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Jacques Dupuis and a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism Przemyslaw Plata

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Jacques Dupuis and a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism Przemyslaw Plata 9770-07_LouvainStud_06-1_04 21-02-2007 09:11 Pagina 52 Louvain Studies 31 (2006) 52-78 doi: 10.2143/LS.31.1.2019379 © 2006 by Louvain Studies, all rights reserved Jacques Dupuis and a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism Przemyslaw Plata Abstract. — This article presents and evaluates Jacques Dupuis’ theology of religious pluralism. Exploring the role of different religious traditions and the meaning of religious pluralism in God’s plan of salvation for humanity, Dupuis comes to the conclusion that religious pluralism cannot be conceived of merely as a matter of fact (pluralism de facto), but is to be seen as positively willed by God (pluralism de iure). Dupuis grounds his position in a trinitarian view on the economy of salvation, which holds together three distinct, albeit complementary, aspects of God’s dealings with humanity: (1) the universal efficacy and lasting actuality of the Jesus Christ event, notwithstanding its historical particularity; (2) the universal activity of the Word of God, and (3) the universal presence of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, the various religious traditions are viewed primarily as expressions of God’s search for human beings, rather than a human search for God. As such, therefore, they may be called “ways”, or “channels,” through which salvation in Christ reaches their adherents. The first part of this essay presents the basic principles of Dupuis’ theology of religious pluralism and some of its major implications, with particular attention to the trinitarian framework underlying his considerations. The second part focuses on some major ambiguities of Dupuis’ theology, and offers critical observations regard- ing several aspects of his project. In recent years, the most influential and controversial catholic thinker in the field of theology of religions has been Jacques Dupuis. The ideas advocated by the Belgian Jesuit pose significant challenges to Christian theology. The enormous number of studies, articles, and reviews published after the appearance of his major work – Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism – testify to the fact that the issues he raised pertain to very sensitive theological problems. In what follows, I will attempt to present the basic lines of Father Dupuis’ Christian theology of religious pluralism de iure, highlighting, especially, the Trinitarian aspects of his approach. I will also try to indi- cate some implications of his theology. In the second part, I will offer some critical remarks regarding certain elements of his project. 9770-07_LouvainStud_06-1_04 21-02-2007 09:11 Pagina 53 J. DUPUIS AND A CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM 53 Situating the Basic Problem – The Meaning of Religious Pluralism According to Dupuis, one may delineate three basic positions in which Christian theology approaches other religious traditions.1 The first approach was related to the question of the possibility of salvation for those who did not belong to the Church. For a long period of time the answer to this question was rather negative, and as a result the attitude toward other religions was also negative. The other religious traditions were sometimes perceived even as a kind of tool to keep people in cus- tody of sin and away from the only true religion bringing salvation – from Christianity.2 The second attitude was much more positive. It treated different religions as expressions of an innate, natural human search for the divine. From this perspective, the other religious traditions could contain some positive elements: they might contain certain natural – and according to some theologians also supernatural – elements of truth. Such an approach was especially developed in the years proceeding and during the Second Vatican Council.3 For Jacques Dupuis, neither of these two approaches is adequate or sufficient. Instead, he rather associates himself with the third and the most recent perspective, the beginnings of which, as he observes, may be traced to the early 1980s. The most basic issue this perspective seems to address is the role and the meaning of religious pluralism in God’s dealings with humanity. The question to be faced is whether the different religious tra- ditions as such are merely allowed by God, or whether they are, at least in a certain sense, positively willed by God.4 Are the various religions to be considered as obstacles in the evangelizing mission of the Church? Or are they rather to be welcomed with gratitude and joy as expressions of God’s self-communication to humanity at different times and in differ- ent places? In other words: is religious pluralism only a matter of fact, and 1. Jacques Dupuis, Christianity and the Religions: From Confrontation to Dialogue (Maryknoll, NY/New York/London: Orbis Books/Darton, Longman and Todd, 2002) 2-5. Also: J. Dupuis, Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism (Maryknoll, NY/New York: Orbis Books, 1997) 12-13. Of course, what is at stake here is not, as Dupuis notes, a presentation of these attitudes in a chronological order. 2. Dupuis, Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism, 12; Dupuis, Chris- tianity and the Religions, 2-3, 5-6. 3. See: Dupuis, Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism, 133-143; Dupuis, Christianity and the Religions, 47-52. 4. Dupuis, Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism, 10-13; Dupuis, Christianity and the Religions, 4-5, 8-11; J. Dupuis, “Jesus Christ Universal Saviour and the Ways of Salvation,” Studia Bobolanum 4 (2003) 5-23, pp. 10, 12. 9770-07_LouvainStud_06-1_04 21-02-2007 09:11 Pagina 54 54 PRZEMYSLAW PLATA a fact to be regretted, or – on the contrary – are the different religious traditions positively willed by God as “ways of salvation” for their fol- lowers so that one can indeed speak of religious pluralism in principle?5 A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Pluralism in Principle and Some of Its Implications Exploring the role of different religious traditions and the meaning of religious pluralism in God’s plan of salvation for humanity, Dupuis comes to the conclusion that religious pluralism cannot be conceived of merely as a matter of fact (pluralism de facto). The different religious tra- ditions of the world are not only negatively allowed by God. On the contrary – they are, in a sense, positively willed and intended by God (pluralism de principio – in principle). In Dupuis’ opinion, the religions should be considered as having positive salvific value for their followers and may truly be called “ways” or “channels” of salvation through which God reaches out to human beings.6 Such a positive theological evaluation of religious plurality must be well grounded. It would not be enough, in Dupuis’ opinion, to base such a claim on “the plural character of all reality”7 such like, for instance, dimensions of space and time, multiplicity of elements in the world, the different seasons of the year, etc. It would not be adequate either to refer to the inevitable limits on the part of human being, to grasp, understand and express the mystery of the divine, or to the multiplicity of ways in which human beings, in different cultures and circumstances, search for the Absolute. All such arguments, as Dupuis maintains, are theologically insufficient. In his opinion, a positive evaluation of the plurality of reli- gious traditions and their positive value in the salvation of their adher- ents is possible only if one perceives the religions as originating primar- ily in the variety of God’s self-manifestations to human beings rather than only in a human search for the divine.8 The Father’s Search for Human Beings and Pluralism de iure In order to correctly understand the claim that the “paths” proposed by different religious traditions have authentic salvific value for their 5. Dupuis, Christianity and the Religions, 254. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid., 255. 8. Ibid., 253. 9770-07_LouvainStud_06-1_04 21-02-2007 09:11 Pagina 55 J. DUPUIS AND A CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM 55 followers and are willed and intended by God, one must, according to Dupuis, keep in unity three different though complementary aspects making up the economy of God’s dealings with humanity. “The three elements to be combined are: (1) the lasting actuality and universal effi- cacy of the event Jesus Christ, notwithstanding its historical particular- ity; (2) the universal operative presence of the Word of God whose action is not restricted by the human existence assumed by him in the mystery of the Incarnation; (3) the equally universal action of the Spirit of God, which is neither limited nor exhausted by its communication through the risen and glorified Christ.”9 Moreover, these three aspects must be considered in the perspective of God’s initiative to meet and to save all people. The fact that God the Father, through his Word and in his Spirit, is looking for and search- ing for human beings before they start searching for him, means that “religions of the world do not represent solely or primarily the effort of human beings and peoples to seek God throughout the entire history of humankind, while they can never reach him with their own efforts. Rather they are the different modes and diverse ways by which God him- self has first set out in search of them and found them before they sought him, even before he united them to himself in an unbreakable decisive bond in his Son made flesh among them.”10 Consequently, to give the floor to Dupuis again, “when the expression ‘ways of salvation’ is applied to religious traditions, it refers not simply to a search for God, univer- sally present in human beings, albeit never satisfied through their efforts, but rather primarily to the search of God for them, and the gracious ini- tiative taken by God in inviting them to share in his own life.
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