Evangelical Inclusivism: Progress or Betrayal?

Controversial voices have arisen from within the ranks of evangelical theologians challenging the hegemony that an exclusivist soteriology has enjoyed to date. In particular, the work of Clark Pinnock and John Sanders has broken new ground among evangelical theologians by suggesting that inclusivism is a reasonable and justified theological position. This work presents new options for intra-Christian dialogue in which evangelical theology is no longer excluded, rejected or marginalized outright by the dominant proponents of inclusivism or the liberal (radical) voices advocating pluralism. This selective reformulation of evangelical soteriology in the light of contemporary religious plurality is significant not only for those within evangelicalism who subscribe to it, but equally important for non-evangelical Christian theologians who attempt to construct Christian soteriologies, often without any reference to evangelical theology. This article assesses critically the benefits and drawbacks of this move to inclusivism in terms of the larger project of interreligious interchange.