Biblical Preaching in a Pluralistic Culture

I . . . believe that a Christian must welcome some measure of plurality but reject pluralism. We can and must welcome a plural society because it provides us with a wider range of experience and a wider diversity of human responses to experience, and therefore richer opportunities for testing the sufficiency of our faith than are available in a monochrome society. As we confess Jesus as Lord in a plural society, and as the Church grows through the coming of people from many different cultural and religious traditions to faith in Christ, we are enabled to learn more of the length and breadth and height and depth of the love of God (Eph. 3:14-19) than we can in a monochrome society. But we must reject the ideology of pluralism.[14]

John Stott said, “Pluralism is an affirmation of the validity of every religion, and the refusal to choose between them, and the rejection of world evangelism …”[15] Of course, this is the rub for Christians. Susan Laemmle, Rabbi and Dean of Religious Life at USC, described the tenets of the ideology of religious pluralism as well as anyone: “… all spiritual paths are finally leading to the same sacred ground.”[16]

Another scholar, Episcopalian Professor M. Basye Holland-Shuey,[17] said, “Pluralism … holds to one’s own faith, and at the same time, engages other faiths in learning about their path and how they want to be understood … Pluralism and dialogue are the means for building bridges and relationships that create harmony and peace on our planet home.”[18]