Grounded in the Trinity: Suggestions for a Theology of Relationship to Other Religions

GROUNDED IN THE TRINITY: SUGGESTIONS FOR A THEOLOGY OF RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER RELIGIONS "In our age, when every day humankind is being drawn closer together and the ties between various peoples are increased, the Church attentively considers what is its relationship to non-Christian religions." Nostra Aetate #1. cr,nE DECLARATION ON THE Relationship of the _J_ r;hurch to Non-Christian Religions, in spite of its checkered history at Vatican II, was a monumental achievement . Yet since its origin and initial importance was as a statement concerning the Catholic Church's relationship with Juda.ism, and since the document's teaching concerning the other religions is inchoate, the theological implications and ramifications of a positive view of other religions have been scarcely explored, even though a voluminous literature on the subject has appeared since the Council. While Nostra Aetate opened the gate, the path as yet can be dimly seen. On the one hand, it definitely resituated the discussion for Catholic theologians; on the other hand, it is true that it "confined itself to making polite remarks." 1 The task of the theologians, especially of those engaged in a theology of the history and relationship of religions, is to move beyond polite remarks into a discussion which can be controversial, polemical, and, a.t times, acrimonious since the discussion must be faithful to the faith confessed by the Church in its creeds and open to God's action in the religions. The discussion has two phases. The first is somewhat 1 W. A. Visser't Hooft, quoted by Robert A. Graham, S.J., in Walter Abbott, S.J., ed., The Documents of Vatican II (New York: Guild Press, 1964)' p. 659. 260 A THEOLOGY OF RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER RELIGIONS 261 apriori: granted the profession of Catholic faith, what are the presuppositions and bases within that faith upon which a theology of the history and relationship of religions can be developed ? 2 This discussion takes place even before the second phase consideration of the aposteriori data of the history of religions. Of course, this second phase in turn may perhaps lead to a reconceptualization of the apriori phase of the discussion .3 This reconceptualization would not be so much a revision or shifting of Christian belief as much as a precision of . terminology and a contextualization of Christian faith within the religious history of humankind. The following paper is a contribution to both phases of the discussion, with an emphasis on the apriori, reapproached after consideration of the aposteriori data. Its main concern is not a. theology for dialogue, which may be thought of as a contemporary conversation with other religions as they now are. Rather it views the religions from the perspective of their history in order to say something about their relationship, understood in faith, to Christianity.4 These histories, including those of so-called 'dead ' religions, have a relationship to salvation history. Therefore the discussion will be akin to a theology of history, which illuminates the present self-understanding of the believer within the Christian community. The 2 For two important examples of this apriori discussion see: Karl Rahner, "Christianity and the Non-Christian Religions," Theological Investigations V (Baltimore: Helicon Press, 1967) ; from a quite different perspective , see Hans Urs von Balthasar, "Catholicism and the Religions," Communio V, #1 (Spring 1978). a For an example of the aposteriori discussion, see: Raimundo Panikkar, The Unknown Christ of Hinduism: Towards an Ecumenical Christophany, revised and enlarged edition, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1981). 4 Vernon Gregson analyzes concisely the process leading up to dialogue, from a Lonergan perspective : " Dialectics come to full term will be dialogue not only with the past but with present exponents of different traditions." " The Historian of Religions and the Theologian: Dialectics and Dialogue," in Matthew L. Lamb, Creativity and Method: Essays in Honor of Bernard Lonergan, S.J. (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1981), p. 151. I would go further: At full term dialogue comes to a decision which establishes a relationship. This relationship is also understood as a basis for dialogue. 262 DANIEL P. SHERIDAN format will be to offer certain themes in thesis form with explanations . 1. Catholic theology should take full account of the...