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oa De ‘Waarheidsvraag’ in de theologia religionum. Een godsdienst-wijsgerige benadering
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion, Volume 38, Issue 4, okt. 1984, p. 310 - 327
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- 01 okt. 1984
Samenvatting
Is it possible to decide which religion is right in claiming the ‘Truth’? A distinction is made between three positions: 1) Exclusivism (‘extra ecclesiam nulla salus’); 2) universalism (the world religions are human responses to the same Divine revelation); 3) relativism (religions as ‘forms of life’, not justifiable by external criteria). Having criticised these positions, I argue that we should distinguish between metaphysical truth claims in an ‘existential’ and in a ‘philosophical’ sense. In the existential sense, in view of our basic convictions, we are exclusivists. In the philosophical sense, given the condition humaine, we are not able to decide which religion is right in claiming the ‘Truth’. This is a reason for modesty and, as such, a motive for tolerance.