COEXIST

It’s fairly common to see one of those “COEXIST” bumper stickers. One odd thing about them is that they decorate several different kinds of cars. So it seems that people from many walks of life – or at least car styles – want seven of the world’s religions to coexist. But the most intriguing thing about the commonplace decal is its ambiguity. Does it mean “Don’t kill everyone from other religions – exist together?” If so, it’s a needless car decoration, because the world’s religions are coexisting. Look around, indeed many different religions exist, often even in the same place.

If the bumper sticker aims at something less than Zen Buddhists killing Muslims, then most likely those who brandish the always-faded blue sticker suggest that all of the represented religions are equally valid. Considering such things brings with it the obvious question, “Are all these different beliefs the same?”

In his new book, A God of Many Understandings?, Todd L. Miles, assistant professor of theology and hermeneutics at Western Seminary and a graduate of Southern Seminary, attempts to provide his readers with a theology of world religions – how Christians should think about religions in relation to the Gospel.

“A theology of religions seeks, in a coherent and consistent manner, to answer questions concerning the relationships among world religions, special revelation, general revelation, and salvation,” Miles writes in his first chapter. “Of primary consequence, a Christian theology of religions seeks to answer these questions: Is there salvation outside conscious faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ? If so, how is it appropriated? Why are people incurably religious, and where do their religious impulses and convictions arise? … How are Christians to relate to religious others as they bring the Gospel of truth to them?”

In answering these questions, Miles walks his readers through the Scriptures, summarizing the biblical teachings concerning such topics as monotheism, God’s uniqueness and the missionary works of the early church. He then builds a case against the increasingly popular teachings of universalism.

“Universalism is currently growing in popularity due to the deadly combination of teaching by some high-profile individuals who have professed Christ, a church that is biblically illiterate, and a postmodern ethos where unanchored and incoherent sentimentalities trump the biblical presentation of God and His Christ,” Miles claims, emphasizing the urgency of the issue.

After briefly addressing the shortcomings of pluralistic worldviews, Miles turns his attention to the idea that the all religions somehow offer the merits of Christ to their adherents, even those with no conscious knowledge of him. He offers two chapters about this inclusivism, the first descriptive and the second critiquing inclusivist ideas within evangelicalism. These evangelical formulations claim that the Spirit works, in some salvific manner, in multiple religions around the world. Clearly sensing the importance of this issue, Miles writes follow-up chapters in which he argues that the Bible does not allow for a theological method that begins with the Spirit, especially as isolated from the Son. He then concludes his study investigating the relationship between the Son and Spirit, an investigation “built upon the foundation of a canonical biblical theology that is consciously christocentric.”

“If one understands the essence of Christianity to be facts about God, cultivation of personal devotion, advocacy of social justice, or the development of the nuclear family, the other religions may bring their own set of credentials to the discussion. But Christianity, at its core, is not any of these things,” Miles concludes. “A Christian is one who trusts the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is thereby justified by God, reconciled to God, indwelt by God’s Spirit, and is being progressively transformed into the image of Christ in anticipation of Christ’s return to consummate His Kingdom.

“Sympathetic attempts to seek salvific potential in non-Christian knowledge of God are misguided because other religions are not centered around the saving work of Jesus Christ.”

A God of Many Understandings? The Gospel and a Theology of Religions (B&H 2010, $29.99), Todd L Miles