Approaches to Religious Pluralism in Africa

Approaches to Religious Pluralism in Africa
There are three different approaches to religious pluralism: Exclusivist, Pluralist and Inclusive paradigms

1. Exclusivist Paradigm.

They maintain that all have sinned including other religions and that Christ offers the only valid way to salvation.
(a)Hendrik Kraemer’s Exclusivist Approach
Kraemer, an advocate of exclusivism, says that, “God has revealed the Way and the Life and the Truth in Jesus Christ and wills this to be known through the world. That salvation is found only through the grace of God revealed in Christ”.
(b)Byang Kato’s Exclusivist Approach
Byang Kato’s starting point is that the Bible is God’s Word in its entirely, without errors. It is the final authority in all that affirms. He considered ‘inerrancy’ so important that, he would not accept infallibility as an adequate description of the trustworthiness of the Bible.
In Kato’s view the whole exercise of exploring other religious values and ideas and appropriating them for a possible contribution to African Christian thought is a denial of ‘the sufficiency of the scriptures as the sole authority for faith and practice. He is of the view that the church in Africa is heading towards universalism. He defines universalism as ‘the belief that all men will eventually be saved whether they believe in Christ now or not’. He gives reasons why universalism poses a threat to African Christianity.
First, he mentions modern mission agencies. Some American Baptist missionaries have a universalistic view and those who oppose such a view ask why these missionaries should be allowed to serve on the mission field.
Secondly, the new political awareness in Africa promotes universalism. There is a search for political solidarity and the goal of African Government is to unify all ethnic groups into one nation. ‘Universalism would be an excellent tool for uniting people of different faiths.
Thirdly, Africa is searching for personal identity and this makes the continent prone to syncretism.
Fourthly, the reawakening of African traditional religious thought of some African Christian scholars promotes universalism. Kato agrees to a partial and superficial method of adaptation of African Christianity. His view point is that Christians should be willing to adapt African culture to Christianity provided it does not conflict with scripture.
Kato’s understanding of the relationship between other religions and the Christian faith is that they constitute two distinct and discontinuous entities. Kato’s viewpoint on the centrality of the Bible as the starting point for doing theology in Africa is his important contribution to modern African Christianity.