Hick and Saints

Abstract

John Hick proposes that we test the salvific power of the world religions by testing their saint-production. I shall argue that Hick's test is not simple, not necessarily fair and not strictly empirical. I shall argue that it is not si mple by exposing the assumptions it relies on and various cases it must treat. I shall argue that it is not necessarily fair by explaining the condition it must meet in order to be fair. I shall argue that it is not strictly empirical by exposing the doctrinal question it must answer. In Religious Pluralism and Salvation published in this journal October, 1988, John Hick states again the challenge we find in his most recent works: subject Christianity to an empirical test. Does it produce more or better saints than the other great religions of the world? If it does, then perhaps it has right to claim to be the superior or even the absolute religion. If it doesn't, then Christians should be honest and accept other religions which also do good jobs of saint-making. Hick argues that the empirical data support the latter conclusion. This approach to Christianity is not new for Hick. In Evil and the God oj Love, he proposed that one purpose of Christianity was to produce perfected persons and that evil was necessary ingredient in the soul-making process. More recently in On Grading Religions, Hick suggests that we grade reli­ gious phenomena, but not whole religious traditions, by testing their spiritual and moral fruits in the lives of both the saint and the ordinary believer.! More recently still in The Non-Absoluteness of Christianity, Hick tests whole traditions by asking the same question-do they promote salvific transforma­ tion, i.e., what are their spiritual and moral fruits? In short, how good are the various religious traditions at producing saints?2 As Protestant active in the church in America I find this challenge rather puzzling. Anyone who has spent much time in the church is easily convinced that the church is not a museum of saints, but school for sinners. Jesus started out with such sorry lot of folks that it is not even clear that his immediate followers compare favorably to the disciples of Gautama. What if Peter didn't become as saintly person as Gautama's right hand man? What if st. Francis of Assisi turns out to be an eccentric who cares as much about