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Course 18 · Lesson 7.2

Catholic and Orthodox approaches to other religions

13 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 18 outline

Module 1: Studying Religions Fairly

  1. Describing a religion in its own terms
  2. Insider and outsider views, and the limits of comparison
  3. Pluralism, inclusivism and exclusivism: the basic terms
  4. The comparison grid: God, revelation, authority, humanity and salvation

Module 2: Judaism and Islam

  1. Judaism: Torah, covenant and the shape of Jewish life
  2. How Judaism understands Jesus, Messiah and the Christian claim
  3. Islam: the oneness of God, the Prophet and the Quran
  4. How Islam understands Jesus, the Trinity and the Christian claim

Module 3: Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism

  1. Hinduism: its diversity and central ideas
  2. Buddhism: the Four Noble Truths and the path
  3. Sikhism: the Gurus, the one God and the Guru Granth Sahib
  4. Karma, rebirth and liberation compared with Christian hope

Module 4: Deism, Atheism and Agnosticism

  1. Deism: history and beliefs
  2. Atheism: varieties and arguments
  3. Agnosticism and the question of burden of proof
  4. Meaning, morality and hope in nonreligious positions

Module 5: New Religious Movements

  1. What a new religious movement is, and why the term is debated
  2. Movements with Christian roots and their relation to historic Christianity
  3. Other modern movements and spiritualities

Module 6: Comparing the Great Questions

  1. Revelation compared: word, law, awakening and incarnation
  2. Divine nature compared: one God, the Trinity, the Absolute and no creator
  3. Human nature and the human problem compared
  4. Salvation compared: forgiveness, submission, liberation and awakening
  5. Scripture and authority compared

Module 7: Christian Approaches to Other Religions

  1. Exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism examined
  2. Catholic and Orthodox approaches to other religions
  3. Protestant approaches to other religions
  4. Witness, dialogue and respect

All courses

Program / Course 18: World Religions / Lesson 7.2

What you will learn

  • Trace the development of the Catholic teaching on salvation outside the Church from the early Fathers to the Second Vatican Council and after.
  • State what Nostra Aetate, Lumen Gentium and Dominus Iesus teach.
  • Describe the Orthodox approach, which is less formal and rooted in worship and the Fathers.
  • Compare the two and note points of real agreement and difference.

The big idea

Catholic and Orthodox Christians both hold that salvation comes through Christ and that the Church is the place where his saving work is fully given. Both also speak of God’s mercy toward those outside. The Catholic Church has stated its position in detail, moving from a strict reading of the old phrase no salvation outside the Church to the careful inclusivism of Vatican II. The Orthodox Church has stated less, preferring to say that the Church knows where the Spirit is, but not where the Spirit is not.

Key terms

Extra ecclesiam nulla salus
Latin for outside the Church there is no salvation. A phrase from Cyprian of Carthage (third century), interpreted in different ways over time.
Baptism of desire
In Catholic teaching, the idea that a person who sincerely desires baptism, but cannot receive it, can be saved by the grace it signifies.
Invincible ignorance
A traditional Catholic term for ignorance of the gospel that is not the person’s fault and that does not remove the possibility of salvation.
Nostra Aetate
The 1965 declaration of Vatican II on the Church’s relation to non-Christian religions.
Lumen Gentium
The 1964 dogmatic constitution of Vatican II on the Church.
Dominus Iesus
A 2000 declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the unicity and universality of Christ and the Church.
Logos spermatikos
The seeds of the Word. Justin Martyr’s phrase for the truth found in pagan thought, which he saw as a partial share in the Word who became flesh.

Background

Catholic and Orthodox Christians share the early church’s heritage. The Fathers taught both that the Church is the ark of salvation and that the Word enlightens everyone. Both traditions have lived beside Jews, Muslims and pagans for many centuries. Their positions developed from the same sources: Scripture, the Fathers, the councils and the liturgy.

They also differ in method. The Catholic Church has a teaching office, the Magisterium, that issues defined statements, and the changes over time can be traced in documents. The Orthodox Church speaks through councils and the continuing witness of the Fathers and worship, and has issued fewer formal statements on this subject. A student should avoid expecting the same kind of source from each.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: The early Fathers

Justin Martyr, in the second century, taught that Christ is the Logos in whom all human beings share, so that Socrates and others who lived by reason were in some way Christians before Christ. Clement of Alexandria saw Greek philosophy as a preparation for the gospel as the law was for the Jews. Irenaeus spoke of the Spirit and the Word at work in history. These writers valued what was true in other thought, and held that it found fulfillment in Christ.

Cyprian wrote in the third century that there is no salvation outside the Church. He wrote against schismatics and heretics who had left the Church, and not against those who had never heard. Later centuries often applied the phrase more widely, and some, such as Fulgentius in the sixth century, applied it very strictly. Augustine taught that the Church’s boundaries are known fully only to God. The phrase had a complex history.

Step 2: Development in the Catholic Church

The Council of Florence (1442) stated strictly that pagans, Jews, heretics and schismatics could not share eternal life unless joined to the Church before death. Later, after the discovery of the Americas and the work of missionaries, Catholic theologians developed the teaching on baptism of desire and invincible ignorance. Pope Pius IX in 1854 and 1863 taught that those in invincible ignorance who live a good life and obey the natural law can be saved by divine grace, while holding that there is no salvation outside the Church.

Vatican II (1962 to 1965) spoke in positive terms. Lumen Gentium 16 teaches that those who through no fault of their own do not know the gospel, but sincerely seek God and try to do his will as known through conscience, may attain salvation. Nostra Aetate 2 says that the Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in other religions and regards with sincere respect their ways of conduct and teaching. It also urges Christians to proclaim Christ, in whom people find the fullness of religious life.

Step 3: Catholic teaching since the Council

John Paul II taught that the Spirit is at work in the hearts of all people (Redemptoris Missio, 1990), and in 1986 he invited leaders of many religions to pray for peace at Assisi. At the same time, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Cardinal Ratzinger issued Dominus Iesus (2000), which rejects the view that all religions are equally ways of salvation, and states that Christ is the unique and universal mediator. It also states that other religions contain elements of truth and grace, and that their followers can receive God’s grace, though not that the religions themselves are paths to salvation.

The Catechism summarizes these points: the Church is necessary for salvation, since Christ is present in her; those who through no fault of their own do not know Christ and his Church but seek God and do his will can be saved (Catechism 846-848). The Church also holds that because of this, she must still evangelize, since the fullness of the means of salvation subsists in her.

Step 4: The Orthodox approach

The Orthodox Church confesses that Christ is the only Savior and that the Church is his body, in which the fullness of the faith is found. Orthodox theologians usually decline to say who is outside salvation. A saying often repeated is that the Church knows where the Spirit is but cannot say where the Spirit is not. The liturgy prays for all people and for the whole world. Orthodox writers are cautious about speculation, and they emphasize the mystery of God’s mercy.

Orthodox teachers have varied. Some, like Georges Florovsky, stressed the unique place of the visible Church and the importance of schism. Others, such as Sergius Bulgakov and Paul Evdokimov, stressed the universal work of the Spirit and found value in other traditions. Recent Orthodox statements on mission stress witness, service and respect, and reject proselytism that uses pressure.

Step 5: Comparing the two

The two traditions agree that Christ is the only Savior, that the Church is his body, that God wills all to be saved, and that the proclamation of the gospel is a duty. They agree that goodness and truth outside the Church come from God. They differ in the amount and form of what they say. The Catholic Church has given defined teaching, including a statement of how those outside may be saved, while the Orthodox Church leaves more as a mystery.

Both also differ from Protestant approaches in giving the Church and the sacraments a central role in how salvation is given, and in speaking with the Fathers. They are not in full communion, chiefly over the papacy.

  1. How did the meaning of no salvation outside the Church change over time, and what stayed the same?
  2. What does it mean to say that other religions contain elements of truth and grace without being paths of salvation?
  3. Why might the Orthodox prefer to say less than the Catholic Church?
  4. How do Justin Martyr’s seeds of the Word help in speaking with a person of another faith?
  5. Is baptism of desire consistent with the claim that the Church is necessary?
  6. What is the difference between respect for a religion and respect for its adherents?

Examples

Assisi, 1986

Pope John Paul II invited representatives of many religions to Assisi to pray for peace, each in their own way. The event was praised by many and criticized by some Catholics who feared it suggested that all religions are equal. The pope and later documents explained that the purpose was to pray for peace and not to merge religions.

An Orthodox bishop and a Muslim cleric

In a town with an Orthodox parish and a mosque, the bishop and the imam visit each other’s communities at festivals and work together to help the poor. The bishop does not hide the Orthodox faith in the Trinity and the imam does not hide the Muslim faith in the oneness of God. Both speak plainly, and the town benefits. (A constructed example.)

Different perspectives

Catholic

Catholic teaching holds that the Church is necessary for salvation as Christ’s body, and that God’s grace can reach others by ways known to him. The Church rejects both the view that all religions are equally ways of salvation and the view that other religions have no truth. It calls for dialogue and proclamation together (Dialogue and Proclamation, 1991).

Orthodox

Orthodox teaching holds that salvation is found in Christ and in his Church, where the fullness of the faith is kept, and that God’s mercy is wider than human knowledge. Orthodox theologians differ in emphasis between those who guard the boundary of the Church and those who stress the Spirit’s universal presence.

Protestant

Many Protestants criticize both Catholic and Orthodox positions for giving the Church too large a role in salvation. Others, drawn to the Catholic inclusivism, find it a thoughtful account. Protestant views are the subject of the next lesson.

Adherents of other faiths

Jewish and Muslim leaders have welcomed Nostra Aetate’s repudiation of contempt and its respect for their faiths. Some have said that its statement that Christ is the way is a position they cannot share, and that honest dialogue requires saying so. Many Hindus and Buddhists have responded to Catholic outreach with interest and some caution.

Scholarly

Historians note that the development from Florence to Vatican II shows how Catholic doctrine has been clarified over time, and the question of continuity between the two is debated. Some Catholic theologians hold that the Council developed earlier teaching, and others, like traditionalist critics, hold that it broke with it.

Why it matters

Catholic and Orthodox Christians make up well over half of the world’s Christians, and their approaches shape the way Christianity has lived beside other religions for centuries. Understanding the actual documents prevents common errors, such as the claim that the Catholic Church teaches that all non-Catholics are lost, or that it now teaches all religions are equal.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: The Catholic Church teaches that no one outside it can be saved.

Correction: The Church teaches that salvation is through Christ and his Church, and that those who through no fault of their own do not know them but seek God sincerely can be saved (Lumen Gentium 16).

Misunderstanding: Vatican II declared that all religions are equal.

Correction: The Council affirmed truth and goodness in other religions, and respect for their adherents, without teaching that they are equal or that Christ is one way among many. Dominus Iesus restated this.

Misunderstanding: The Orthodox Church has no position on other religions.

Correction: The Orthodox Church confesses Christ as the only Savior and the Church as his body. It declines to define the fate of those outside, and states this as reverence before God’s judgment.

Misunderstanding: Catholics and Orthodox are the same on this question.

Correction: They agree on much, and differ in method and in how much they define. They also differ on the papacy, which affects the way each speaks of ecclesial unity.

Knowledge check

What does Lumen Gentium 16 teach about those who have not heard the gospel?

It teaches that those who through no fault of their own do not know the gospel or the Church, but sincerely seek God and try to do his will as known through conscience, may attain eternal salvation. God’s providence does not deny help to those who have not yet reached explicit knowledge of him.

What was Cyprian’s original context for the phrase outside the Church there is no salvation?

Cyprian, a bishop of Carthage in the third century, wrote against schismatics and heretics who had separated from the Church. He was not addressing people who had never heard of Christ. Later centuries sometimes extended the phrase and later Catholic teaching clarified it again.

What does Dominus Iesus say about other religions?

It states that Christ is the unique and universal mediator, rejects the view that all religions are equally ways of salvation, and holds that other religions contain elements of truth and grace and that their followers can receive God’s grace, though the religions as such are not paths of salvation.

How do the Orthodox usually speak of those outside the Church?

They confess that salvation is in Christ and in the Church, and usually decline to say who is saved or lost, trusting in God’s mercy. A common saying is that the Church knows where the Spirit is but not where the Spirit is not. Some theologians stress the visible Church, others the Spirit’s universal work.

Think it through

  1. How do you hold together the belief that Christ is the only Savior and the belief that God wills all to be saved?
  2. What can Protestants learn from the way the Fathers spoke about truth in pagan thought?
  3. Why might it matter that Orthodox theology says less on this subject than Catholic teaching?
  4. What would it look like to practice both dialogue and proclamation?

Independent assignment

Reading the documents

In your notebook, read Lumen Gentium 16 and Nostra Aetate 2 and 3 in a reliable translation. Write about 300 words summarizing what each says, and what each does not say, using the documents’ own words in paraphrase. Then write about 200 words describing the Orthodox saying that the Church knows where the Spirit is but not where the Spirit is not, and how it compares to the Catholic approach.

Further study