The Second Vatican Council on Other Religions

Revelation and love

“…61 In the light of what has already been said, I would go further and suggest (although much more could be said, given space) that general revelation and God's self-disclosure calls forth a response of love in action from anyone (see, for example, Job and Jn 1:9), through whichever medium it is that the call to relationship occurs. 62 Important though special revelation and the tradition may be in this regard, it is God, unique and infinite, who has revealed Godself in loving revelation, not the church (even though God clearly does act in and through it). It is this God who calls humanity into divine service in many and diverse ways.…”

The theology of religions revisited

“…In encouraged rather than undermined missionary proclamation. 17 At the end of my book, I joined Dialogue and Proclamation in holding that dialogue does not replace proclamation, and proclamation is driven by a deep desire to share Christ in love. 18 Heft's third question picked up something that I mentioned in my book but had not yet developed: the theme of Christ the high priest interceding for the salvation of the whole world.…”

“…17 At the end of my book, I joined Dialogue and Proclamation in holding that dialogue does not replace proclamation, and proclamation is driven by a deep desire to share Christ in love. 18 Heft's third question picked up something that I mentioned in my book but had not yet developed: the theme of Christ the high priest interceding for the salvation of the whole world. 19 'If', Heft writes, 'believers in other religions, as well as secular people, are saved through the intercessory power of Christ's priesthood, why have so few authors -with the exception of Gavin D'Costa -explored his possibility?…”

Thomas Aquinas, Natural Evil, and ‘Outside the Church, No Salvation’

“…By reformulating one's theology of revelation and salvation, post‐Vatican II theologians recognize that nuanced understandings of the fulfillment theory and the ‘presence of Christ in the other world religions’ model are complementary to one another. By analyzing the documents of Vatican II, Gerald O'Collins also believes that God reveals something of himself outside the boundaries of Judaism and Christianity . Unless God reveals himself to the formal outsiders, he says, these individuals could never be saved.…”