Discipleship in a Multireligious World: living the Jesus Way and loving within the Trinity’s embrace
Abstract
This essay has two parts. The first section briefly evaluates two unhelpful theological models and then suggests how the Trinity can be creatively utilized as a Christian template for working out a spacious yet faithful theology of religions. The second section focuses on a pragmatic question: What would Christian discipleship look like in our multireligious world when we commit to generous compassion for all God’s communities with a singular passion for Christ? The balance between spacious universality in the Triune One and God’s particularity in Jesus Christ offers a productive means to passionately proclaim the Christian gospel while compassionately engaging with neighbours from other religions. The essay concludes by arguing that Christian discipleship in an interreligious world can be reimagined by uniting Christian embassy and interfaith hospitality.
Author Biography
Satianathan Clarke
Sathianathan “Sathi” Clarke is a lecturer in theology and mission at United Theological College in Sydney and the Bishop Sundo Kim chair and professor of World Christianity at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. He is an ordained Presbyter of the Church of South India admitted as a minister of the Word in the Uniting Church in Australia. Educated at United Theological College (Bangalore), Yale Divinity School, and Harvard Divinity School, Clarke is the author of Competing Fundamentalisms: Violent Extremism in Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism (Westminster John Knox, 2017) and Dalits and Christianity: Subaltern Religion and Liberation Theology in India (Oxford University Press, 1998). He is working on his next book Theology of World Christianity for Post-postcolonial Times (Oxford University Press, Forthcoming 2025)