No Other Name?

In different ways the Scripture readings for Sunday, May 3 focus on the uniqueness of God’s action in Jesus Christ. The reading from Acts concludes with the famous statement that “There is salvation in no one else (other than Jesus Christ), for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved." In John Jesus is unique because he is not like the hired hands who run away at the hint of danger. Instead Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep and the only one who can command the attention of his flock, for his sheep know his unique voice.

How do we understand the uniqueness of Jesus today, especially in light of our knowledge of other world religions? Part of the challenge we face is that the authors of the New Testament didn’t have the same awareness of world religions that we do. When the New Testament was written, Christianity was something of a reform movement within Judaism. While the divide between the Church and the Synagogue was growing it was not complete. Islam would not come into existence for another five hundred years. Contact with religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, which both pre-date Christianity, were either very limited within the Roman Empire or non-existent. Even the worship of the gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome were understood to be more about pledging allegiance to the Empire than about making any theological claims about God.

But we live in a very different world. The printing press and the internet can give us instant access to the beliefs and practices of all kinds of religious traditions, and we know more and more people who were raised in places where Hinduism or Islam, and not Christianity, was the dominant faith. We are no longer unaware of the fact that there are a number of other established, global religious traditions that do not understand God or Jesus in the same way we do.

How do we confess and practice our faith within the context of other world religions? Our Presbyterian/Reformed tradition may be especially helpful here. Unlike other strands in Christianity which emphasize the importance of the conscious, deliberate human decision to follow Jesus and seek forgiveness from God in Christ’s name, the Reformed tradition emphasizes the importance of God’s initiative in salvation. For people of a Reformed perspective it is not our confession of faith that saves us, but God’s gracious act in Jesus Christ. In the words of the Second Helvetic Confession, a foundational confession for our theology, “We are to have good hope for all. And although God knows who are his, and here and there mention is made of the small number of the elect, yet we must hope well for all, and not rashly judge any man to be a reprobate.” Salvation is determined not by the soundness of our theology, but by the justice and mercy of God.

Another Reformed emphasis that can guide us is our conviction that God’s Law continues to guide us. Part of this Law is the command not to bear false witness against our neighbors. Any religion has its wackos and extremists, and Christianity is no exception. We cannot assume that the loudest strand in a religion is representative for all strands. Fundamentalist Christians do not represent the whole of the Christian tradition anymore than militant Islamists represent the whole of Islam. Just as Christianity is a diverse religion, so are the other world religions. We cannot take the worst example of another faith and use that to tarnish the reputation of all followers of that faith, to bear false witness against our neighbors by bringing undue harm to their reputation.

In engaging in interfaith dialogue we may want to aim more for understanding than agreement. The goal might not be to change/convert minds, but to help others understand how our convictions about God shape our lives. If we understand interfaith conversation in this way our distinctive beliefs and practices are not liabilities in a diverse world, but salt that adds flavor. To take the presence of other world religions seriously does not mean we minimize or neglect our own.

The readings from Genesis, John and Psalm 23 and Mark speak of God as shepherd and us as God’s flock. How does this image of God as shepherd both enrich our faith and add flavor to interfaith conversations about who God is and how God relates to us?

Thursday, 4/30
Genesis 30:25-43
Acts 3:17-26

Friday 5/1
Genesis 46:28-47:6
Acts 4:1-4

Saturday 5/2
Genesis 48:8-19
Mark 6:30-34

Read Psalm 23 each of these three days.