A Biblical-Exegetical Examination of the Appeal to the Trinity in the Contemporary Theology of Religions: The Case of Jacques Dupuis and Gavin D'Costa

A Biblical-Exegetical Examination of the Appeal to the Trinity inContemporary Catholic Theology of Religions:The Case of Jacques Dupuis and Gavin D Costa Promoter: Prof. T. Merrigan, Co-Promotor: Prof. G. Van Belle In the recent Catholic theology of religions,[1] there have been several attempts to re-think the place of non-Christian religions in Gods plan of salvation by means of an appeal to the Trinity. The two most important representatives of this approach are J. Dupuis[2] and Gavin D Costa.[3] Both have sought to broaden the traditional inclusivistic position[4] by exploring the Trinity as a theological framework that would allow a more receptive attitude towards non-Christians religions and promote interreligious dialogue. Though the idea of referring to the Trinity to allow greater openness to non-Christian religions can offer very interesting perspectives and possibilities for interreligious dialogue, it is not clear whether the theology of the Trinity that is contained in the current approaches is in line with either the biblical evidence or the tradition of the Church.Our dissertation aims therefore to confront the appeal to the Trinity in the contemporary Catholic theology of religions (as represented by Dupuis and D'Costa) with the Trinitarian thought of the New Testament to inquire whether that appeal is legitimate and whether these theologians do justice to the biblical texts they employ. Our major biblical sources will be the Gospel of John and the Letters of St. Paul.The following proposal is intended as a tentative description of the structure of our dissertation.Chapter 1 The Trinity in Jacques Dupuis Theology of ReligionsChapter 2 The Trinity in Gavin D Costa s Theology of ReligionsChapter 3 The Trinitarian Dimension in the Gospel of JohnChapter 4 The Trinitarian Dimension in the Letters of St. PaulChapter 5 The Appeal to the Trinity in the Light of the Biblical EvidenceChapter 6 Critical Reflections[1] For an introduction to the theology of religions and a critical discussion of the three main currents of thought, see T. Merrigan, Exploring the Frontiers: Jacques Dupuis and the Movement Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism , in Louvain Studies 23 (1998) 338-359.[2] J. Dupuis, Toward A Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism, Maryknoll, NY, 1991. His explicit Trinitarian model of thinking interreligious dialogue is very clearly described and discussed in his article Trinitarian Christology As a Model for a Theology of Religious Pluralism, in T. Merrigan (ed.) & J. Haers (ed.), The Myriad Christ. Plurality and the Quest for Unity in Contemporary Christology (BETL, 52), Leuven, 2000, pp. 83-97.[3] G. D Costa, The Meeting of Religions and the Trinity, Maryknoll, NY, Edinburgh, 2000.[4] Cf. T. Merrigan, Exploring the Frontiers, p. 340-342, see n. 1.status: publishe