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| Only one way? |
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Dan Strange, Tutor in Culture, Religion and Public Theology, has co-authored a new book just published by SCM. We caught up with Dan and asked him a few questions about it.
Dan, what is the book called and what is it about?
The book is called Only One Way? and its subtitle is, Three Christian Responses to the Uniqueness of Christ in a Religiously Plural World. It's a dialogue between three theologians on the relationship between Christianity and other religions: myself as a reformed evangelical, Professor Gavin D'Costa (Bristol University) as a conservative Catholic, and Professor Paul Knitter (Union Theological Seminary, New York) as a pluralist. As you can imagine, we all have very different takes on the question.
How did the book come about?
Professor D'Costa was my PhD supervisor a decade ago, but we have kept in touch since then. The project was his idea and when Paul Knitter agreed to be the third person, we were ready to go. We spent about 18 months each writing opening statements on the subject, responding to each other and then finally re-responding to each other.
What was the experience like?
Really stimulating – but really tough! First, all three of us come from very different traditions and communities which don't mix all that much. Therefore it is quite easy to talk past each other as we not only have different views, but have different authority sources. You can't simply quote Acts 4:12 – "No other name" – and say that settles it. To get there, you have to do a lot of work first! Although the book focuses on the question of other religions, it is as much about how we do theology and think about God, the universe and everything.
Second, although we remain respectful to each other throughout, for an academic dialogue, sparks certainly fly and the dialogue is "robust" to say the least.
What are your hopes for the book?
I am really excited about this project because it is rare for three theologians as different as us to get together over an extended period and really thrash out these crucial issues. The chance to re-respond means that we had the chance to clear up any misunderstandings the first time around.
I personally think that it has been a great evangelistic opportunity to present and defend historic Christian orthodoxy – in other words, the biblical gospel – to readers who may never have come into contact with it before. I am praying some folks may want to explore more as a result of reading the book.
All of the authors hope the book will become a textbook in undergraduate departments and seminaries in the UK, US and beyond. We have already had some great commendations. |
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