Christianity and Religious Diversity: Clarifying Christian Commitments in a Globalizing Age

by Harold Netland

Publisher:

Baker Academic

, 2019

Overview

Christianity & Religious Diversity explores how religions have changed in a globalized world and how Christianity is unique among them. Harold Netland, an expert in philosophical aspects of religion and pluralism, offers a fresh analysis of religion in today's globalizing world. He addresses some central issues in understanding religion and religions today, challenging common misunderstandings of the concept of religion itself and its relation to culture. He also shows how particular religious traditions, such as Buddhism, undergo significant change with modernization, secularization, and globalization. Netland then responds to issues concerning the plausibility of Christian commitments to Jesus Christ and the unique truth of the Christian gospel in light of religious diversity and disagreement. The book concludes by considering basic principles for Christians living as Christ's disciples in religiously diverse contexts. Combining theological resources with insights from history, religious studies, and philosophy, Christianity & Religious Diversity will be useful for professors and students in intercultural studies, world religions, and mission courses. Scholars, missionaries, and pastors will also benefit from this book. Contents Introduction Part 1: Religion(s) in a Modern, Globalizing World 1. Rethinking Religion(s) 2. Secularization, Globalization, and the Religions 3. Buddhism in the Modern World 4. Jesus in a Global, Postcolonial World Part 2: Christian Commitments in a Pluralistic World 5. Can All Religions Be True? 6. On the Idea of Christianity as the One True Religion 7. Religious Diversity and Reasons for Belief 8. Living with Religious Diversity as Jesus's Disciples Index

Contents

Top Highlights

“The second claim is that the term ‘religion’ distorts the cultural phenomena on which it is imposed.” (Page 11)

“The first is that the term ‘religion’ is a modern, social construct. ‘Whether or not religion has always existed, critics say, the concept religion is a relatively recent invention.” (Page 11)

“Religions, as we encounter them in actual historical and social settings, are not static entities, frozen in time: they change in certain ways as they respond to fresh circumstances. In a sense religions are continually redefining themselves as they struggle to hold on to what is normative from the past even as they adapt to fresh challenges and opportunities.” (Page 41)

“Secularism, by contrast, is a way of thinking and living, an ideology or worldview: it maintains that religious claims are either simply false (there is no transcendent spiritual reality) or at least that we can and should live as if they are false.” (Page 55)

“Jesus has been adopted by many religions of the world.^[3] Perhaps this is not so surprising, since Jesus is a towering figure in human history, and many traditions have found it necessary to accommodate him on their own terms.” (Page 104)

Product Details

• Title: Christianity and Religious Diversity: Clarifying Christian Commitments in a Globalizing Age
• Author: Harold Netland
• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Print Publication Date: 2019
• Logos Release Date: 2022
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Christianity and other religions; Textbooks
• ISBNs: 9781441221919, 9780801038570, 9781441221902, 080103857X, 1441221905, 1441221913
• Resource ID: LLS:WS_D03FFF4A156943F1BD64D4078CE3DA6C
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-12-16T18:03:09Z

About Harold Netland

Harold Netland is professor of philosophy of religion and intercultural studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He has spent much of his professional life in Japan. His other books include Dissonant Voices: Religious Pluralism and the Question of Truth.