Book Critique/Review : Encountering Religious Pluralism - by Harold Netland

The Gospel , for example , does not provide a strong reason to oppose Christians who practice Buddhist kinds of meditations , and those who try to find one will end up saying that it is a practice of another , a different , religion . This is precisely the attitude that Netland opposes , and the merits of his approach - as well as the contending approach - is in the social and political relations that it enables among members of various religious communities , not in the Gospel . It must be added , however , that the value of his work also

rests on the fact that he calls on other evangelical intellectuals to assess how deep and far this dialogue and accommodation can be done

And evangelical intellectuals must step in and study the area Netland is pointing to . As I said , ordinary people can simply live with ' people from various religious communities . They can simply imbibe into their lifestyles aspects of other religions . The turbulences of the world economy and politics , however , sometimes urge the emergence of religious-political movements that preach hate against peoples of other religions . And I am referring not only to Islamic religious-political movements - as they are always the first to come to mind - but , more importantly , to Christian religious-political movements as well . To be critical of such tendencies within the Christian religious community is I think consistent with a central Christian doctrine , that of starting changes for the better in one 's self

The central doctrines of hateful religious-political movements must be confronted head-on , if not undermined in advance , by clarifications on the unities - as opposed to the divisions and struggles - among religions . The non-negotiable central doctrines of various religions , on the other hand , must likewise be approached in a manner that , in bringing out the best and most compassionate aspects of various religions...