A Wideness in God's Mercy: The Finality Of Jesus Christ In A World Of Religions

by Clark H. Pinnock

Here is a ground-breaking book that suggests some new possibilities of interpretation around the challenge of religious pluralism. The subject of the book is the finality of Jesus Christ in a world of different religions. Pinnock explains succinctly the factors that have made religious pluralism a major challenge for Christian theology. Then he places the issue in the history of doctrine leading up to the present day. Five chapters follow this introductory material and cover the field very systematically: The first chapter deals with God's global reach in salvation and shows that God is concerned for all people in all nations; chapter two highlights the Christology through which God is known to be the God of grace; the third chapter shows how the Bible views other religions as they presently exist and how we can understand them; chapter four deals with religions as non-static entities and the object of divine power bringing in the kingdom; and the fifth chapter discusses eschatology, or how it is possible to understand salvation in generous and large terms. A Wideness in God's Mercy is one of the very few books to present a strong proposal on the issue of religious pluralism while maintaining a rock-solid evangelical stance. It will no doubt launch a decade of discussion on a higher level among Christians.

Genres: Theology, Religion, Spirituality

216 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 1992

About the author

Clark H. Pinnock (d. 2010) was professor emeritus of systematic theology at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario. Widely regarded as one of evangelicalism's most stimulating theologians, he produced several widely discussed books, including The Wideness of God's Mercy and (with four other scholars) The Openness of God.

Reviews

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fate of those who have not heard the Gospel is a pressing concern for Christians. People today are skeptical of Christianity enough as it is, let alone a Christianity that enthuses that we are "sinners in the hands of an angry God."

On the one side are "exclusivists," generally conservative evangelicals (and often Calvinists) who assert that a conscious decision for Jesus must be made by people in order to escape the eternal torment of Hell (some, such as William Lane Craig, argue that God could have relied on middle knowledge to orchestrate who lived when so that everyone who IS condemned to Hell would never have chosen Jesus anyways even IF given the opportunity). On the other side are religious pluralists and universalists, such as George MacDonald, John Hick, Paul Knitter, and David Bentley Hart, who believe that God will save everyone in the end, regardless of what they have done or what they have believed. There is a curious Calvinist variant to this approach, exemplified by figures such as Karl Barth and Jacques Ellul; God's relentless love will eventually overpower the stubborn rebellion of those who currently refuse Him because He is divine and sovereign. Others, including John Stott and Clark Pinnock himself, advocate for annihilationism - those who reject Christ will eventually simply evaporate after paying a penalty for their sins.

But there is a middle way between rigid exclusivism and laissez-faire universalism. In "A Wideness in God's Mercy: The Finality of Jesus Christ in a World of Religions," Clark Pinnock propounds a compelling case for "inclusivism." Pinnock builds his case through a rigorous exposition of Scripture. He demonstrates how the Bible records as righteous those who had never explicitly proclaimed Christ as their Saviour - figures like Melchizedek, Abraham, and Job - because they had never encountered him. Pinnock declares that Jesus Christ is the only means to attain salvation, but that we should not entirely discount the relevance of other religions. Taking a global view, he wonders why people (even Christians!) feel free to incorporate wisdom from Aristotle and Plato, but not from other religions that might have something valid to say. For instance, he suggests that Christians can teach Buddhists to value the material world more as stewards of Creation while Buddhists can teach Christians (especially those comfortable in the West) more about detachment from worldly possessions (p. 140).

Pinnock asserts that Christianity has too often focused on INDIVIDUALS being saved as opposed to the corporate nature of election. Individualism is largely a product of the West. As Kathryn Gin Lum explains in her book Damned Nation: Hell in America from Revolution to Reconstruction, many First Nations in the USA refused to convert to Christianity because they wanted to be with their ancestors in the afterlife; the missionaries working among them declared that their forebears were in Hell because they had not accepted Jesus.

Pinnock declares that only God can truly see each person's heart. If the unevangelized have sought to follow God's ways (these being revealed through general revelation) then they have already demonstrated that they are on a trajectory towards God. But those who have been cruel and unjust in this life have themselves demonstrated that they would not WANT to be with God, the source of all goodness and truth.

Along the way Pinnock answers common objections to inclusivism. One of the key critiques is that inclusivism will lead to a discounting of missions - if God will save people who have never heard the Gospel, why spend money, time, and other resources going out onto the mission field? In answer to this objection Pinnock contends that missionary work is not ultimately about saving souls from Hell but about bringing God's Kingdom to earth:

"The Christian missionary enterprise is central to what the present age is about, and it must be addressed (Mt 24:14). My suspicion is that we have narrowed the motivation for missions down to this one thing: deliverance from wrath. We have made it the major reason for missions when it is not. I object to the notion that missions is individually oriented, hellfire insurance. Sinners are not in the hands of an angry God. Our mission is not to urge them to turn to Jesus because God hates them and delights in sending them to hell. Jesus did not come to condemn but to save the world (Jn 3:17). No, our mission is to announce the wonderful news of the kingdom of God (Mk 1:14-15). It is not based on the assumption that now there is grace where there was no grace before. Rather, it is news of an even that had not happened before, the news of God reconciling the world to himself in Jesus Christ and the beginning of the age of salvation.

Coming at missions from the perspective of the kingdom explains why everybody without exception needs to hear the Good News, both those who have responded to light and those who have not responded. It does not require any denial of the fact that God is at work in the wider world to feel the obligation to tell the story and issue the invitation. God wants everybody to be part of the kingdom movement. That implies a mission which calls for a multiplicity of activities designed to initiate people into the kingdom - activities like proclamation, church planting, social involvement, Christian presence, and being a catalyst in history. It is a travesty to maintain that the primary motive of missions is to rescue souls from hell. The purpose of Christian missions is much broader, and its motivations more far reaching. The purpose of Christian missions involves proclamation and church planting, but it also transcends them. Missions are part of God's strategy for transforming the world and changing history. One goal of missions is quantitative, to baptize and form congregations. The other goal is qualitative, to change life's atmosphere, in infect people with hope, love, and responsibility for the world" (p. 177-78).

"A Wideness in God's Mercy" is a profoundly hopeful book. This book, not "Love Wins," is the book everyone should read on the afterlife and the destiny of the unevangelized.

[Marty Solomon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have four different categories of books in my library. 1) Books I seek out [I expect the most from them] 2) Books that are given to me [what to expect?] 3) Books that were being discarded and, finally, 4) Books I inherit when somebody gives me their library. I don’t expect much from the last two categories, but every now and then these books I know nothing about surprise me. This was one of those books.

Pinnock essentially makes a case for “inclusivism” and a wider view of God’s grace and mercy as it relates to the conversation surrounding salvation. The overall polemic, discussed in the last chapter of the book, was actually one of my least favorite parts of this read. And certainly the book was loaded with nuances and particular statements I would state differently.

However, the first four chapters were a fantastic treatment of the bigness of God’s mercy, the particular supremacy of Jesus, the relationship of these truths to world religions, and the postures we take when we relate to them. The value of the conversation, for me, lies in how Pinnock suggests we should have a much more “optimistic” view in God’s redemption of the world.

If one likes to get into the debates surrounding inclusivism, universalism, annihilationism, and eternal conscious torment, this is a great book, particularly as it relates to mission and world religions. Even as it is dated (written in 1992), and the reader would do well to remember this, I feel like it has aged well.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heaven and Hell has always presented a problem for Christians. Does Heaven reflect our loving, merciful God, while Hell reflects his righteous justice? Who get’s in to Heaven and who does’t? Pinnock is primarily concerned with the latter question and doesn’t really discuss what the Bible means by Hell, though he does touch briefly on it. This may seem like a miserly theological discussion, but Pinnock is out to show evangelicals that God is more inclusive than we might think. This is heavy theology, so break out your dictionary. Or just read this quote from the book and you can get the gist of his argument: “It is not so much a question whether the unevangelized know Jesus as whether Jesus knows them. One does not have to be conscious of the work of Christ done on one’s behalf in order to benefit from that work. The issue God cares about is the direction of the heart, not the content of theology.” He uses convincing Biblical passages as well as logic to arrive at this conclusion. I wouldn’t say he is a Universalist, but there will definitely be more people in God’s Kingdom than has been a traditional view (the view I grew up with). I read this book because the question of Heaven and Hell has always haunted me. I lean more towards a Universalist understanding of salvation, but I have to admit that is only because I want it to be true and hadn’t really delved deeply into scripture to suss out verification. This book hasn’t given me vindication necessarily, but it has broadened my view of this discussion, particularly in the areas of world religions and separating out that God can and has worked in the world not through the person of Jesus, but his spirit. I recommend this book, but I recommend reading N. T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope first. That book was a game changer for me and showed me that there was indeed more to Christianity than hoping for the next life; there is a lot to do in this one.

[Paul Dubuc · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. It gives a solid theological and biblical foundation for an optimistic view of salvation that clearly avoids the equally problematic extremes of universalism and "exclusivism". He shows that optimism for the salvation of many was the reigning view among Christians, informed by the "Logos Doctrine" (John 1:9) up until the time of Augustine. As indebted has we are to Augustine for much of his thought, Pinnock takes issue with his views on human "total depravity" and salvation of the few only within the Church. A high Christology does not entail narrowness when it comes to salvation. "While insisting that all religions are not saying the same, but significantly different things, we do not need to fall into the opposite error of supposing that religions are totally dissimilar, that they share nothing at all in common and have no overlap." (p. 139)

Pinnock deals with many of the questions raised by Rob Bell's much more recent and unsatisfying book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived with solid biblical, theological and historical argument. Unfortunately, Pinnock's book seems to have has much less influence that it deserves in the 20 years since it was written. Serious consideration of what this book has to say would help many Christians avoid needless, unproductive controversy, divisiveness, and misunderstanding and help them embrace the more hopeful and optimistic possibilities of the kingdom of God. I wish I had read it 20 years ago.

[Hank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the books that contributed to the deconstruction of my worldview & faith presuppositions. I enjoyed it, while at the same time loathed it for the many more questions it brought up than anwsered.

Pinnock is always challenging. The questions that he brings up are somewhat freeing, because they allow you to question without losing your faith.

I guess what I liked most about the book was that not only did it helped me not to think other religions are stupid or worthless, but also reminded me of the goodness and graciousness of God.

[Karla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was pretty disappointed in this book. Though it dealt with some really great questions, on the whole I felt like it didn't really give ANY attempt at real answers. It felt as if the author was trying to hard to create 'middle ground' that he never really made any firm ground at all. I did like some of his ideas and I understood what he was attempting. Overall, though, the book fell short of actually doing it.

[Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gem of a book. Pinnock's later writings like Flame of Love and Unbounded Love and this one were beautifully written. Pinnock's wit and wisdom just shines through on every page.

The issue of religious pluralism is treated head one and he argues that a strong biblical faith in Jesus, far from being exclusive about salvation, open us up to the "wideness of God's mercy" in a way that motivates us for mission, dialogue, and the work of confronting falsity and vice in our own religion.

[Leslie Fanchon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad I read it though I didn't agree with everything.

[Tim Donnelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the premise of this book, or perhaps the position that Pinnock argues from. The “inclusivist” position argued for here is similar to C.S Lewis’ perspective in the Great Divorce.

Where I think the book falls a little short is that Pinnock delivers adequate critiques of positions contrary to his own, but on the flip side his arguments often are lackluster and the exegesis frequently felt half-baked.

Despite this, he does ask the reader to think more seriously about the possibility of posthumous grace (does God cease to be gracious at the moment of death?) and examples throughout the Old and New Testament of people outside of Israel or the church, responding positively to God and being considered righteous.

I think I’d enjoy a similar book that was a bit more robust and rigorous from this camp.

[Stephen Bedard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I am not sure I am convinced by all of Clark's arguments but he provides a good case for a more optimistic view of salvation. It definitely provides a helpful option on how to look at other religions.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really blew open my thinking about God.

[Sam Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a deeply compelling argument for an extremely optimistic view of salvation for the world while strongly upholding Christ as Savior. Highly recommend.

[Isaac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply Christian, and deeply generous.

[Joel Wentz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really helpful, very accessible, introduction to a "theology of religions" that has a solidly Evangelical core. Pinnock does a wonderful job of navigating the tricky questions of pluralism, relativism and exclusivism in a way that is engaging and marked with grace. Overall, I was particularly struck by his conviction of a positive outlook on salvation for the world, while remaining firmly convicted by the centrality of Christ to that salvific work, and not denying the final condemnation of some. This book is by no means the final word on the subject, but it deserves a place on the shelf, especially as our culture continues to be pluralistic and secularized.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is challenging for anyone who believes they understand who is "in" and who is "out" of God's grace.

This is also a great book for anyone who has entertained the idea they they could only be (or will remain) "outside" of that grace.