Beyond the Text: Revisiting Jacques Dupuis‘ Theology of Religions

Abstract

AbstractJacques Dupuis (1923–2004) was a Belgian Jesuit and one of the Roman Catholic Church's leading theologians of religion. Dupuu‘ magnum opus remains “Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism”. In that work Dupuis attempts to reconcile the particularity of Jesus with the universality of the divine Logos. In order to do so, he utilizes the classical logos ensarkos/logos asarkos distinction. Although he is the Son of God and represents the sacrament of God's salvific will, Jesus Christ is limited by time and space, and cannot exhaust the mystery of God. The surplus of mystery, as well as God's universal intention to save are carried by the logos asarkos, or Holy Spirit, who is also the Spirit of Christ. The Holy Spirit points to and culminates in the ‘Christ‐event’ but is not limited to it, because the Holy Spirit is found in all that is agapic in the world religions.Dupuis' controversial theology of religions has been much discussed in its theoretical aspect. However, it has been largely neglected in its practical, evaluative aspect. This essay will attempt to answer two related questions. First, how helpful is Dupuis' theology of religions if applied to a certain religion (in this case, Islam)? Second, what can we learn from the successes and failures of application? The questions are important. The theology of religions exists as a discipline in order to assist Christians in their interactions with and inevitable evaluations of other faiths. Therefore, the success or failure of an applied theology of religions is one of the main determinants of its value.The essay will conclude that the application of Dupuis' theology of religions reveals several problems. Chief among them are an excessive irenicism and a flawed hermeneutic of religions. Nevertheless, these flaws are rectifiable and Fr Dupuis has made a magisterial, invaluable, and perhaps permanent contribution to the discipline.