Gerald O'Collins' understanding of symbols, experience and divine revelation : an accommodation for a christian approach to the world religions and interreligious dialogue in the line of Jacques Dupuis
(2013)
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Details
- Authors
- Supervisors
- Riaudel, Olivier
- Abstract
- (en) Jesus’ questions to his disciples “Who do the people say I am?” “Who do you say I am?” (Mk. 8: 28-29). are still relevant. These questions which concern Jesus Christ and his role in the order of salvation and revelation are important to both Christians and non-Christians. They have to do with the heart of Christian faith, and are associated with many other fundamental questions, such as the credibility of Christianity, the role of the Church and that of the liturgy, sacraments and rites of the Christian life, in God’s plan of salvation and revelation for humankind. The present awareness that the Christian religion is only one of several major religions also challenges the faith of traditional believers. In what way one can maintain that Jesus Christ, as the only Son of God Incarnate, is the Savior of the world and the only savior? In maintaining the traditional understanding of Jesus Christ as the unique and universal Savior, or of his salvific mediation as absolute and universal, one is also facing the question of the role of the Holy Spirit. What role does the Holy Spirit, whose presence and activity are universal, play in God’s plan for human salvation? The Catholic Christian is faced with the additional challenge that the Church has maintained for centuries as the guardian of the true faith and that salvation is mediated only through her. What values can one attribute in this context to other religions and what possibility is there for non-Christians to be saved? Is there any religious, spiritual or salvific value in non-Christian religions? These religions do not merely exist, or simply survive. In many cases, they give clear evidence of a revival and continue to inspire and influence the lives of millions of men and women, their adherents. What is their role in relation to the salvation of their own adherents? Do they exercise any kind of salvific mediation? If so, do they exercise a mediation that can be understood as parallel to or as complementing that of Jesus Christ? In what sense can they be considered legitimate and effective ways of salvation in their own right? How are the meaning and the salvific value of Jesus Christ to be seen in relation to other religious paths of salvation? All these questions and many more are major issues in contemporary theological discourse and will be for years to come. They concern a Christian self-understanding and a Christian understanding of the world religions in the one divine plan of salvation and revelation for humankind. In making this dissertation, I cannot pretend to offer a definitive answer to all the above-mentioned issues and challenges, or even to present or evaluate adequately the different aspects of the Christian faith and Christian identity. Rather, I try to do justice to O’Collins’ understanding of symbols, experience and revelation, which is the core of the Christian faith. It shows the integrity of the Christian life, or Christian faith, which includes orthodoxy and orthopraxy, individual and collective dimensions, traditional and renewal factors, and so forth. Moreover, it also offers a positive view of the role of all religions in the order of salvation and revelation, which is better viewed and further developed in Dupuis’ theology of religions. Standing together, O’Collins’ understanding of symbols, experience and revelation, and Dupuis’ theology of religions can be a great help for Christians in today’s world, who need to have an expression of Christian faith that is meaningful not only for themselves, but also for those who are religiously and culturally different from them. They also provide a theological foundation and encouragement for Christians to enter into interreligious dialogue.
- Affiliations
Citations
Nguyen Van, T. (2013). Gerald O’Collins’ understanding of symbols, experience and divine revelation : an accommodation for a christian approach to the world religions and interreligious dialogue in the line of Jacques Dupuis. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/25416