Jesus the Christ—The Only Way to God and to Human Flourishing

Abstract

Jesus the Christ—The Only Way to God and to Human Flourishing M. Thomas Thangaraj (bio) salvific necessity of Christ, historical settings, windows into God, Trinity, eschatology, exclusivity of God, the church Asked, along with others, to elaborate “on a core-issue in our religious tradition, which in a world of religious plurality requires and would benefit from a renewed reflection and consideration,” I have chosen to elaborate on the Christian affirmation that Jesus the Christ is the only way to God and to human flourishing. I chose this for two reasons. First, in my encounters with Hindus in settings of interfaith dialogue, this particular belief of Christians has been a great stumbling block for further dialogue and understanding. Hindus have found it incredible that Christians would make such a claim, while Christians have wondered how they could possibly maintain their Christian identity without such an affirmation. Second, when I recommend to congregations dialogical ways of relating with people of other religions, they frequently ask, “What about John 14:6? Is not Christ the only way to God?” Even dialogue-minded Christians feel some unease about this claim and are asking for reinterpretation of it. Therefore, we must address this issue of the salvific necessity of Christ in the present context of interreligious encounter. This exercise is of particular interest because it allows me to elaborate on this issue in the presence of my friends from other religious traditions. My project here is to lay bare the various dimensions of this core issue and point out some of the possible directions or possibilities that are available for either reinterpretation or rejection. I argue that there are at least eight such dimensions to be considered: historical, theological, soteriological, eschatological, hermeneutical, ecclesiological, psychological, and epistemological. Historical Dimension: The exclusive claim of Christ is always made in [End Page 44] concrete historical settings. It is not an idea held up in the sky somewhere but is maintained in the concrete realities of history. Therefore, we must admit right away that the exclusivity of this claim simply cannot be maintained because there are, in fact, right in front of our eyes, a multiplicity of competing claims for other ways to God and human flourishing. Our contemporary historical experience does not allow us to contradict that. To do so would be simply to write off Tikva, Anantanand, and Mahinda (the Jewish, Hindu, and Buddhist representatives in this consultation) from our discussion. Our historical experience of people of other faiths and of interfaith dialogue tells us that it is becoming more and more difficult to affirm the exclusivity of Christ in a multireligious setting. There are, in fact, many ways to God and many paths to human flourishing. In addition, we are increasingly aware that our visions of God and human flourishing are our visions and products of our history and our imaginative and creative construction. Once we recognize that they are products of such a kind of human historical creativity, they are instantly relativized and removed from the venue of absolutes. One might even say that what Christians need in a multifaith setting is a strong dose of historical consciousness. Theological Dimension: The vision of Jesus as the Christ functions as a normative category in Christian thinking about and understanding of God. We have come to think of “God in Christ” as our peculiar and proper talk about God. The normative character of Jesus the Christ cannot be sacrificed if Christian thinking and acting desire to be “Christian.” Yet, such a claim to normativity often fails to recognize and appreciate other religions’ understandings of God. At the same time, are there ways in which we can talk about this normative category in nonexclusive terms? I have used the idea of “window” to address this issue. The vision of Jesus as the Christ is our window into God, and as such it is one of many windows available through which to gain a vision of God. Another way I have adopted is to use phrases such as “formative vision” and “transformative orientation” to understand the centrality of Christ in Christian life. 1 Jesus the Christ offers us a formative vision of God, a vision that does...