The Possibility of Salvation Among the Unevangelized: An Analysis of Inclusivism in Recent Evangelical Theology (Paternoster Theological Monographs)

In the area of systematics known as the theology of religions, those who affirm the particularity of Christ in terms of truth, revelation, and salvation have always had to deal with the problem of the unevangelized: those who have never heard of Christ through no fault of their own. For evangelical theologians this issue impinges on fundamental tenets of evangelical identity. Recently the fate of the unevangelized has received detailed attention from evangelicals, and has been fiercely debated because of the wider doctrinal issues it raises. The position known as inclusivism has been most fully developed by Clark H. Pinnock, an influential and controversial evangelical theologian, known as being the leading spokesman of Arminianism and a new theistic paradigm entitled the trinitarian openness of God. Through a detailed analysis and critique of his work, this book examines a cluster of issues surrounding the unevangelized and its implications for Christology, soteriology, and evangelical identity. A very thorough investigation of Clark Pinnock's theology which sets it quite clearly within the framework of traditional evangelical thought and shows how and to what extent Pinnock has deviated from that. Dr Strange has covered the ground as well as anyone could, and his conclusions are both coherent and sensible. It will undoubtedly be an important reference work for anyone interested in current evangelical thought. --Professor Gerald L. Bray Beeson Divinity School, Samford University Wishing to do justice to the fullness of salvation in Jesus Christ as well as its finality, I placed a model of evangelical inclusivism on the table for discussion. I knew I was not the only evangelical who finds himself thinking that God's grace cannot be limited to the relatively few who, because of time and place, have had a chance to respond to the gospel. But at the same time my thesis is a controversial one, even though many evangelicals have held it over the centuries. In a painstaking critique, Daniel Strange has laid his axe to the root of the tree and provoked a more profound discussion. In doing so, he makes an important contribution. --Clark H. Pinnock McMaster Divinity College, Canada Daniel Strange is Friends of Oak Hill Lecturer in Culture, Religion and Public Theology at Oak Hill College in London.