ABSTRACT
The most innovative and most recent approach to the question of the Trinity and religions is offered by S. Mark Heim. In Heim's opinion, the pluralisms of John Hick, Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Knitter fail since they deny the possibility of differing religious ends for religions and instead assume an underlying common foundation of a 'world religion'. Heim argues that his hypothesis of multiple religious ends, unlike other options available, is conducive to interfaith dialogue and relations between various religions at least in these three respects. First, it affirms the significance of careful study of faith traditions in their particularity. Second, it recognizes the truth and validity of varying religious paths. Third, it affirms the validity of witness on the part of any one faith tradition to its 'one and only' quality, 'indeed to its superiority in relation to others'. This chapter highlights the contributions of Heim's proposal to Christian theology of religions and interfaith dialogue.
