Pontifical University St. Patrick’s College Maynooth Co. Kildare Ireland A Contextual Application of The Unicity and Universality of Christ in the Context of Religious Pluralism: A Lubacian Hermeneutic Paul Kangkai A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Theology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor in Theology Supervisor: Rev. Dr. Noel O’Sullivan November 2020 DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgement .................................................................................................................................. ii Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................................... iv General Introduction............................................................................................................................... 1 The aim of the work ................................................................................................................................ 2 Methodology ........................................................................................................................................... 3 The Structure of this Thesis .................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter One: A Critical Survey of the Biblical, Historical and Doctrinal Development of the Christian Understanding of the Unicity and Universality of Christ ...................................................................... 13 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 13 1.1 God’s Universal Salvation of Humankind in Creation and the Election of Israel .................. 14 1.1.2 The Universal Affirmation of the Lordship of Christ ............................................................ 19 1.2 Selected Study of the Development of the Understanding of Salvation in the Church: The Apostolic Church to the Fathers of the Church of the Fourth Century ............................................ 22 1.2.1 The Apostolic Church .................................................................................................... 22 1.2.2 St. Peter: God Shows No Partiality ....................................................................................... 23 1.2.2 St. Paul: All Will Be Judged According To Their Deeds .................................................. 24 1.2.4 St. Paul: The Unknown God ................................................................................................. 25 1.2.5 St. John: God’s Universal Involvement with Humankind ..................................................... 26 1.3 Optimism Concerning Salvation Outside the Church: Origenism ............................................... 28 1.3.1 St. Justin Martyr (d. c. 165) .................................................................................................. 28 1.3.2 St. Irenaeus (130-202 AD) .................................................................................................... 29 1.3.3 Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 211) ......................................................................................... 30 1.3.4 Origen (d. c. 253) .................................................................................................................. 31 1.4 Negative and Pessimistic Approach to Salvation Outside the Church – Extra Ecclesia Nulla Salus - St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Irenaeus, St. Cyprian, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. John Chrysostum ....................................................................................................................................... 32 1.4.1 Cyprian (d. 258) .................................................................................................................... 33 1.4.2 St. Ambrose (d. 397) ............................................................................................................ 37 1.4.3 Saint Gregory of Nyssa (ca. 335-ca. 395) ............................................................................. 37 1.4.4 Saint John Chrysostom (ca. 349-ca. 407) ............................................................................. 38 1.5 The Pivotal Role of St. Augustine in the Development of the Teaching on Salvation: The Controversy with the Donatists ........................................................................................................ 39 1.6 Medieval Hermeneutical Approach: From St. Thomas Aquinas’ Implicit Faith to The Interpretation of Salvation................................................................................................................ 45 1.6.1 Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) ..................................................................................... 47 1.7.1 Bull Unam Sanctam of Pope Boniface VIII (1302) ................................................................ 49 1.7.2 The Council of Florence (1431-1445) ........................................................................................... 51 1.7 New Thinking on the Necessity of Christ and the Church for Salvation ..................................... 52 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 55 Chapter Two: The Specific Nature of de Lubac’s Methodology and its Implications for the Understanding of Catholicism and the Church ..................................................................................... 57 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 57 2.1 The Historical and Theological Milieu of Henri de Lubac ............................................................ 59 2.1.1 Theological Method of De Lubac ......................................................................................... 63 2.1.2 The Principle of Auscultation ............................................................................................... 68 2.1.3 The Catholicity of Truth ....................................................................................................... 72 2.2 The Concept of the Catholicism .................................................................................................. 81 2.2.2 The Church as the Continuation of the Incarnation ............................................................ 88 2.2.3 The Catholicity of the Church............................................................................................... 90 2.2.4 The Church as the Mystical Body of Christ .......................................................................... 92 2.2.5 The Church as Sacrament .................................................................................................... 95 2.3 Catholicisme’s Seventh Chapter: The Church’s role in Salvation ................................................ 96 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 107 Chapter Three: The Paradigm Shift in the Understanding of the Unicity and Universality of Christ since Vatican II .................................................................................................................................... 110 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 110 3.1.1 The Second Vatican Council: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium 16-17, Declaration on Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate, Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activities, Ad Gentes 7-8 ............................................................................................................. 112 3.1.2 Lumen Gentium §16........................................................................................................... 113 3.1.3 Lumen Gentium §1 ............................................................................................................. 118 3.1.4 Nostra Aetate ..................................................................................................................... 119 3.1.5 Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activities, Ad Gentes 7-8 ........................................... 121 3.2 Karl Rahner’s (1904 – 1984) “Anonymous Christian” ............................................................... 124 3.2.1 Hans Küng .......................................................................................................................... 129 3.2.2 John Hick ............................................................................................................................ 130 3.2.3 Paul F. Knitter on Liberation Theology of Religions and the uniqueness of Christ ............ 136 3.2.4 Roger Haight’s Jesus: Symbol of God ................................................................................. 139 3.2.5 Jacques Dupuis’ Inclusive Pluralism ................................................................................... 141 3.2.6 Responses to Jacques Dupuis ............................................................................................ 147 3.2.7 Terrence Merrigan on the Church’s Mediation in Dupuis