ABSTRACT
This chapter examines three alternative models of understanding religious pluralism that have emerged out of one tradition, Roman Catholic and Protestant Christianity, but that find parallels in other traditions. It offers a critical assessment of each approach in light of its implications for interreligious dialogue on contemporary moral issues. On the surface, exclusivism is the approach to understanding religious difference that is least conducive to interreligious dialogue and cooperation. Christian exclusivism looks not only inward but outward; it not only makes affirmative claims about the uniqueness of Christianity's worldview, it also makes negative claims about all competing visions. In this sense, non-Christian religious paths are affirmed as good and true by being included in the Christian economy of salvation. Many critics of pluralism argue that it is precisely the cultural particularity of the pluralist approach that makes it an inappropriate model for global religious interaction. Affirmations of pluralism are too often made at the expense of particular religious commitments.
