Trinity and Religious Pluralism

Veli-Matti Karkkainen, University of Helsiniki, Finland and Fuller Theological Seminary, USA

• Contents: Introduction: the doctrine of the Trinity and the challenge of religious pluralism. Part I The Uniqueness of the Christian Trinitarian Faith as the End of the Dialogue: Karl Barth: the Trinity as the distinguished mark of the Christian God. Part II The Potential and Critical Function of the Christian Trinitarian Faith in the Dialogue With Other Religions: Karl Rahner: Trinity and 'anonymous Christianity'; Jacques Dupuis: a trinitarian theology of religious pluralism; Gavin D'Costa: a 'Catholic' trinitarian theology of religions; Wolfhart Pannenberg: the trinitarian faith as the resource for the common search for the truth; Clark Pinnock: a pneumato-trinitarian theology of religions. Part III The Christian Trinitarian Faith as an Embrace Of Pluralism: John Hick: the doctrine of the Trinity as problematic; Raimundo Panikkar: the cosmotheandric trinitarian mystery; S. Mark Heim: a trinitarian theology of religious ends. Part IV A Case Study in Trinitarian Theology of Religions: The Roman Catholic Church's trinitarian doctrine and the monotheism of Islam. Conclusion: toward a Trinitarian theology of religions; Bibliography; Index.

'Kärkkäinen brings the most important development of 20th century Christian theology (the rediscovery of doctrine of the Trinity) into conversation with the most important development of 20th century religious studies (the notion of religious pluralism). The result: a rumor of a Christian theology of religions and a discussion on which all Christians, theologians or not, should listen in.' Professor Kevin Vanhoozer, Trinity International University, USA 'This work is distinguished by short sentences, ease of style, and clear definition of the terms used... All in all, this work of survey and analysis is both informative and interesting. It will help readers to place themselves, as it were, on the map of this subject, and also enable them to engage with the issues that will be raised, as they surely will be, in the years ahead.' Church Times 'Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen's useful volume is both a mapping of some of the ways in which contemporary Christian theologians are seeking to align these two important currents with one another, and itself a contribution to that process of alignment.' Interreligious Insight 'The strength of this present book is its journalistic quality - it is a helpful exposition of the state of the art of those who have attempted to approach a Christian theology of religions from a trinitarian perspective...' Calvin Theological Journal