{"id":1553,"date":"2010-12-03T09:42:30","date_gmt":"2010-12-03T16:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tgdarkly.com\/blog\/?p=1553"},"modified":"2010-12-03T09:42:30","modified_gmt":"2010-12-03T16:42:30","slug":"dcosta-on-the-unevangelized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/2010\/12\/03\/dcosta-on-the-unevangelized\/","title":{"rendered":"D'Costa on the Unevangelized"},"content":{"rendered":"

The third post in my series on Gavin D’Costa’s book “Christianity and World Religions” is up on Jesus Creed<\/a>.\u00a0 I reproduce it below:<\/p>\n

This is the third post in my series on Gavin D\u2019Costa\u2019s book Christianity and World Religions: Disputed Questions in the Theology of Religions<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 The first two posts are here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of my last post, I mentioned D\u2019Costa\u2019s emphasis on \u201cparticipatory ontology\u201d in his construction of a theology of the unevangelized.\u00a0 This notion is an important part of D\u2019Costa\u2019s approach to how a person without explicit faith in Christ during this life might be saved.\u00a0 I believe it is significant not only for the problem of the unevangelized, but also for soteriology in general \u2013 indeed, it may be the most significant aspect of the meaning of human nature and salvation routinely omitted from popular Christian teaching.<\/p>\n

Questions for the day: What do you think of the notion of \u201cparticipatory ontology?\u201d\u00a0 Can a person who does not know of Christ or who has not yet confessed Christ \u201cparticipate\u201d in Christ?\u00a0 Do works of virtue in the lives of non-Christians suggest that God is already at work saving them?\u00a0 Are these concepts Protestant Christians can adopt, particularly those of us who self-describe as \u201cevangelical?\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cParticipatory ontology,\u201d in connection with the doctrine of salvation, is the idea that being \u201csaved\u201d involves participation in the life of the triune God.\u00a0 The very being (the \u201contology\u201d) of people who are saved is joined in a real way to the being of God.\u00a0 There are many scriptural warrants for this idea, including Romans 6:1-12, 1 Cor. 6:12-17 and 1 John 2:24-25 (which is but one instance of the theme of \u201cabiding\u201d or \u201cremaining\u201d in Christ throughout 1 John).\u00a0 It is an important theme in the Christian Tradition, particularly in the Eastern concept of theosis<\/em>, but also in the West, notably among the mystics.<\/p>\n

This does not mean, of course, that human beings become co-equal members of the Godhead along with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.\u00a0 But it does mean that humans were designed to partake in the perichoretic life of the Trinity, in way suited to our creatureliness, yet without the alienation caused by sin.\u00a0 Indeed, all<\/em> of creation was designed to participate in God\u2019s life.\u00a0 The eschatological conclusion of God\u2019s entire plan of salvation is nothing less than the accomplishment of this goal:\u00a0 upon the consummation of Christ\u2019s Kingdom, \u201cthe Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all\u201d (1 Cor. 15:28).<\/p>\n

How do we participate in God\u2019s life?\u00a0 The basic answer is that \u201cby grace you have been saved, through faith\u2014and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God\u2014 not by works, so that no one can boast\u201d (Eph. 2:8-9).\u00a0 But \u201cfaith,\u201d in Biblical terms, is inseparable from the way we live: \u201cFor we are God\u2019s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.\u201d (Eph. 2:10)\u00a0 And without grace and faith, it is impossible<\/em> for anyone to live well.\u00a0 \u201cWithout faith it is impossible to please God\u201d (Heb. 11:6).\u00a0 Because of the alienation caused by sin, we are unable to participate in God\u2019s life, which means we are unable in ourselves to do anything good:\u00a0 \u201cThere is no one righteous, not even one . . . . There is no one who does good, not even one\u201d (Rom. 3:10-18).<\/p>\n

All good and all truth come from God.\u00a0 Therefore, whenever<\/em> a person experiences and practices true love, joy, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self control \u2013 whenever<\/em> real virtue is present \u2013 this is the result of the grace and faith that enable participation in God\u2019s life.\u00a0 (For the moment, I am glossing over some important distinctions between Catholic, Reformed, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and other theologies concerning the effects of sin on the will and natural human reason, and the extent to which human beings \u201ccooperate\u201d in their own salvation.\u00a0 All agree, however, that grace and faith are required for true virtue).<\/p>\n

For D\u2019Costa, the link between grace, faith, and virtue suggests that virtuous non-Christians already have some degree of faith in the true God and thereby already<\/em> are participating in Christ.\u00a0 The belief that the unevangelized can hear the gospel in the \u201climbo of the just,\u201d D\u2019Costa notes,<\/p>\n

Does not negate or downplay the historical lives lived by people and communities as building God\u2019s kingdom in \u201cinchoate\u201d ways, in seeking goodness, truth, and beauty, as best they can.\u00a0 It is precisely in these ways that such peoples already begin to participate in the life of the triune God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This notion is consistent with Karl Rahner\u2019s notion of the \u201canonymous Christian,\u201d which influenced the inclusivism of the Catholic Church\u2019s Vatican II documents.\u00a0 In D\u2019Costa\u2019s proposal, when such people are confronted by Christ in the \u201climbo of the just,\u201d their epistemic response completes the inchoate grace and faith they experienced and demonstrated in life.\u00a0 Even for baptized Christians, he notes, the \u201cBeautific Vision\u201d \u2013 the eternal and direct knowledge of God \u2014 is available only in heaven, where all of the corruptions of sin are eliminated.\u00a0 In other words, even baptized Christians<\/em> lack full knowledge of God in this life and must meet Christ at death in order to complete their salvation.<\/p>\n

If non-Christians can participate by grace and inchoate faith in the life of Christ, what is the purpose of the Church? <\/strong><\/p>\n

More on D\u2019Costa\u2019s perspective on this \u2013 with some important missiological implications \u2013 in my next post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The third post in my series on Gavin D’Costa’s book “Christianity and World Religions” is up on Jesus Creed.\u00a0 I reproduce it below: This is the third post in my series on Gavin D\u2019Costa\u2019s book Christianity and World Religions: Disputed Questions in the Theology of Religions.\u00a0 The first two posts are here and here. At […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[61,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-missiology","category-theology"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p824rZ-p3","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}