“The Church esteems the ways in which God works in other religions,” and “rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions. She has a high regard for their manner of life and conduct, their precepts and doctrines which… often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men and women.” This is no. 277 of Tutti Fratteli of Pope Francis. Except the first part, it is a quote from Nostrae Aetate of the Second Vatican Council on “Other religions.” The era of “outside the church no salvation” which condemned non-Christians to the hell of eternal damnation is over. Nostra Aetate took the courageous vision to venture into unfamiliar terrains. Could the church of Pope Francis and his successors, reading the fine prints of Nostra Aetate, reflect beyond the inherent flaws in their dialogue with other faiths? What is the vision of the church for the next fifty years as achurch in the postmodern world dedicated to the vocation of interreligious dialogue? Talking of other religions, Nostra Aetate consciously decided not to employ the noun ‘revelation’ or the verb ‘reveal’ except when it spoke about the Jewish people, because the church received the revelation of the Old Testament by way of that people with whom God in his inexpressible mercy established the ancient covenant. Every theological reflection is a voice in search of freedom, independence, and autonomy… a voice that wishes to lay claim to its own reality and experience, give expression to its own view of God and the world, and charts its own future.
For Rahner, the “radically Christological character” of grace is given by the supposition that the “possibility of creation rests on that of the Incarnation”– so that nature is a presupposition of grace. For Balthasser, the Word of God is grounded in silence: “creation was ex nihilo. Likewise, Jesus himself left no writing, no authoritative account of his teachings, and the revelation we possess of him today is not primarily of his words, but of his actions”. Balthasar acclaims it as “probably his best book,” saying that God is free to speak as he wishes – or to reveal himself in silence. S. Augustine’s assertion, noted by de Lubac, that pagans have hidden saints and prophets. De Lubac maintains that such unbelievers act as “building blocks for the Kingdom,” benefiting from the bonds which unite them to the Church “because they are an integral part of that humanity which is to be saved.” It behoves us to give up everything we have (Lk 14:33), to bless our persecutors (Rom 12:14) – even to divide our families if necessary (Lk 12:53). “Something ineffable of excessive denseness and fullness, that contains within itself God’s final and most mysterious turn to man, is surrounded by ever new word-attempts, but is never exhausted ‘by all the books of the world that could be written’ (John 21:25).” Balthasser wrote, “The Cross is the first, and, as long as this world exists, the unsurpassable goal of the Incarnation.” The inarticulate cry becomes the only speech for “that which in life remains inexpressible.” His Word becomes a cry and falls silent.” … “A God who to the end could be expressed in finite words (and deeds!) would not be God any more, but an idol. But also a God who did not want to give Himself right up to this end and furthest extremity, but held back a piece of himself for himself and kept it away from us, would in his turn no longer be our God, but an idol.”
Word and silence therefore remain reciprocal, and are united in God’s super-word, the Logos. Indeed, as Word made Flesh, Jesus spoke often through actions and through what he left unsaid: in this sense, human silence is part of God’s total Word, pregnant and leaving room for its
conception. Rahner’s position is based firmly on the incarnational love of neighbour manifested in Jesus’ life, such that “all human beings who selflessly love their neighbour and experience God in that love are accorded ultimate salvation by God’s jurisdiction.” This open door is not the heart of man “but Christ.” Christ has opened the way through the heart objectively by His Incarnation and has opened the way subjectively by the “dizzying” gift to man of a “good conscience.” Prayer, then, is “walking this open way through the heart … It is based on the knowledge that one speaks into the open, hearing ear of God.”