From Marilyn Manson to Amos: Navigating Pluralism in the Twenty-First-Century West

Abstract

This is the second installment of a two part study which attempts to apply the theology of religious and cultural tolerance from Amos 2:1–3 to the pluralistic twenty-first-century West. Pluralism is not a new idea. In fact, Amos and both the Old and New Testaments are given in a pluralistic context. This study makes correlations with Patten’s article ‘Multicultural Dimensions of the Bible’ and the Pluralism Project at Harvard University. It attempts to demonstrate how both Jesus and the church navigated pluralism with religious and cultural tolerance. This article is a call to Christians to stand together and be strong in our faith, values and practices, while proclaiming the gospel and evangelizing in the context of the twenty-first-century pluralistic West in an uncompromising yet balanced and truly tolerant way.