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April 18, 2005
On These Commandments
Here's the basic gist of my paper:
Christian theologies that claim a biblical basis should consider as primary the two great commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells those around him: “On these commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” We may read this as extending to the entire Christian canon; that is, the entire Bible hangs upon this summary of the Law. Although these commandments ought to be no less normative for theologies of religions than for any other theology, many current theologies of religions seem to affirm other passages or maxims as being of chief value. The great commandments must anchor our exploration of the Bible, even as the rest of the Bible informs our interpretation of these two verses. For us to adopt a particular theology as adequate, it behooves us first to examine the three main options – exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism – in light of the two main commandments. Only then may we evaluate and choose among the theologies themselves.
In the middle of the paper, I go through the three positions and look at what each claims and how it is motivated by or attached to each of the two great commandments. I could go through all that here, but you're unlikely to read it. So I'll skip to the conclusions:
Pluralism, then, demonstrates a clear tie to love of neighbor. It seems to be motivated by love of God as well, though this association is more tenuous than the former. Exclusivism exhibits the opposite tendency. One can easily see how exclusivism is grounded in and inspired by love of God, whereas its initial connection to love of neighbor is more ambiguous. Inclusivism seems to strike out for the middle ground. It attempts to balance an unequivocal love of God with a strong commitment to love of neighbor, though its link to love of neighbor is not quite as solid as that of pluralism.
Taking the two great commandments as our magnetic north, then, inclusivism seems to be the most biblical response to an interreligious world context. Given the range of possible stands within inclusivism, and in light of the above conclusions, it seems also that one would want to lean more toward pluralism than toward exclusivism within the bounds of inclusivism. A commitment to these two commandments does not rule out exclusivism or pluralism altogether, and others will certainly want to introduce exhortations from elsewhere in the Bible to support any of these three positions. Nevertheless, inclusivism seems to stick closest to Jesus’ mandate in Matthew 22 that they are to form the cornerstone of our faith and theology, and on those grounds may claim to be the most biblical answer to the interfaith question.
Posted by Beth Scriven at April 18, 2005 08:40 PM