Gavin D’Costa 
Christianity and World Religions [PDF ebook] 
Disputed Questions in the Theology of Religions

An engaging and accessible introduction to Christianity’s relationship with other world religions, addressing the questions of why the reality, and vitality, of other religions has become a challenge, and showing how Christianity is equipped to deal with religious plurality at both the doctrinal and social level.

* Timely and accessible, this book tackles the question of why the reality, and vitality, of other religions has become a challenge for Christianity

* Makes a decisive contribution to debates about the clash between Islam and the West, arguing that the major threat to religious freedoms come from secularism, and that Islam and Christianity both have the resources to develop a vibrant and pluralist public square; one informed by intellectual rigor and debate

* Considers the wider issue of how modernity has defined ‘religion’, and provides a substantial critique of secular ways of controlling religions

* Shows how Christianity is very well suited to deal with religious plurality at the doctrinal and social level

* Addresses the core issues and describes the various answers that have been proposed in recent years – making it an ideal introduction to the field, and one which will stimulate ideas and discussions

Tabella dei contenuti

Preface ix

Part I: Charting the Territory: Theology of Religions 1

1 Early Map Making 3

Introduction 3

Pluralism 9

Inclusivism 19

Exclusivism 25

2 Changing the Angle: Recent Maps 34

Some Criticisms of the Threefold Typology 34

Comparative Theology 37

Postmodern Postliberalism 45

Part II: The Making and Meaning of Religions 55

3 Modernity’s Story 57

Introduction 57

Modernity’s Story about Religions 58

4 An Alternative: The Secular Construction of the Sacred Modernity as the Establishment of a New Ruling 74

Religion 74

Conclusion 102

Part III: Religions in the Public Square 103

5 Whose Religion and Which Public Square? 105

The Public Square 105

A Taxonomy of Secular Modernity and Postmodernity 107

6 Christian and Muslim Public Squares 128

Roman Catholicism, Modernity and Religious Plurality 128

Islam, Reasoned Debate, and Religious Plurality 136

Part IV: Christ’s Descent into Hell 159

7 Old Doctrines for New Jobs 161

Introduction 161

‘The Descent’: Introduction to the ‘Circles of Hell’ 165

The Limbo of the Just and the Unevangelized 167

8 Further into the Inferno 188

Purgatory and the Non-Christian 188

The Children’s Limbo 194

The Descent into Hell 201

Bibliography 212

Subject Index 225

Index of Works 233

Circa l’autore

Gavin D’Costa is Professor of Christian Theology at Bristol University. He also works with the Church of England and Roman Catholic Committees on Other Faiths, and the Pontifical Council for Other Faiths, Vatican City, advising these communities on theological issues. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including Theology and the Public Square (Wiley-Blackwell, 2005), Sexing the Trinity (2000), and The Meeting of Religions and the Trinity (2000).