CONCEPTS OF MISSION - Orbis Books

Mission in Contemporary Missiology 21
be encouraged if Christianity is to make sense to the people being evangelized.
Mission as Dialogue with the Religions
Dialogue with the religions has been recognized as an emergent dimension
of mission. In this context, it has often been said that one of the most serious
problems the church will face in the twenty-first century will be that of
explaining the Christian meaning of soteriology in a plurireligious world,
where religions have acquired such an important role. Mission theology has
already made great progress in its study of the relationship between Christianity
and other world religions. Today, Christians have come to admit not
only that the great religions are praeparatio evangelica (“preparation for the
gospel”), but also that each of them has its own proper life center, from the
midst of which they have found fulfillment in Christianity.
Though this teaching is clear and sound, the subject has given rise to
some radical positions in the writings of theologians, particularly authors of
the radical theology of religions. We are faced with an ambiguous concept:
on the one hand, the church, which has always accepted the “possibility of
the salvation of people who have not heard the Gospel”; on the other, “the
soteriological significance of the same church.” With regard to the first point,
Vatican II affirms the possibility of salvation in non-Christian religions (NA
2). This fact has already been explained by Catholic missiologists associated
with fulfillment theory. Today, however, some radical authors, such as Knitter,
Hick, and others, speak of soteriology (soteriocentrism) in a context outside
real theocentricism and even in opposition to Christocentrism (see
Bellagamba 1993, 18ff.).
But the teaching of the church continues the biblical tradition, recognizing
the irreplaceable, unique role of the mediation of Christ, the savior; and one
reaches salvation through faith in Christ himself and membership in his
church on earth. However, because of the same Christ-event, since he is the
only way to salvation, those who have not heard the gospel can attain salvation
through ways only God knows, for we are dealing with a mystery:
“Everyone, therefore, ought to be converted to Christ, who is known
through the preaching. . . . So, although in ways known to himself God can
lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel to
that faith . . .” (AG 7). Yet, this possibility of salvation outside the Christian
religion does not lesson the missionary urgency (RM 4-9).
Mission as Human Promotion
The theological discussion on human promotion (known also in some quarters
as liberation theology), in its various expressions, arises out of the con-