Shawn Andrews
Summer 2014 Theology 313-D05 LUO
Student #23805109
Analysis
In the second half of the book Is Jesus the Only Savior?, author Robert Nash goes into great detail in explaining the views and positions held by inclusivists. Inclusivism is the affirmation that Jesus Christ is, in fact, the only savior; however it declines the notion that a person must first know and then subsequently accept the gospel message. Nash writes, “While pluralists believe that sincere followers of non-Christian religions can experience salvation through those religions, inclusivists insist that devout believers in other religions will be saved, but only on the basis of Christ’s atoning work,” (p. 104). Simplified, inclusivism maintains that Jesus Christ is the only savior and that the simple reality of his death is sufficient for the achievement of eternal life, regardless of what religion people belong to. It claims that Buddhists, Hindus, or Muslims have the same end result of salvation as Christians. Jesus died for all, and through his death all people are saved. Unlike the first half of the book addressing pluralism, Nash begins his discussion of inclusivism with an introduction to its claims. This is helpful and provides a better playing field to dispute inclusivism’s validity than his analysis of exclusivism. When he addresses pluralism, Nash starts by focusing on Hick’s beliefs and how he attempts to support them. With inclusivism, he first addresses inclusivism as a whole, then moves on to refer to various supporters’ opinions and inclusivism’s specific claims. This system of progression is more effective in that it lays out the foundation initially to reference back to later.
Nash does well to clarify the distinction of inclusivism from universalism. The “universality axiom” insists that “God must make salvation available for all human beings,” (p. 106). According