The Depth Of The Riches

by S. Mark Heim

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2001

Overview

Religious pluralism is today the most challenging issue facing traditional Christianity. This constructive work by a leading voice on the subjects of religious pluralism and interfaith relations probes the Christian understanding of God and salvation and offers a new perspective on religious pluralism that affirms unique salvation in Christ while also recognizing the religious ends of other faiths. The questions explored here are both difficult and enlightening. What is the distinctive nature of salvation? Is there a place in Christian theology for recognizing other religious ends in addition to salvation? In pursuit of meaningful answers, S. Mark Heim uses the classical doctrine of the Trinity to develop a theology that allows Christians to respect the possibility that alternative relations with God exist in other religions.

Looking at theology through the lens of a postmodern culture, this volume is an essential and highly significant work. All Scripture passages are linked to your favorite Bible translation in your library. With the advanced search features of Logos Bible Software, you can perform powerful searches by topic or Scripture reference.

Key Features

• Summary of the project and its implications for interfaith relations is offered
• Includes bibliographical references and indexes

Contents

Top Highlights

“Christianity maintains that God chooses a good that consists of God and creatures, over the good which is God alone or the good of God and one sort of creature.” (Page 248)

“complementary side of the call for Christian mission is the” (Page 138)

“I will use ‘salvation’ to refer to the human fulfillment that Christians believe is offered to us by God through Christ. This is the characteristic use of the word in Christian theology. It is rarely used in other religious traditions to describe their ends. When speaking of those ends, or sometimes when speaking collectively or comparatively of the Christian end and others, I will use terms like ‘religious aim’ or ‘religious fulfillment’ or ‘religious end.’” (Page 8)

“The third possibility suggests that translation into new contexts brings out new and additional aspects of the gospel. S” (Page 137)

“sion back to the churches that sent it. This third option is the oper” (Page 137)

Praise for the Print Edition

Heim makes an original and challenging contribution to the discussion of Christian relations with other religions in his attempt to take religious difference absolutely seriously [. . . ] Heim’s thesis deserves careful critical attention.

—Modern Theology

This is a most exciting, readable, and learned exploration of the Christian Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, of a kind which enables the acceptance of a radical religious pluralism without compromising the unique salvific role of Jesus Christ. The implications of this major theological approach to other world faiths are of great significance [. . . ] The style is clear and attractive. Although the material is at times complex, it should be within the capabilities of the serious student of theology.

—Theological book Review

Clearly written and cogently argued, this book advances the discussion of religious pluralism in many fruitful directions. The most substantive alternative to John Hick’s view to date.

—Religious Studies Review

Product Details

• Title: The Depth Of The Riches
• Author: S. Mark Heim
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2000
• Pages: 323

About S. Mark Heim

Mark Heim is deeply involved in issues of religious pluralism, Christian ecumenism and the relation of theology and science. He is author of Salvations: Truth and Difference in Religion, The Depth of the Riches: A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Ends and, most recently, Saved From Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross (Eerdmans, 2006). He has taught, studied and lectured in India, Israel, China, Europe, Malaysia, Thailand and the Fiji Islands. His course on the relation of science and theology won a Templeton Foundation award in 1998 as one of the 12 outstanding courses that have been developed in this field. He received a Pew Evangelical Scholars Research Fellowship in 1997-98. He is one of the keynote speakers in a national series of conferences on nonviolent atonement (see http://www.preachingpeace.org/ohio_NVA.htm). He also has been selected to serve on the core instructional faculty of an AAR program of summer seminars for seminary and university professors on Theologies of Religious Pluralism and Comparative Theology (see http://www.aarweb.org/Programs/Summer_Seminars/About/staff.asp). An ordained American Baptist minister and former pastor of a New Hampshire church, Heim has served as chair of the American Baptist Churches Committee on Christian Unity and represents his denomination on the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council and World Council of Churches. He came to Andover Newton in 1982.