Contemporary Christologies: A Fortress Introduction

Chapter 5: Jesus as Sourceof “Bounded Openness”

99 The novel Life of Pi1 tells the story of a teenage boy named Piscine who abbreviates his name to Pi. He lives in southern India, becomes interested in Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam and begins to practice all three. The pandit of the temple, the Imam of the mosque, and the priest of the church he goes to hear that he is frequenting these other places of worship. One day, all three meet Pi and his parents at the beach. An angry conversation ensues in which each denounces the other’s religion . Finally, the pandit states that Pi’s piety is admirable. All agree on that. But they also declare, “He can’t be a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim. It’s impossible. He must choose.”2 When asked his opinion, Pi replies, “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God.”3 Pi is already a Hindu by birth. He is subsequently baptized a Christian, and he continues to pray as a Muslim. The unfolding of the story soon takes him away from this controversy. In the novel as in real life, the issue remains unresolved. Pi recognizes that there is truth in all three religions and finds each meaningful to practice. There are similarities among all three and they can be complementary. But the pandit, the imam, and the priest recognize that while Pi speaks of God generically, these three religions CHAPTER 5 u Jesus as Source of “Bounded Openness” Raimon Panikkar, John B. Cobb Jr., Jacques Dupuis 100 Contemporary Christologies do not conceive of God or ultimate reality in the same way. They differ in their respective understandings of the goal of human life. While religions inevitably absorb elements from their surroundings, including other religions, to some degree, fundamental differences can still be recognized between their teachings.4 This makes it difficult to be a Hindu, a Christian, and a Muslim all at the same time. This is a central dilemma of the twenty-first century. How do the truth claims of different religions relate to one another? In Christian theology, a typology of exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism has emerged, denoting three different approaches to this question.5 Exclusivism , often associated with theologians Karl Barth and Hendrik Kraemer, asserts the importance of religious differences and that Jesus Christ is the only source of salvation.6 Inclusivism, often associated with Karl Rahner and his theory of anonymous Christians, tends to argue that while truth and salvation can be found outside Christianity, wherever this occurs it is in some way derivative from and secondary to the truth and saving significance of Jesus Christ. Pluralism, often associated with theologian John Hick, tends to assert that different religions are to be seen as many ways—each having a partial vision of the truth—that lead to the same God who transcends them all. Raimon Panikkar,7 John B. Cobb Jr., and Jacques Dupuis all develop their Christologies in relation to this dilemma. They reject the claim that salvation can be found only through faith in Jesus Christ, but they affirm that Jesus is the Christ. They affirm that truth and salvation can be found in other religions, but they reject that this is simply a derivative or secondary version of Christian truth. They also reject the idea that a universal theology or theory of religion can be developed as a neutral basis for adjudicating the truth claims of different religions, or that all religions are equally true in their own way. They find in Jesus a source of truth for resisting evil yet also for discerning truth elsewhere. In this way, Jesus is a source of “bounded openness,”8 a sense of identity and defined values, but one that is open to critique, reformation, recognizing truth in other religions and receiving from them. Raimon Panikkar Raimon Panikkar was born in Barcelona, Spain, on November 3, 1918. His mother was Spanish and Roman Catholic. His father was an Indian Hindu. He was raised Roman Catholic, becoming a priest in 1946. He 101 Jesus as Source of “Bounded Openness” earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Madrid the same year and a doctorate in chemistry from there in 1958. He taught at the University of Madrid from 1946 to 1953 then went to India, where he studied Indian philosophy and participated in Hindu-Christian dialogue. From this emerged his dissertation for a doctorate in...