S. Mark Heim, The Depth of the Riches: A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Ends

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1 S. Mark Heim, The Depth of the Riches: A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Ends In his recent book The Depth of the Riches: A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Ends S. Mark Heim proposes a new perspective on the interreligious dialogue. The book is part of the series Sacra Doctrina: Christian Theology for a Postmodern Age. This series is a project of The Christian Theological Research Fellowship and its goal is to rethink traditional theological doctrines in light of the postmodern cultural situation. Given this general goal of the series, Heim s book is in many respects constructive and innovative. He thinks through new ways of looking at the interreligious dialogue, as this task is pressed upon the Christian church by changing cultural situation of the Western world. In the first part of his book Heim explains his approach to the question of religious pluralism. He reviews the three traditional Christian responses to this question: exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism. Heim s summary points out the following: Exclusivists hold that there is only one religious end (Christian salvation) and that only practising Christians can hope to attain this goal. Inclusivists hold as well that there is only one religious end, which they also identify with Christian salvation, but they allow the possibility that this end will be achieved by many "anonymous Christians" (K. Rahner) among the adherents of other religions. Pluralists hold as well that there is only one religious end, which must not be identified with any concrete doctrine of any particular religious tradition, but which will nevertheless be attained by all serious believers, regardless of their particular convictions. The universal religious end is beyond description in concepts and propositions (J. Hick), it is only symbolically and vaguely expressed in all religious traditions. Heim s main criticism of these traditional approaches is that they all build on the unproven assumption that there must be only one religious end for all people. While exclusivism has nothing to offer to the interreligious dialogue, both inclusivism and pluralism tend to underestimate the concrete particularities of religious traditions. This neglect of particularities is in sharp contrast with the witness of religious traditions to the crucial importance of these particularities. For both inclusivists and pluralists, believers will be saved (i.e. will attain the only existing religious end) not because, but in spite of the concrete shape of their religious heritage. Heim disagrees with Gandhi s claim that all religions lead to the same goal and are essentially the same in spite of their apparent differences. In Heim s view the concrete practices, rituals, habits, the whole life style shaped by particular traditions are essentially important exactly in their being different from any other way of life. They make people who they are and they shape the particular religious end towards which believers direct their

2 existence. He points to the fact that the expectations of different religions in terms of afterlife are unexchangeable and irreducibly different. The diversity of particular religions ends correspond to the obvious diversity of particular life styles and mindsets which these religions produce in their adherents. Nirvana is a paradigmaticly different religious end from the Christian eschatological vision, which again is totally different from the humble religious end of taoism etc. What solution to this problem does Heim offer? Heim agrees with J. Hick's view that whatever be the true nature of Ultimate reality, the way it is perceived by any human person will be strongly marked by his or her cultural and religious background and training. Whatever be the actual ultimate destiny of a believer, his or her perception of it will be codetermined by religious expectations of the particular tradition. These expectations (religious ends) will be therefore at least partially fulfilled and confirmed by his or her actual post mortem condition and experience. This would seem to imply that Heim's view is simply relativistic. That conclusion appears to be confirmed by Heim's thesis that every theory of interreligious relations must be designed from within one s particular tradition, which must provide the conceptual framework. There is no metatheory, free of presuppositions and a priori commitments. Therefore Heim as a Christian offers a Christian solution, but this solution, he claims, can be easily appropriated by other religion s representatives. On the other hand, Heim denies that his stance is relativistic. To the question how can anyone decide which religion (which religious end) to choose, Heim responds that there is one relative criterion on which to base such a choice, namely the explaining power of each proposed theory of religion and interreligious relations. In other words, we need to ask which religion is able to explain itself and all other religions in the most comprehensive and satisfactory way. In Heim s view, this is Christianity. He holds that the best explanation of the diversity of religions with their differing religious ends, which respects their particularities, but still offers a unified interpretive framework is the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. This suggestion is open to public debate and therefore not relativistic. In Heim's view, any theory that wants to be a candidate for the most comprehensive and satisfactory theory of religion and of interreligious relations must fit the following criteria: besides providing a unified interpretive framework for all religions, it must 1) see the value of religious particularity, 2) acknowledge the distinctive truth of other religions, 3) it must at the same time see the legitimacy of each religion s witness to its own one and only aspect. Heim believes the best candidate is the Christian trinitarian conceptual structure. He agrees with R. Panikkar that Trinity is the key to understand the plurality of world religions. The

3 distinct religious ends of different religions are related to the distinct dimensions of the trinitarian divine life. In the second part of the book the author reviews the biblical and theological tradition of the Christian church to show parallels and anticipations of his view of religious plurality. He points to the universalistic elements of the Scripture (Noachic covenant, pagan saints as Jethro, Ruth, Job etc., johannine notion of Logos, pauline notion of the law written on people s hearts etc.) He reviews the universalistic elements in Justin Martyr, Origen and other Fathers. He documents how very soon in the history of the church the eternal destiny of men was seen in a more and more differentiated way: the Fathers speak (next to heaven and hell) about purgatory, which for some of them is a permanent destiny. Augustin speaks about limbo for children and another limbo for Old Testament saints (the bosom of Abraham) these are already four distinct destinations, some of them temporary, some eternal. Thomas Aquinas speaks of five destinations: heaven, hell, purgatory, limbo for Old Testament saints and limbo for children. He also distinguishes different dimensions of hell and different levels of heaven. Heim offers one whole chapter of analysis of Dante s Divine Comedy. For Dante, everything in the afterlife moves by attraction, affinity and desire, nothing by force. Everybody ends up where he or she wants. Punishment is the sin itself, hell is rather privative than punitive. Eschatological destiny of every human being is actually the expression of his or her deepest desire, which God respects, honors and rewards. Therefore, for many, the limbo is an eternal destiny, they want to stay there forever. There is some relation to God at every level. Later in the book Heim says that his view of religious ends is a modified version of Dante s eschatological vision in Divine Comedy. In the beginning of the third part of the book Heim summarizes what he said so far: different religions produce and shape different expectations and mindsets. By a series of religious choices people in each tradition become who they are. They shape their lives in accordance and conformity with the religious end they strive to achieve. Heim holds that these different ends are not just human projections, but existing options of eternal destinations. These religious ends will therefore eventually become reality. God will honor each religion s expectations, just as in Dante s vision. How can that happen? As suggested above, Heim sees the answer in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Trinity in Heim s view provides a unified map for the diverse religious experiences. Different religions emphasize different aspects of human relation to Ultimate reality: some emphasize deity above us, some deity among us, some deity within us, in other words, each relates to a different aspect of the trinitarian life. Using the conceptual categories of R. Panikkar, N.

4 Smart and S. Konstantine, Heim shows how the trinitarian grammar provides the best paradigm for interreligious relations: the doctrine of the Trinity with its transcendent as well as immanent dimensions, with is personalistic as well as impersonal elements serves as an allinclusive map for religious diversity. There are religions of apophatism, other religions of personalism and still others of divine immanence. All these differences can be viewed, Heim says, as differing types of relating to the complex trinitarian divine being, to the inner relational dynamics of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For Heim the trinitarian grammar is the best conceptual framework which Christian theology can offer as a basis for theory and practise of interreligious dialogue. In the last part of his book, Heim offers an eschatological vision derived from his trinitarian theology of diverse religious ends. He argues for the view, presented in the main body of his book, that human beings are essentially free to choose and codetermine their eternal destiny or, from the theological perspective, that the existence of diverse world religions with their diverse religious ends is due to God's providential activity towards humankind. Heim's main emphasis in the last part of the book is what he calls the theological principle of plenitude. According to this principle, God aims at the multiplication of all possible kinds of good. His goal is the largest possible diversity and communion in difference it actually reflects God s own trinitarian life. Heim refers in this context to A. Lovejoy s famous book The Great Chain of Being, which focuses on the history of the idea that God leaves no genuine possibility of being unrealized. This idea is another expression of the theological principle of plenitude. In Heim's understanding, this principle 1) is a qualitative description of the divine life as triune, 2) is expressed economically in what God has made, 3) is reflected in the nature of salvation too, and most importantly 4) it demands a variety of religious ends (besides the Christian salvation). Heim believes that God allows the creature to determine its eternal destiny; in the richness of the trinitarian life, there is space for pantheistic, as well as poly- and monotheistic relation to deity, just as for both personal and impersonal view of Ultimate reality (Heim refers in this context to P. Tillich's view of God as the Ground and Abyss of being). What I appreciate about Heim's book is his courage to break into new ground in theological speculation, as he feels urged by contemporary cultural situation. His research is well supported by references to both classical and contemporary scholarship. He shows wide knowledge in the fields of systematic theology and religious science and a developed skill of integrating the data of these two fields of knowledge. He also fruitfully employs his rich experience of working for the Interfaith Working Group of the Faith and Order Commission

5 of the National Council of Churches in the U.S.A as well as more than two decades of lecturing and publishing about world religions from theological perspective. My main objection to his theological proposal (besides the highly speculative character of his eschatological vision, which he himself acknowledges) is that it ends up to be very close to the classical inclusivist Christian theory, which he strongly criticizes. Heim's view can certainly be attacked for the same reasons: paternalistic attitude towards non-christian religions as being only the "second best" and as being implicitely (and unwillingly) related to the Christian religious Absolute. Heim's vision is not too far from K. Rahner's concept of anonymous Christianity (or, let us say, Justin Martyr's view of logos spermatikos, on which pagans can participate, or Origen's universalistic vision of apokatastasis panthon). Heim's claim that his theory can easily be appropriated by other religions' proponents, simply by exchanging trinitarian terminology for their own all-inclusive framework may prove true in the actual interreligious dialogue, but it doesn't seem to move beyond the classical inclusivist theories. The innovative element is that Heim's version of inclusivism doesn't force the Christian view of eternal bliss on those who are not interested in it - Buddhists striving for nirvana for example. They, just as everybody else, will be "saved" their own way. The traditional Christian view, which is perceived as arrogant by other faiths, namely that non- Christian religions may have some elements of truth in them, but the clearest and fullest revelation of truth is found only in Christianity, is obviously present in Heim's theory as well, perhaps because it cannot be removed as long as the thinker wants to remain a faithful Christian. Unfortunately, it has farreaching and devastating effects on the interreligious dialogue. This is an obstacle which Heim's proposal doesn't succeed to overcome. To summarize, Heim's new book is an inspiring contribution to the rapidly developing tradition of Christian theological reflection on other religions and Christianity's relation toward them. All theologians involved in interreligious dialogue will benefit from this book.