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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > Christian theology > General
In this incisive and important volume, Jacques Dupuis offers new
insights on the most important issue facing Christian theology
today -- giving an account of Christian faith as Christians go more
deeply along the road of dialogue and collaboration with the
followers of other religious traditions. His task is to square a
dogmatic circle. How does one do justice to the Gospel claim that
Jesus the Christ is the final and universal savior of all humankind
in every age, while also doing justice to the experience that
truth, grace, holiness, and power are experienced in other
religious traditions? In the first six chapters Dupuis reviews the
history of the Western Christian tradition's teaching on other
religious Ways through the breakthrough at Vatican Council II. In
chapters 7 and 8 he reviews the critical issues of uniqueness of
Christ and Christian proposals to account for the mediation of
salvation in other religious Ways. He discusses also the
relationship between the Reign of God, the Church, and the
Religions. In chapter 9 he explores the nature and role of dialogue
in a pluralistic society. In chapter 10 offers sage reflections on
interreligious prayer.
In Mary's Bodily Assumption, Matthew Levering presents a
contemporary explanation and defense of the Catholic doctrine of
Mary's bodily Assumption. He asks: How does the Church justify a
doctrine that does not have explicit biblical or first-century
historical evidence to support it? With the goal of exploring this
question more deeply, he divides his discussion into two sections,
one historical and the other systematic. Levering's historical
section aims to retrieve the rich Mariological doctrine of the
mid-twentieth century. He introduces the development of Mariology
in Catholic Magisterial documents, focusing on Pope Pius XII's
encyclical Munificentissimus Deus of 1950, in which the bodily
Assumption of Mary was dogmatically defined, and two later
Magisterial documents, Vatican II's Lumen Gentium and Pope John
Paul II's Redemptoris Mater. Levering addresses the work of the
neo-scholastic theologians Joseph Duhr, Alois Janssens, and
Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange before turning to the great theologians
of the nouvelle theologie-Karl Rahner, Hans Urs von Balthasar,
Louis Bouyer, Joseph Ratzinger-and their emphasis on biblical
typology. Using John Henry Newman as a guide, Levering organizes
his systematic section by the three pillars of the doctrine on
which Mary's Assumption rests: biblical typology, the Church as
authoritative interpreter of divine revelation under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, and the fittingness of Mary's Assumption in
relation to the other mysteries of faith. Levering's ecumenical
contribution is a significant engagement with Protestant biblical
scholars and theologians; it is also a reclamation of Mariology as
a central topic in Catholic theology.
We've all heard the rationale: "It doesn't matter what you believe
as long as you're sincere." Or "All religions are pretty much the
same." But are they the same? Does it matter which one you follow?
In this insightful and compelling book, Michael Green invites
readers into a relationship with Jesus Christ, the divine
revelation and only pathway to the one true God.
In a conversational style geared toward nonbelievers, Green
compares Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and other religions to help
spiritual seekers navigate the multi-faith maze. "But Don't All
Religions Lead to God?" is an ideal reference and evangelism tool
for churches and individual Christians as well. It offers
scriptural references, looks at how divergent religious traditions
view salvation and eternity, and answers difficult questions such
as "What about people who have never heard of Jesus?" and "How
should Christians regard other religions?"
In the midst of our pluralistic and tolerant culture, here is an
important and convincing argument for faith in Jesus-the only great
teacher whose death and resurrection provided grace, forgiveness,
and an eternity in the presence of God.
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