Christelijke zending en wereldgodsdiensten: de godsdiensttheologie van Gustav Warneck, Hendrik Kraemer en J.E. Lesslie Newbigin in context

Abstract

This study will consider the theology of religion or theologia religionum of three missiologists in the Protestant tradition: the German missiologist Gustav Warneck, the Dutch Indologist Hendrik Kraemer and the English/Scottish missionary Lesslie Newbigin. Together, their thought on the theology of religion spans the entire twentieth century. The emphasis of this study lies on the development of their thought in the context of their time, their Ideengeschichte. Since the 1980s, the paradigm put forward by Alan Race which distinguishes between exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism has become generally known. This model has been widely accepted and has spawned many variations. Gustav Warneck (1834-1910) was the first scholar who developed an entire missiology on scientific basis, het famous Evangelische Missionslehre. He entered into a conversation with Ernst Troeltsch and Wilhelm Bousset as representatives of the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule. The later representatives of the pluralist position in the theology of religions refer to the thoughts of Troeltsch, but ignore totally the discussion of between Warneck and Troeltsch/Bousset. Hendrik Kraemer (1888-1965) is the only one analysed in this study who has developed an complete systematic theology of religion, based on the revelation of God in Christ. In his main work, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World, Kraemer addressed the position of William E. Hocking of the Laymen's Inquiry (Re-Thinking Missions) and entered into conversation in Tambaram about the key points of the theology of religion: the value of the non-Christian religions, the presence of divine revelation in religions, the exclusivity of salvation in Christ and the relationship between particularism and universalism. Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998) was missionary in India and was bishop in the Church of South India. He served several years as the leader of the International Missionary Council. After retiring he served a local congregation in suburb of Birmingham (England) and thought several years missiology and Hinduism at the University of Birmingham. He published some missiological themes in his The Open Secret. Later he had exchanges with pluralists like John Hick, Paul Knitter and Stanley Samartha. At the end of his live he published some pamphlets about the theme 'mission to the West' and analysed the foundations of the (post)modern society in his The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. The three scholars analysed in this study are consistent in assuming that revelation is the only criterion for evaluation of religion and religions. They resist replacing this norm with 'reasonable belief' or human reason. Kraemer and Newbigin have seen the relativism of historical Christianity, but had a high view of the significance of the church in relation with the coming of the Kingdom of God and the role of mission. Based on the revelation of God in Christ the position of Kraemer and Newbigin, as called a exclusivist position, gives an opportunity of developing a positive and charming theology of religion based on the uniqueness and finality of Christ, which support a solid basis for the christian mission in the 21st century.