Crossing the Threshold: John Hick's Interreligious Eschatology and Its Hindu and Buddhist Influences

Schneider, Mathias

Abstract

One of John Hick’s lasting contributions to theology, the philosophy of religion, and interreligious dialogue is his eschatology, elaborated in Death and Eternal Life. In this book, Hick drew on a wide range of Christian, Buddhist, and Hindu ideas of death and afterlife, culminating in a comprehensive “global theology of death”. In this article, I will analyze central aspects of Hick’s eschatology influenced by Hindu and Buddhist thought, that is, his interpretation of rebirth in the context of his “pareschatology” and his conception of humanity’s ultimate end in the context of his eschatology proper. I will also take into account decisive impulses from Buddhism that led Hick to radical modifications of his earlier positions throughout his later work. Finally, I will argue that Hick’s approach proves to be relevant for contemporary theology, because it provides a constructive vision to expand Christian theological thought on death and afterlife in an interreligious way.