Brian McLaren (in A New Kind of Christianity) frames his ninth question – on religious pluralism – within the context of armed conflict between faith communities around the world. This is certainly a very potent frame but he could also have mentioned the current narrative that is predominant among some Christian conservatives in the west – that of the rise of Islam and the threat to Christian religious freedom. Whichever frame we use the need to explore pluralism is vital in today’s world and as we should by now expect McLaren does so with a radical edge.

He begins his treatment of this question with an admission or confession – that Christianity’s record on dealing with other faiths is appalling. Though not all Christians are responsible we cannot get away from our history and indeed our present.

An inclusive God

His second step is to look at scriptures that are often overlooked within conservative circles because they provide a view of God which is far more embracing of the other than is possibly comfortable for them. I’ll offer two examples here: the first is the passage in Isaiah 55 from which the old favourite about God’s thoughts being higher than ours is plucked out. McLaren points out that the context here is about a God who draws in ‘a nation you know not’ – i.e. God welcomes in the outsider and unknown. ‘God’s higher thoughts and ways transcend our arrogant, exclusive, low-level religious supremacy and tribalism.’ The second example comes from the story of Abraham – a story in which ‘God does not choose some to the exclusion of others, but some for the benefit of others’.

Jesus - the way, truth and life

His final section in this chapter is a fairly lengthy comment on John 14:6 (Jesus being the way, truth, and life and that no one comes to the Father except through him). This is the verse most often used to argue against any inclusion of other religions. It is a verse that is used to underline the black-and-white attitude of ‘them’ and ‘us’.

Before attempting an alternative interpretation of the verse, McLaren first suggests how the Greco-Roman mind-set so hampers our understanding of it. First, if we have this mind-set then we find ourselves in a ‘dominant position … which renders you inherently anxious’. Being on the top of the ladder means you will have the greatest fear of falling. Second, this anxiety can lead to paranoia. The ‘other’, rather than being a neighbour to love, becomes a threat to be feared. The world is divided between those we trust and accept and those we keep at a distance. Third, fear and paranoia can lead to situations where the other must be got rid of. They either have to become a part of us and their difference eliminated, or they have to be dominated, or they themselves have to be eliminated. The fourth result of the Greco-Roman mind-set is that life becomes a never-ending war with the other. If we are anxious about losing our dominant position then ‘they’ always have to be defeated. It could not be otherwise.

When this is our dominating mind-set then no wonder verses like John 14:6 are interpreted as they so often are. There is, however, an alternative understanding and it is to this interpretation that we will turn in our next post.


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