A Theology of Religions in the United Church of Canada: A Journey

The study of missionary involvement, whole-world ecumenism, and the dance of theological inclusivism and pluralism has been the United Church of Canada's journey of love to mend the world. We live in a multicultural world, in a time of secularism and spiritual skepticism, attempting to hold our own beliefs while face to face with other religious traditions. The religious pluralism of our time presents theological challenges causing us to reassess what we all believe about God. This article argues that although there is no formal theology of religions in the United Church, there has been a theological move in this Church's understanding of mission and of ecumenism that caused the Church to evolve from an exclusivist to an inclusivist theology while dancing toward theological pluralism along the way. This shift was a response to the culture's changing social, political, and moral attitudes from the 1940s to the 1960s. The World Mission report (1966) stated that the United Church believes that God is creatively and redemptively active in the religious life of all humanity. The Articles of Faith, the catechism, A New Creed, a New Curriculum, the Song of Faith, reports, and congregational studies on the Church's relationships with Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism together demonstrate clearly the theological journey from 1925 and the contextual nature of theology.