Religion and the Christian Faith

Dr. Hendrik Kraemer received his doctor's degree in Oriental Languages, Cultures, and Religions from Leiden University. He became Professor of the History and Phenomenology of Religions in the Theological Faculty of the University of Leiden (Netherlands). He was Director of the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches at Bossey (near Geneva) and was Fosdick Visiting Professor at the Union Theological Seminary, New York.

• Author's Preface; Introduction; Where Do We Stand?; A Real Encounter with Non-Christian Religions; The Fact of Religious Pluralism; The Younger Churches Speak to their Religious World; Comment on The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World; Part One; Study of Religion; The Fruits of the Modern Approach; The Ambivalent Character of Religion; The Fruits of Modern Research-A Critique of Rudolf Otto; A Further Clarification-A Critique of Joachim Wach; The Claim to be Scientific and Objective; Comprehension Involves Interpretation; Varieties of the Philosophy of Religion; The Natural Explanation of Religion; Comparative Religion; Philosophy of Religion-Four Characteristics; Troeltsch and the Historical Explanation School; Jung and the Psychological Interpretation of Religion; Some Conclusions From the Study; The General Idea of Religion; The Wrong Concept of Comparative Religion; Religion-Not Singular but Universal; The Underivable Fact of Religion; Fairness in the Intercourse of Religions; Value and Truth in All Religions; Karl Jaspers and Biblical Religion; Jaspers and the Apostolic Kerygma; A Note in Christopher Dawson; Part Two; An Investigation Into Indian Religious Thinking; Radhakrishnan's Philosophy of Religion; An Outline of Hinduism; Philosophies as View-Points; The Great Quest; Hinduism's Blind Spot; Some Judgments on Hinduism; Indian Monism and History; The Mind of Radhakrishnan; Radhakrishnan's Exposition of Hinduism; Vindications of Hindu Doctrine; A Critique of Radhakrishnan; His Treatment of Christianity; Lack of Historical Sense; A Western Apologist for Hinduism; Religion-A Soul for the World; Mysticism-The Highest Form; Hinduism's Spirituality; Part Three; Theological Attempts to Deal with the Problem of Religion and Religions; The Validity of the Theological Starting-Point; The Inadequacy of the Philosophical Approach; The Prejudice Against Theology; Meaning of the Theological Approach; The Theological Starting-Point; The Early Christian Apologists; Justin Martyr; The Logos Spermatikos Doctrine; Clement and Origen; The tradition of Natural Theology; Tertullian; Augustine; St Thomas Aquinas-Past and Present; The Two Floors; Natural Reason and Revealed Religion; Aquinas-the Great Harmonizer; The Roman Catholic Attitude To-day; The Great Reformers; A Theology of Religion-Not a Philosophy; Calvin's Position; Luther's Position; Luther's Interest in Islam; Zwingli's Position; The Reformers' Theological Approach; The Liberal Period; The Twentieth Century Theological Awakening; J G Hamann-First of The Dialectical Thinkers; Religion and Religions in Barth and Brunner; Brunner and the Non-Christian Religions; Similarities in Religions; Barth's Fundamental Theological Concern; Religion as Unbelief; One Decisive Criterion-Jesus Christ; Brunner and Comparisons of Revelation; A Critique of Barth; Dangers of Barth's Over-Emphasis; Barth's Theological Anthropology; Other Theological Interpreters-W Holsten; A Critique of Holsten; European and American Studies; American Philosophy of Religion; E S Brightman; Theistic Philosophy-A Critique; Nathan Soderblom; Soderblom's Position-An Analysis; Soderblom's Synthesis; Soderblom-A Judgment; The Missionary Scholars; Three British Approaches; European Contributions; H H Farmer's Contribution; H H Farmer-A Critique; From Jerusalem 1928 to Tambram 1938; The American Layman's Inquiry; Post-Tambaram Discussions; A G Hogg's Questions; Asian Contributions-Russel Chandran's Study; D G Moses' Contribution; Appended Note: Criticisms of The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World; Part Four; The Bible and the Problem of Religion and Religions; Biblical Religion is Theocentric; The Record of God's Self-Disclosure; The Bible Not a Book About Religion; God Man and Community in the Old Testament; Key Words of the Bible; The Bible's Non-Theoretical Way; The Data of God's Self-Disclosure; Interpretation of Imago Dei; The Truth About Man; Genesis-An Interpretation of the Beginnings of Mankind; Imago Dei in the New Testament; Summary of the Discussion; God Reveals Himself by Word and by Act; Jesus and Religion; The Logos Concept; Wisdom Forerunner of Logos; Significance of Wisdom for the Present Study; Interpretation in the Old Testament; The Bible Demythologizes Itself; Christ the Caller in Question; The Logos Concept in the New testament; St John's Prologue; The Fact-Jesus Christ; The Weakness of Praeparatio Evangelica; The Prologue-Its Own Category; The Prologue Rooted in the Old Testament Line; The Righteousness and Wrath of God; Paul's Areopagus Speech; An Exegesis; Epistle to the Romans; The Righteousness of God; Criticism of Dodd and Moffatt; God's Self-Disclosure in Wrath; The Wrong Response to the Revelation; The Abandonment of Man; The Dark Pauline Picture; The Biblical Theological Approach; The Life Relationship with God; Exposition of Romans 2:1-16; Paul-Christian Not Stoic; Paul's Christian Ethics; Paul's God-Centredness; The Struggle With and Against God; Man's Religious Responses; Paul's Cosmic View; The Precariousness Grandeur and Misery of Man; The Atrophy of Religion in Modern Man; The Biblical Serum for Man's Disease; Appended Note on The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World; Part Five; The Christian Dialogue with Religion and Religions; The Divine-Human Drama; The Apologetic Method; Some Examples of the Yes-No Response-Indonesia; Ancient India; Old and New Israel; Man's Preoccupation with Death; Immortality-Greek and Biblical; The Eschatological Hope; Good-Conscience Religion; Humanism-Classical and biblical; The Greek Tragedians; Some Conclusions from These Examples; Empirical Christianity in the Light of Biblical Dialectics; Christ Demands a Radical Break; General and Special Revelation; The Two Foci; General Revelation a Misleading Term; Dangers of the Term; The Meaning of Biblical Revelation; General Revelations Alien to the Bible; Religions the Product of Revelation?; Fulfilment and Continuity; Revelation in Nature; Possible New Terminology?; Revelation in the Barth-Brunner Conflict; Christ-The Criterion of Revelation; Natural theology an Alien Interpretation of the Biblical Attitude; The Biblical Test; Points of Contact; Piety in Religion; Inter-Religious Co-operation and Tolerance; India; Christians and Jews; Fellowship of Religions; The Yearning for Human Solidarity; Biblically Based Tolerance; The Exclusiveness of Christianity; Pluralism; God's Self-disclosure in Christ and His Church; The Captivity in Christ; Man's Misery With Glory; The Demonic Powers; The Incarnate Word and the Expectant Community; A Dangerous Obedience; Part Six; Contemporary Questions for the Christian Faith; Syncretism as a Problem for Religion; Awakening to the Problem; Christianity Enters Real Worlds of Religion and Culture; What is Syncretism?; History of the Term; The Classic Period of Syncretism; Manichaeism-Syncretistic and Militant; Absorption is not Syncretism; Spontaneous Primitive Syncretism; Syncretism Basic to Non-Prophetic Religion; When The Battle is Joined; Syncretism as a Missionary Problem; The Church on the Spot; The Missionary Encounter; Dangers of the Western Approach; The Vastness of the Problem; Some Positive Answers; The Necessity of Adaptation; Initiation into the Biblical World; An Instructed Minority; The Direct Answer; The Church in Asia's Revolution; The Church's Direct Answer; Theological Education; The Need for Christian Experts; The Relation of Religion Revelation and Philosophy; The Place of Theology; The Place of Philosophy; Their Meeting Point; The Place of Reason; The Meaning of Revelation; Biblical Religion; A Reconciliation of Religion and Philosophy; A Criticism of Paul Tillich's Reconciliation; The Tillich Thesis; Philosophy and Biblical Thinking Incompatible; Faith is not a Philosophical Quest; The Desire for a Synthesis; Conversion-Philosophical and Biblical; God-Ground or Creator?; Universal Logos and the Word Made Flash; Reason Not Affected by the Fall?; Self-Discovery = God-Discovery?; Mysticism the True Religious Manifestation?; Quest or Faith?; Philosophy Not a Vestibule for Revelation; Postscript; The Alpha and the Omega; Index of Subjects; Index of Proper Names.