Christian Theology and Religious Pluralism: A Critical Evaluation of John Hick

by David S. Nah

Publisher:

Pickwick Publications

, 2012

Overview

The question of religious pluralism is the most significant yet thorniest of issues in theology today, and John Hick (1922-2012) has long been recognized as its most important scholar. However, while much has been written analyzing the philosophical basis of Hick’s pluralism, very little attention has been devoted to the theological foundations of his argument. Filling this gap, this book examines Hick’s theological attempts to systematically deconstruct the church’s traditional incarnational Christology. Special attention is given to evaluating Hick’s foundational theses “that Jesus himself did not teach what was to become the orthodox Christian understanding of him” and “that the dogma of Jesus’ two natures . . . has proved to be incapable of being explicated in any satisfactory way.” By elucidating the ways in which Hick’s arguments fail, David Nah demonstrates that Hick was unwarranted in breaking away from the church’s incarnational Christology that has been at the core of Christianity for almost two thousand years.

Praise for Christian Theology and Religious Pluralism

”David Nah must be congratulated for producing both a most thorough analysis of John Hick’s brand of religious pluralism and a most competent defense of traditional two-natures Christology against Hick’s critique and his proposed alternative of metaphorical Christology. I heartily recommend this recent addition to the literature on John Hick to all interested in both sides of the issue."
--Anselm K. Min
Claremont Graduate University

“David Nah systematically weakens John Hick’s paradigms offered in solution to problems of twentieth-century religious pluralism . . . [Nah’s] work fills an unmet need for a more extensive assessment of Hick’s last and most mature theology of religions. The tone is irenic rather than disputational and even religious others will find in Nah a friend who, contra-Hick, takes with metaphysical, not merely metaphorical seriousness, their claims of Ultimacy."
--James F. Lewis
Bethel University (St. Paul, MN)

Product Details

• Title : Christian Theology and Religious Pluralism: A Critical Evaluation of John Hick
• Author: Nah, David S.
• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Publication Date: 2012
• ISBN: 9781621890003

About David S. Nah

Nah was born in Korea, but moved to the U.S. at the age of 10. He has served in pastorates for more than 20 years, with a special love for second-generation Korean congregations, and he is interested in developing a second-generation Asian-American theology. His professional memberships include the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the Christian Theological Research Fellowship. Nah comes to Bethel after teaching for one year on a post-doctoral appointment at Seattle Pacific University. His current research plans include books on John Hick’s theology of religious pluralism, Voices in Asian-American Theology, Systematic Theology in a Global Age, and a book on a Christian theology of religions.