Depth of the Riches: A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Ends, The

S. Mark Heim. The Depth of the Riches: A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Ends. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001. 312 pp. $35.00.

S. Mark Heim's book is an interesting attempt by a self-proclaimed "convinced inclusivist" to work out just how the salvific power of Christ is distributed to "God-followers" of other faith traditions. His view might be encapsulated: "I suggest that Christians can consistently recognize that some traditions encompass religious fulfillments different from the salvation Christians seek" (p. 44). Followers of other faiths can receive fulfillments lesser than total Christian salvation by means of the salvific power of Christ on the cross. Heim rejects the view of exclusivism that all who do not hear of Christ and respond have no part in the salvific power of Christ. Yet he does think that only Christians will participate in full-blown salvation. Continuing his argument developed in his book, Salvations: Truth and Difference in Religion (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1995), Heim criticizes traditional inclusivism which often has claimed that some who are not Christians will experience the full salvation of Christ. The key problem with either traditional inclusivism or pluralism is that they neglect the fact that different religions have different religious ends. Inclusivists and pluralists claim that either some or all non-Christians will be saved-but forget that this would mean many different things to the adherents of different faith traditions.

Since the truth is not unveiled irresistibly in this life-Buddhists, Mulsims, and Jews don't see the truth of the gospel--Heim claims "It seems equally plausible that our religious formation in this life largely determines the range of what we can assimilate, and the means by which we could do so" (p. 285). So those of various faiths will experience parts of salvation-the religious ends of their distinct tradition-but not full salvation. "For each of these ends, some dimension or dimensions of God remain hidden. In those aspects, relation with God remains broken and sin thus remains determinative" (p. 288). Only a Christian would experience the fullness (triune nature) of God and so, salvation. The reason others would not is not due to God hiding himself, but due to people themselves being unable to have full relationship with God due to sin and habit (p. 199). Heim believes that this theology, while preserving the inclusivist centrality of Christ's work on the cross and the claims of Christianity to be ultimate. His focus on the distinctive religious ends of various faiths, he thinks, "honors those claims and recognizes their roots more concretely than either exclusivism or pluralism" (p. 291).

Heim nicely outlines "four broad types of human destiny" which one might receive after death. First is salvation--complete communion with God and others through Christ, which Christians will experience. Second, many will experience alternative religious ends, "the distinctive human fulfillments of the various religious traditions," which are all partial aspects of God's goodness. Third, for those who pursue non-religious ends, and cling to created reality in place of God, they will experience "hells of idolatry" which sound something like the hell-punishments of Dante (who is often referred to by Heim) or perhaps C. S. Lewis. The fourth option is annihilation, reserved for those who not only idolize a created good, but negate creation itself (pp. 272-73).

Heim's basic position here is not so different from his much earlier work, Is Christ the Only Way?: Christian Faith in a Pluralistic World (Valley Forge, PA: Judson, 1985) where he argued that Hindus, Buddhists, Shintoists, and even Marxists can be saved if "saved" means that they reach their own particular end (Marxists could be saved then by "state ownership of the means of production"; Is Christ the Only Way, 138). But the position now is much more sophisticated, theologically developed, and careful. From this latest work, Heim would see Hindus, Buddhists,, and Shintoists as receiving distinctive religious ends, all short of full Christian salvation. The Marxist would, presumably, not have any religious end, but would have a "hell of idolatry."

It seems apparent to most who have friends of other faiths that good things come from those faiths, so there is something intuitively compelling about Heim's attempt to explain just how God's goodness is in other religions. Those who see other faiths as mere deception of demons fail to see the truth and benefit in other faiths. For example, I point to the pietistic practices of Bahais, Buddhists, and Mormons to encourage my Baptist Pietist students to take their pietism a little more seriously. There is nothing like being confronted with a Bahai who is much more pious than any Christian in your church to make you wonder what aspects of Christ's power you might be lacking.

Most evangelicals will respond to this basic thesis with hesitation, if only because of its novelty. But it is a provocative thesis, which perhaps undermines the traditional vague inclusivist position altogether. Despite disagreements one might have with Heim, he should be commended for dealing with some of the important objections in the book, for example sin's effects on other religions, missionary work, and Christology. And the work does rely on the centrally important doctrine of the Trinity. Heim shows how very good and gracious God might be through this extending of his grace to other faiths, limited only by their own incapacity.