Karl Rahner accepted the notion that without Christ it was impossible to achieve salvation, but he could not accept the notion that people who have never heard of Jesus Christ would be condemned.
[Stephen Clinton, Peter, Paul, and the Anonymous Christian: A Response to The Mission Theology of Rahner and Vatican II October, 1998 The Orlando Institute, Leadership Forum November, 1998 Evangelical Theological Society]
"Anonymous Christianity means that a person lives in the grace of God and attains salvation outside of explicitly constituted Christianity — Let us say, a Buddhist monk — who, because he follows his conscience, attains salvation and lives in the grace of God; of him I must say that he is an anonymous Christian; if not, I would have to presuppose that there is a genuine path to salvation that really attains that goal, but that simply has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. But I cannot do that. And so, if I hold if everyone depends upon Jesus Christ for salvation, and if at the same time I hold that many live in the world who have not expressly recognized Jesus Christ, then there remains in my opinion nothing else but to take up this postulate of an anonymous Christianity."
[Wilkin, Todd. What is the Catholic Teaching of "Anonymous Christianity"?]
According to Rahner's thinking, a person could explicitly deny Christianity, but in reality "existentially is committed to those values which for the Christian are concretized in God."
Rahner's notion of the 'Anonymous Christian' was one of the most influential theological ideals to affect the Second Vatican Council.
In Lumen Gentium, the council fathers stated:
"Those also can attain to everlasting salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the gospel of Christ or his Church, yet sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, strive by their deeds to do his will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience."
In Gaudium et Spes they wrote
"Since Christ died for all men, and since the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one, and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery."
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that,
"Those who through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience—those too may achieve eternal salvation."
These statements indicate that the Roman Catholic Church is aware of the difficulties raised by Christians that give no thought to the unshriven dead. They are to be welcomed into any dialogue on the fate of the unChristianised dead, and should be given full weight as consonant with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Almighty God's revealed concern for all his children.
Vatican II and After
Before becoming Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In this role, he issued, with the approval of Pope John Paul II, a document called Dominus Iesus. This document asserts the supremacy of the Catholic Church, while reiterating the Catholic Church's acceptance of "anonymous Christianity."
"Nevertheless, God, who desires to call all peoples to himself in Christ and to communicate to them the fullness of his revelation and love, "does not fail to make himself present in many ways, not only to individuals, but also to entire peoples through their spiritual riches, of which their religions are the main and essential expression even when they contain ‘gaps, insufficiencies and errors'". Therefore, the sacred books of other religions, which in actual fact direct and nourish the existence of their followers, receive from the mystery of Christ the elements of goodness and grace which they contain." (I, 8)
"Theology today, in its reflection on the existence of other religious experiences and on their meaning in God's salvific plan, is invited to explore if and in what way the historical figures and positive elements of these religions may fall within the divine plan of salvation. In this undertaking, theological research has a vast field of work under the guidance of the Church's Magisterium. The Second Vatican Council, in fact, has stated that: "the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude, but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a participation in this one source"." (III, 14)
"With respect to the way in which the salvific grace of God — which is always given by means of Christ in the Spirit and has a mysterious relationship to the Church — comes to individual non-Christians, the Second Vatican Council limited itself to the statement that God bestows it "in ways known to himself"." (VI, 21)[6]
The Society of Pius X Takes Its Bat And Ball Home
Some Catholic groups, such as the Society of St. Pius X have separated themselves from the Catholic Church since the Vatican Two because of what they consider the Vatican's move towards inclusivism.
Anonymous Christianity, it says, "is a very grave doctrinal error because it declares personal justification as being already realized for every man without any participation of his will or free choice and, so, without any need of his conversion, faith, baptism or works. Redemption is guaranteed to all, as if sanctifying grace were ontologically present in each man just because he is man."
Liberal Overreaction
Liberal Christians condemn the notion because, as Hans Küng put it, "It would be impossible to find anywhere in the world a sincere Jew, Muslim or atheist who would not regard the assertion that he is an 'anonymous Christian' as presumptuous".
John Hick states that this notion is paternalistic because it is "honorary status granted unilaterally to people who have not expressed any desire for it."
Hick rejects the notion because the majority of people are born into non-Christian families, therefore, he argues, Anonymous Christianity denigrates the beliefs of non-Christians by supposing that they are really Christians without realizing it.
Fundamentalist Damnation
Fundamentalist Christians, as might be expected, take the narrowest view in believing that that 'Anonymous Christians' directly contradicts the teachings of Peter, Paul and other Apostles.
They cite as an example, Acts 4:12, " ... there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."
This particular cult of Christians believe in Total Christian exclusivism, which is the view that their version of biblical Christianity alone is true, all other religious systems are false, and there is no hope of salvation for any that do not confess the name of Christ, and no hope for many that do confess Jesus as Lord and Saviour
Rahner's Inclusivism
And this, as they say, is where we came in. But it must be noted that Karl Rahner did not intend the term in any derogatory sense but employed it to explain a theological mechanism by which non-Christians both present and those who preceded Jesus Christ might be saved.
The backlash against it and against the idea it embodies according to Rahner illuminates what is wrong with exclusive Christianity and reveals its serious shortcomings when held against the backdrop of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in the books of the New Testament.
Perhaps it is time to let the Word of God Speak For itself
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