by Communist promises, pressures, appeals, or threats. The polarization of this global struggle and the resulting cold war between the United States and Soviet Russia affect every nation, large and small. As a dynamic force flowing from the brain and personality of Karl Marx, as a radical and compelling body of ideas, as an organized political system, and as a new kind of universal faith, Communism claims the attention, and it would like to claim the allegiance, of all mankind. To this end it employs every possible instrument and ally—modern science and technology, foreign trade and technical
aid, anticolonial sentiment, national spirit, racial pride, the urge of undeveloped areas toward rapid industrialization and higher living standards, infiltration and astute propaganda, an aggressive expansion policy, and of course impressive military might.
In the nineteenth century the great ethnic religions seemed to be. 158