Nakaz misyjny Chrystusa a tolerancja chrześcijan

Abstract

A point of departure for the Professor from Munich, and now the Bishop of Regensburg, can be reduced to the following theses. One is put forward by such fundamentalists as the Berlin professor H. Schnaedelbach who thinks that Christianity has no right to conduct its missions, for the missionary order belongs to “innate drawbacks” of Christianity. Another thesis comes from relativists who propose a pluralistic theology of religion which treats all religions as “equal” and the missionary order of Christianity has brought about a “religious compulsion” and destruction of other religions and cultures. G. L. Mueller has proved that the above theses are absurd. Opposing this fundamentalist and relativistic interpretation of the missionary character of Christianity, he proved that there is no contradiction between the mission of Christianity and toleration towards others. On the contrary, there is a mysterious coherence between the missionary task, toleration and the Christian commandment of charity. The bishop proved this cooperation in two principal dimensions of the relationship between Christianity and people. In relation to Jews and in relation to “pagans”, in which the latter are in the biblical sense a synonym of nations. God wants to give them His salvation through the mediation of the church preaching. The German theologian shows also that the theses posed by so-called “after-Auschwitz” theology are wrong as well. He clearly explains the relationship between the Holocaust and Christianity, or even asks whether a mission among Jews is still possible, while he himself understands mission as a dialogue of charity between Jews and Christians, and acknowledgment of a different character of nations.