Reviews on “Salvation for All: God’s Other Peoples”

        Gerald O’Collins’ book “Salvation for All: God’s Other Peoples” “(i) assembles and assesses the biblical testimony about the salvation of God’s ‘other peoples’, and then (ii) presents some systematic conclusions about the role of Jesus for the salvation of the world” (O’Collins 171). In the book, “God’s other peoples” refer to non-Jews and non-Christians. O’Collins “dedicates his book to the memory of Jacques Dupuis, a well-known writer on Christianity and other faiths” (Bradshaw). The book is divided into three main parts: Chapters 1-6 on evidence drawn from the Old Testament; Chapters 7-12 on evidence drawn from the New Testament; and Chapters 13-16 which “expounds some implications of the biblical teaching on non-Christians for a Christian theology of religion” (Phan). In the first part, the book includes a number of “holy outsiders” who were clearly favored by God, such as Noah, Baalm, Ruth and Melchizedek. For example, Melchizedek, priest of a Canaanite sanctuary, conveyed a blessing to Abraham – the father of the faithful. Psalm 110 portrays that the ideal future king is “in the lineage of Melchizedek.” It is apparent that “the Psalmist gives no hint of discomfort about linking the future king to a foreign priest.” Moreover, Melchizedek’s importance as a priest is exemplified by his being the forerunner of Christ (Hebrews 7:1-4). Indeed, the bread and wine brought by him prefigure the Eucharist. The presence of these “holy outsiders” reminds us that “grace is indeed God’s, not something we can limit or deny to identifiable figures in other religions” (Clooney).

        In the second part, while the author admitted that Jesus “probably did not understand his mission to extend beyond the Jews,” his message clearly has a universal dimension and “the major themes in the teaching of Jesus touched all human beings and not merely the Jewish audience to which he spoke.” Of particular relevance is the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46), where it may be argued that “the basis for salvation lies not in baptism and faith in Jesus Christ but in acts of mercy and charity.” O’Collins asked a further question: “how people could be fairly judged by standards which they may never have heard of?" (Cornille) Furthermore, in different stories of the Gospel, e.g., those of the Syro-Phoenician woman and the centurion also seem to suggest that Jesus, “embodying personally the extravagant love of God, embraced with his words and deeds, all human beings.” Although his mission was primarily directed to the reform of Israel, he “showed a gracious openness and kindness towards Gentiles” (Siniscalchi). Paul also acknowledges that God’s salvation in Jesus includes the Gentiles (Romans 15:7-13) (Krieg). There is a consistent witness to “Jesus as universal savior, to the Church as the universal mediator of salvation, and to the Lord’s universal benevolence, a benevolence from which nothing is in principle excluded” (Griffiths).

        In the third part, O’Collins states his thesis: “the first Christians held Jesus to be the unique, universal Savior: that is to say, the only one of his kind in being the Savior of all men and women in all times and places.” He envisions Christ as the “Cosmic Choir Master with whom all people, baptized and non-baptized alike, give glory to the Creator.” At the same time, building upon the Vatican II document Nostra aetate, O’Collins gathers that the Spirit of Christ – the Holy Spirit is “present and operative in and through all that is true and good in various cultures and religions around the world.” The culmination of his theology is that Christ is the “Divine Wisdom at the heart of creation and also of the saving faith of non-Christians” (Krieg). With reference to 1 Timothy 2:4 and Hebrews 11, O’Collins reckons that “the saving faith of ‘outsiders,’ who need not have any explicit knowledge of Christ, includes knowing God exists as the origin and goal of the world, praying to God, worshiping God through acts of kindness, and having confidence in God's love” (Fritschel).

        Yet some scholars have reservations on O’Collins’ claims. First, his book primarily covers positive texts on the “outsiders,” but not the negative texts. Even for those positive treatments of “outsiders” in the Old Testament, it appears that they are always made in the context of the Israelite God. In other words, “the positive treatment certainly indicates the universal outreach of Israel’s God, but not the legitimation of other religions per se.” Second, while the universal presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit is unquestionable, in the context of the Letter to the Hebrews, the “saving and revelatory modality of Christ’s presence is only attested within the particular context of those who have faith in the true God” (D’Costa). Third, it is difficult to accept or even arrogant to claim that religious founders, e.g., Buddha who lived centuries before Jesus are “hidden saints” and “delegates” or “agents” of the risen Christ (Phan). In his response, O’Collins’ admitted the need to “develop arguments (beyond the current book) to show how the important founders who lived centuries before the coming of Christ were affected by him in ways that could justify calling them his ‘delegates and agents’” (O’Collins “Arthur’s Response”).

        Despite its limitations, O’Collins’ book has accomplished a fine job in using the biblical testimony to address a couple of questions which were initially raised by Jacques Dupuis and remain important for both Christian faith and inter-religious dialogues. “How can one profess faith in Jesus Christ as the one Savior of humankind and at the same time recognize the Holy Spirit at work in religions and cultures everywhere?” and “What, from a Christian perspective, is the role of the world’s religions as visible paths to salvation?” (O’Collins 170) Obviously, these questions cannot be answered by simple dogmatic statements. Through historical consciousness, we hope to discover the message of Jesus from the Scripture and the tradition in the contemporary context.

        All men are created in the image and likeness of God. Jesus’ salvation power that restored mankind to the original state of holiness is universal and should not be confined within the Church. Apparently, there are Melchizedek’s in the modern world “who in their own holy ways keep making God known to us in our time” (Clooney). Admitting the significance of these “holy outsiders” in our Christian lives would allow us to avoid relativism (i.e., truth is non-existent) on the other hand, while remaining faithful in Christ as we engage in inter-religious dialogues with other religions and beliefs under the guidance of the Holy Spirit on the other. In this manner, followers of different religions and beliefs may “bear witness before each other in daily life to their own human and spiritual values, and help each other to live according to those values in order to build a more just and fraternal society” (Redemptoris Missio 57).

Bibliography

Bradshaw, Timothy. “Review of O'Collins, Gerald. Salvation for all: God's other peoples.” The Journal of Theological Studies, ns 60 2 Oct 2009, p 761-762. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

Coogan, Michael D. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha. N.p.: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.

D'Costa, Gavin. “Review of O'Collins, Gerald. Salvation for all: God's other peoples.” Theology Today, 66 no 3 Oct 2009, p 395, 397-398. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

Fritschel, Ann. “Review of O'Collins, Gerald. Salvation for all: God's other peoples.” Interpretation, 63 no 4 Oct 2009, p 430. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

John Paul II. Redemptoris Missio. Vatican, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

Krieg, Robert A. “Review of O'Collins, Gerald. Salvation for all: God's other peoples.” Theological Studies, 70 no 3 Sep 2009, p 696-698. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

O'Collins, Gerald. “Developments in Christology: The Last Fifty Years.” Australasian Catholic Record Apr. 2013: 161+. Academic Search Complete. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

---. “Four perspectives: Salvation for all: God's other peoples – Arthur’s Response” Horizons, 36 no 1 Spr 2009, p 138-142. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

Phan, Peter C; Clooney, Francis Xavier; Cornille, Catherine; Griffiths, Paul J. “Four perspectives: Salvation for all: God's other peoples.” Horizons, 36 no 1 Spr 2009, p 121-137. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

Siniscalchi, Glenn B. “Review of O'Collins, Gerald. Salvation for all: God's other peoples.” American Theological Inquiry, 3 no 1 Jan 15 2010, p 187-190. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.