Page 389 - Stati inu obstati, revija za vprašanja protestantizma, letnik VIII (2012), številka 15-16, ISSN 1408-8363
P. 389
SYNOPSES, ZUSAMMENFASSUNGEN
The contemporary Catholic theologian of Swiss origin Hans Küng (born in
1928), one of the world’s most distinguished and highly regarded theologians,
whose principled heretical stance even amounted to his eventual loss of venia
legendi at the Catholic Faculty in Tübingen, is a creator of a new world ethos.
According to him, a world ethos does not imply a new world religion but rather
an all-abiding ethical coordinate system. A global ethic is not a new ideology; it
is nothing but “the necessary minimum of common values, standards and ba-
sic attitudes. In other words: a minimal basic consensus relating to binding
values, irrevocable standards and moral attitudes, which can be affirmed by all
religions despite their undeniable dogmatic or theological differences and
should also be supported by non-believers.”
The article pays special attention to the meaning of basic trust. Basic trust,
which proves contrary to nihilism or the nihilation of the world – the one who
does not trust the world can even say no to it – is the basis of fundamental
ethos, life ethos, and taken globally, world ethos.
Of course, there remain open all the dilemmas – in our Slovene environ-
ment as well - as to the effectiveness of universal ethics in general and the is-
sues concerning the possibility of an ethics as such regarding the nature and
nurture of man; however, the need for ethics is there to remain, and is becom-
ing more and more pressing. The ethics which the world ethos proposes is
universal, holding good for every human being from common men to politi-
cians, scientists, artists, i.e. for all people in their various professions regardless
of their race, culture, religion, world view, for believers and nonbelievers, the
religious and non-religious. Globalization calls for a global ethic and there will
be no survival of our globe without a global ethic. There will be no peace among
the nations without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among
the religions without dialogue and cooperation among the religions and civili-
zations.
UDC 271/279"19/20":283/289
Gorazd Andrejč
Theological understandings of non-Christian religions in contempo-
rary British Protestantism
The paper examines the discussion from the late 1980s to the present of
the most influential understandings of, and attitudes towards non-Christian
religions in British Protestant theology. Starting with the liberal-inclusivist and
pluralist perspectives of John Macquarrie and John Hick that were inf luential
in the 1980s, I examine different theological reactions to pluralism, focusing
especially on evangelical (represented by Leslie Newbign and Alister McGrath),
post-liberal (Rowan Williams, Nicholas Adams), and radical orthodox (John
387
The contemporary Catholic theologian of Swiss origin Hans Küng (born in
1928), one of the world’s most distinguished and highly regarded theologians,
whose principled heretical stance even amounted to his eventual loss of venia
legendi at the Catholic Faculty in Tübingen, is a creator of a new world ethos.
According to him, a world ethos does not imply a new world religion but rather
an all-abiding ethical coordinate system. A global ethic is not a new ideology; it
is nothing but “the necessary minimum of common values, standards and ba-
sic attitudes. In other words: a minimal basic consensus relating to binding
values, irrevocable standards and moral attitudes, which can be affirmed by all
religions despite their undeniable dogmatic or theological differences and
should also be supported by non-believers.”
The article pays special attention to the meaning of basic trust. Basic trust,
which proves contrary to nihilism or the nihilation of the world – the one who
does not trust the world can even say no to it – is the basis of fundamental
ethos, life ethos, and taken globally, world ethos.
Of course, there remain open all the dilemmas – in our Slovene environ-
ment as well - as to the effectiveness of universal ethics in general and the is-
sues concerning the possibility of an ethics as such regarding the nature and
nurture of man; however, the need for ethics is there to remain, and is becom-
ing more and more pressing. The ethics which the world ethos proposes is
universal, holding good for every human being from common men to politi-
cians, scientists, artists, i.e. for all people in their various professions regardless
of their race, culture, religion, world view, for believers and nonbelievers, the
religious and non-religious. Globalization calls for a global ethic and there will
be no survival of our globe without a global ethic. There will be no peace among
the nations without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among
the religions without dialogue and cooperation among the religions and civili-
zations.
UDC 271/279"19/20":283/289
Gorazd Andrejč
Theological understandings of non-Christian religions in contempo-
rary British Protestantism
The paper examines the discussion from the late 1980s to the present of
the most influential understandings of, and attitudes towards non-Christian
religions in British Protestant theology. Starting with the liberal-inclusivist and
pluralist perspectives of John Macquarrie and John Hick that were inf luential
in the 1980s, I examine different theological reactions to pluralism, focusing
especially on evangelical (represented by Leslie Newbign and Alister McGrath),
post-liberal (Rowan Williams, Nicholas Adams), and radical orthodox (John
387
