1. A Brief History Of Early Christian And Roman Catholic Views
Related MediaThe Church Fathers
The question of the fate of the unevangelized has been addressed in one way or another by believing Christians since the early days of the church.1 Louis Caperan, in his comprehensive work, draws the following conclusions regarding the convictions of the early Christian writers on this subject. First, they were unanimous in holding that since the coming of Christ salvation comes only through faith in him. The Shepherd of Hermas, for example, states: “If then thou canst not enter into the city except through the gate itself, even so . . . a man cannot enter into the kingdom of God except by the name of His Son that is beloved by Him.”2 Second, it was commonly believed that the entire world had been evangelized in the first century. This belief is reflected in the statement of Clement of Alexandria that the message of Christ’s salvation had been “diffused over the whole face of the earth.”3 Hence, most of the church fathers did not have reason to directly address the question of those who may not have heard the gospel during their day. But they did respond to opponents of the gospel who questioned why Christ had come so late in history, leaving many who had lived before the first century without the possibility of salvation. Origen quotes Celsus as asking: “After so long a period of time, then, did God now bethink himself of making men live righteous lives, but neglect to do so before?”4 A similar sentiment was later voiced by the Emperor Julian:
Therefore it is fair to ask of Paul why God, if he was the God not of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles, sent the blessed gift of prophecy to the Jews in abundance and gave them Moses and the oil of anointing, and the prophets and the law . . . ? And finally God sent unto them Jesus also, but unto us no prophet, no oil of anointing, no teacher, no herald to announce his love for man, which should one day, though late, reach even unto us also . . . . For if he is the God of all of us alike, and the creator of all, why did he neglect us?5
More than one answer was given to this question. Some suggested that Gentiles who lived before Christ could be saved apart from faith in the coming redeemer. Justin Martyr proposed that those who had been without God’s revelation to Israel had sufficient means of being saved through the universal influence of the Logos (the Word of God), which he believed was implanted in every person’s soul. He believed that those who “lived by reason (by this he means the Logos) are in some sort Christians, notwithstanding they may pass with you for atheists. Such among the Greeks were Socrates and Heraclitus and the like . . . .”6 Irenaeus apparently embraced a similar idea, as reflected in his statement: “(T)he reason fixed in their minds acting upon them, and instructing them; —that there is One God the Lord of all.”7 Clement of Alexandria held that Gentiles were prepared for salvation through their own philosophy in a way similar to the way Israel was prepared through the Law: “For, having furnished the one with the commandments, and the other with philosophy, He shut up unbelief to the Advent. Whence, every one who believes not is without excuse. For by a different process of advancement, both Greek and Barbarian, He leads to the perfection which is by faith.”8 He even included followers of eastern philosophy, such as the Brahmins and followers of Buddha among those fulfilling this role.9
Others suggested that there was a post-mortem proclamation of the gospel to those who had been without an opportunity to believe prior to the coming of Christ. Both Origen and Clement of Alexandria held to this view. Speaking of Christ’s descent to hades, Clement states that he “there preached the gospel to those of the heathen who were ready for conversion.”10 Chrysostom, however, rejected it. He states: “For the present life indeed is the season for right conversation, but after death is judgment and punishment.”11
Still others believed that salvation had always come through faith in the promised redeemer, or at least faith in the true God. John Chrysostom believed that before Christ it was necessary to believe in the true God and forsake idolatry to be saved. But now, faith in Christ is also necessary. He states: “’What then?’ one may say, ‘were they wronged who lived before his coming?’ By no means, for men might then be saved, even though they had not confessed Christ. For this was not required of them, but not to worship idols, and to know the true God . . . . (B)ut now it is no more, but there is need also of the knowledge of Christ.”12 As for those who had no knowledge of Christ, he made these comments:
For this life-present is a race course, and we ought to have thousands of eyes on every side, and not even to fancy that ignorance will be an adequate excuse. For there is such a thing, there certainly is, as being punished for ignorance, when the ignorance is inexcusable . . . . For when thou art ignorant of those things which it is not possible to know, thou wilt not be subject to any charge for it; but when of things easy and possible, thou wilt be punished with the utmost rigour. Else if we be not excessively supine, but contribute our own share in its full amount, God will also reach forth his hand unto us in those things which we are ignorant of.13
As for Augustine, he believed that salvation had always come only through faith in Christ. In his exposition of Psalm 105:9, Augustine says: “For no man was ever reconciled to God outside that faith which is in Christ Jesus, either before His incarnation, or after; as it is most truly defined by the Apostle: ‘For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.’”14 Noteworthy also is his statement: “In that way the salvation brought by this religion, the only true religion by which true salvation is also truly promised, was never lacking to anyone who was worthy of it, and any to whom it was lacking was unworthy of it.”15 Though he thought that there were some among the Gentiles who lived before Christ who had come to such a saving faith, he believed that most who lived prior to Christ were lost. In his earlier writings he attributed this to God’s foreknowledge of their unbelief, but after his conflict with Pelagius, he attributed their lost condition to original sin (and by implication, to God’s decision to withhold grace).16 As to the means by which some Gentiles had come to know of Christ, he attributed this mostly to the fact that the Jewish people had been “dispersed through the nations, in order to testify to the scriptures in which eternal salvation in Christ had been declared.”17 He also suggested, however, that some may have been taught by angels or by divine revelation about Christ. Speaking of the mystery of Christ he wrote: “but there is nothing far-fetched in the belief that among other peoples besides the Jews there existed men to whom this mystery was revealed . . . perhaps . . . they were taught by evil angels; for those spirits, as we know, acknowledged Christ in his presence.”18 But by whichever means, Augustine did not believe that salvation “was granted to anyone, unless the one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, was divinely revealed to him . . . .”19
The Medieval Era
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, two topics relevant to our subject were vigorously debated. One was the minimum truths required for salvation prior to the age of the gospel. Hugo of St. Victor (1096–1141) believed that for Gentiles who lived before Christ explicit faith in the mediator was not necessary, but rather faith in God as creator, ruler and redeemer (however he might accomplish our redemption).20 According to Caperan, his view was widely accepted in the church, and received the endorsement of St. Bernard and Peter Lombard.21 Abelard went even further, and stated that the ancient philosophers had been divinely inspired and filled the same role for the “pagans” as the prophets had for Israel (a view reminiscent of Justin and Clement of Alexandria, but not readily accepted during this time).22 The other topic strongly debated was whether baptism was necessary for salvation. Hugo of St. Victor taught that when baptism is impossible, the desire for baptism is sufficient.23
During the Middle Ages, no one’s views were more important than those of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274).24 Not all students of Aquinas draw the same conclusions regarding his views on this subject. But the two ideas discussed above had a significant bearing on his understanding of this question. Thomas believed on the basis of Hebrews 11:6 that faith in Christ was “implicit” in faith in God as “rewarder.” He states: “In like manner all the articles are contained implicitly in certain primary matters of faith, such as God’s existence, and his providence over the salvation of man, according to Heb. 11: ‘He that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him.’”25 He did believe that some Gentiles who lived prior to Christ had come to explicit faith in an extraordinary way: “(M)any gentiles obtained salvation through the ministry of the angels . . . . Many of the gentiles received revelations of Christ.” 26 But he also believed that many were saved through “implicit” faith in God; that is, by believing that God would save them in the way he would choose: “If, however, some were saved without receiving any revelation, they were not saved without faith in a Mediator, for, although they did not believe in Him explicitly, they did, nevertheless, have implicit faith through believing in Divine providence, since they believed that God would deliver mankind in whatever way was pleasing to Him . . . .”27 Since the coming of Christ, however, Aquinas believed that explicit faith in Christ was necessary for salvation: “After grace had been revealed, both learned and simple folk are bound to explicit faith in the mysteries of Christ . . . .”28 As for the rare person who may still remain outside the reach of the gospel, Aquinas states: “If someone . . . brought up in the forest or among wild beasts . . . followed the direction of natural reason in seeking good and avoiding evil, we most certainly hold that God would either reveal to him through internal inspiration what had to be believed, or would send some preacher of the faith to him as He sent Peter to Cornelius (Acts 10:20).”29 This was in keeping with the accepted scholastic dogma: “if one does what is in his ability, God will not deny him grace.”30
As for baptism, Thomas believed that it was necessary for salvation during this present age.31 But he also believed that if a person was unable to be baptized, his desire for baptism was sufficient, even if it was only an implicit desire (in the case when the person was not aware of the requirement of baptism).32 Both of these ideas (of “implicit faith” and “implicit desire for baptism”) would be utilized by later theologians in dealing with the problem of the unevangelized.33
The Age Of Discovery And Beyond
With the discovery of the New World in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the matter of the unevangelized acquired a greater urgency. Here were entire civilizations that showed virtually no evidence of having been evangelized. Could it be that God had left them entirely without the means of being saved? This question would receive attention from both Catholic and Protestant theologians over the course of the sixteenth century and beyond. The historian Richard Westfall captures the dilemma that confronted the faith of many people of the time in these words:
When exploration brought Christendom into contact with a multitude of hitherto unknown pagan peoples, western Europe’s first impulse was to convert them; but they also led some men to question the universality and binding force of the Christian revelation if many peoples had never heard of Christ. This consideration was one of the determinants of Lord Herbert’s natural religion, and others followed his steps. Both John Locke and Isaac Newton, for example asked whether a heathen who has never heard of Christ can be saved; both answered in effect that . . . the principles of natural religion unaided by revelation can lead the well-meaning heathen to eternal life.34
Centuries before, at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) the church had confirmed the dogma that there was “no salvation outside the church” (“extra ecclesiam nulla salus”).35 This had been the teaching of the church for centuries, and would be reaffirmed many times. But how could this dogma be squared with the discovery of such a great mass of humanity who seemed to be outside the church “through no fault of their own”? The debate within the Catholic Church continued for many years, with an increasingly open viewpoint being championed by theologians such as Domingo Soto, Albert Pigge, Robert Bellarmine, Francisco Suarez and Juan De Lugo.36 Francisco Suarez summarized his own view in these words:
Now it is obvious that no one is actually in this church without being baptized, and yet he can be saved, because just as the desire of baptism can suffice, so also the desire of entering the church. Now we are saying the same thing with regard to anyone who has faith in God, and sincere repentance for sin, but who is not baptized, whether he has arrived at explicit or only implicit faith in Christ. For, with implicit faith in Christ he can have an implicit desire for baptism, which St. Thomas teaches can suffice.37
If implicit faith was sufficient for Gentiles before Christ, then it must be sufficient for those who have not received the gospel since his coming. This was the logic of their view.
The Modern Era
Though some (particularly the Jansenists) opposed this perspective, in 1854, in an address before bishops assembled in Rome, for the first time the notion that implicit faith was sufficient for those who were “inculpably ignorant” of the gospel received official papal endorsement from Pope Pius IX . He stated: “(W)e must likewise hold it as certain that those who labor in ignorance of the true religion, if that ignorance be invincible, will never be charged with any guilt on this account before the eyes of the Lord” 38 Nine years later in a letter to the Italian bishops he wrote concerning followers of other religions that, “It is known to Us and to you that those who labor in invincible ignorance concerning our most holy religion and who, assiduously observing the natural law and its precepts which God has inscribed in the hearts of all, and being ready to obey God, live an honest and upright life can, through the working of the divine light and grace, attain eternal life.”39
A century later Vatican II would reaffirm this dogma:
Those also can attain to everlasting salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the gospel of Christ or his Church, yet sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience. Nor does divine providence deny the help necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God, but who strive to live a good life, thanks to His grace. Whatever goodness or truth is found among them is looked upon by the Church as a preparation for the gospel. She regards such qualities as given by Him who enlightens all men so that they may finally have life.40
In other words, salvation comes to many who do not yet believe in Christ as Savior. And even in those who do not yet believe even in God (“through no fault of their own”), his prevenient grace may be actively at work.
Similar thoughts were expressed by the Greek Orthodox theologian Rev. Frank Gavin:
No Orthodox can maintain that all outside the Church are damned. As a personal problem, the answer of the question must be left in the hands of Him ‘who desireth not the death of a sinner’ but wills ’that all men be saved’ (I Tim. 2, 4). In the individual instance it is both logically and theologically possible for a man to be saved outside the Church: (a) sincerity coupled with invincible ignorance may inhibit a man from accepting the formulations of the Faith presented to him; (b) he may have no opportunity to come to the knowledge of the truth; (c) the formularies of his own profession of belief ‘may serve as a basis for supernatural life and fellowship with the Light’, inasmuch as they contain portions and aspects of revealed truth; (d) we may not contend that God, who is free, restricts Himself to the use of the one means of Grace He has appointed. ‘Other extraordinary acts of Grace are not precluded’ by maintaining the conviction that ‘every true member of the Church certainly shares in salvation.’41
Two Catholic theologians whose views on this matter have been quite influential in the twentieth century are Hans Kung and Karl Rahner. Kung’s view is summarized in his statement: “As against the ‘extraordinary’ way of salvation which is the Church, the world religions can be called the ‘ordinary’ way of salvation for non-Christian humanity.”42 The following comments by Karl Rahner summarize his views. In his book Foundations of the Christian Faith, he states: “God . . . has already communicated himself in his Holy Spirit always and everywhere and to every person as the innermost center of his existence.”43 In his Theological Investigations, he writes:
Until the moment when the gospel really enters into the historical situation of an individual, a non-Christian religion (even outside the Mosaic religion) does not merely contain elements of a natural knowledge of God, elements, moreover mixed up with human depravity which is the result of original sin and later aberrations. It contains also supernatural elements arising out of grace which is given to men as a gratuitous gift on account of Christ. For this reason, a non-Christian religion can be recognized as a lawful religion (although only in different degrees) without thereby denying the error and depravity contained in it.44
Karkkainen summarizes Rahner’s view of salvation in these words:
Rahner builds on the view of Yves Congar . . . of the ‘mystical body of Christ,’ according to which there is a state of being in which a person can respond positively to the grace of God even before hearing the gospel, which has the purpose of evoking explicit faith. A person in this state qualifies himself or herself as an ‘anonymous Christian’ insofar as this acceptance of grace is ‘present in an implicit form whereby [the] person undertakes and lives the duty of each day in the quiet sincerity of patience, in devotion to his material duties and the demands made upon him by the person under his care.’45
The Roman Catholic priest, Raimundo Panikkar is another who holds similar views. He states: “Christ is the only mediator, but he is not the monopoly of Christians and, in fact, he is present and effective in any authentic religion, whatever the form or the name, of the ever-transcending but equally ever-humanly immanent mystery . . . . The means of salvation are to be found in any authentic religion (old or new), since a man follows a particular religion because in it he believes he finds the ultimate fulfillment of his life.”46
What is sometimes overlooked in this discussion is that the same document from Vatican II which expresses hope for the salvation of some who do not know Christ goes on to state:
But very often, deceived by the Evil One, men have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie and served the world rather than the Creator. (cf. Rom. 1:21, 25.) Or else, living and dying in this world without God, they are exposed to ultimate despair. Hence to procure the glory of God and the salvation of all of these, the Church, mindful of the Lord’s command, ‘preach the Gospel to every creature’ (Mark 16:16), takes zealous care to foster the missions.47
One would wish that these words were remembered as often as the ones previously quoted. But many appear to overlook them.
1 The history of the discussion regarding the unevangelized among Roman Catholics (and some mostly brief descriptions of the views of Protestants in Caperan’s work) may be found in the following sources: Louis Caperan, Le Probleme du Salut des Infideles—Nouvelle edition, vol. i, Essai Historique, vol. ii, Essai Theologique (Toulouse: Grand Seminaire, 1934); Hendryk Nys, O.P., Le Salut Sans L’Evangile: Etude Historique et Critique du Probleme du “Salut des Infideles” dans la Litterature Theologique Recente (1912–1964) (Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1966); Francis A. Sullivan, S.J., Salvation Outside the Church? Tracing the History of the Catholic Response (New York and Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 1992). Since the history of the Catholic views on the unevangelized is better known than that of the Protestants, this work will focus more on the latter. I have relied primarily on the above sources for the Roman Catholic history. The history of evangelical views, however, is not nearly as well documented. The aim of this work is not to provide an exhaustive description of the views of Christian thinkers on this subject, but hopefully to survey their most important thoughts, and to document them in the original sources as much as possible. For histories of more liberal views, particularly of universalism, see the following: Richard J. Bauckham, “Universalism: A Historical Survey,” Evangelical Review of Theology 15.1 (January, 1991): 22–35; Nigel M. de S. Cameron, ed., Universalism and the Doctrine of Hell: Papers Presented at the Fourth Edinburgh Conference on Christian Dogmatics, 1991 (Carlisle UK: Paternoster; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992); Michael J. McClymond, The Devil’s Redemption: A New History and Interpretation of Christian Universalism, 2 volumes (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2018); Robin A. Parry and Christopher H. Partridge, eds., Universal Salvation? The Current Debate (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003); D. P. Walker, The Decline of Hell: Seventeenth-Century Discussions of Eternal Torment (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964).
2 For citations see Caperan, Le Probleme du Salut des Infideles, 1:31–33. Shepherd of Hermas, Parable 9, 12 (89):5, in The Shepherd of Hermas, trans. J. B. Lightfoot, www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/shepherd-lightfoot.html (Accessed October 20, 2020.)
3 Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen, Chapter X (last sentence). www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/clement-exhortation.html (Accessed October 29, 2020.) See also Caperan, Le Probleme du Salut des Infideles, 1:33–35. Citations from the church fathers reflecting their belief that the entire world had been evangelized may also be found in Cecil John Cadoux, The Early Church and the World: A History of the Christian Attitude to Pagan Society and the State Down to the Time of Constantinus (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1925), 219, 301. See as well Irenaeus, Five Books of S. Irenaeus Against Heresies, trans. Rev. John Keble (London: James Parker and Co., 1872), I, 10:2, p. 34, where he lists several regions where the gospel had penetrated by the second century.
4 Origen, Contra Celsus, 4:7, in Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds. The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), IV:870–871. See also Caperan, Le Probleme, 1:49–70.
5 Emperor Julian, Against the Galileans, in The Works of the Emperor Julian, with an English translation by Wilmer Cave Wright (London: W. Heinemann, 1913–1923), III:343–344.
6 Justin Martyr, The First Apology of St. Justin for the Christians to Antoninus Pius, in The First Apology of Justin Martyr Addressed to the Emperor Antoninus Pius, Prefaced with some account of the writings of Justin Martyr by John Kaye (Edinburgh: John Grant, 1912), 56–57. For a discussion of Justin’s view on the Logos see the following: Jean Danielou, The Gospel Message in Hellenistic Culture: A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea, Volume 2, John Austin Baker, ed., trans. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1973); J. Dupuis, “The Cosmic Christ in the Early Fathers,” Indian Journal of Theology 15.3 (1966), 108–120; Graham Keith, “Justin Martyr and Religious Exclusivism,” Tyndale Bulletin 43.1 (1992), 57–80.
7 Irenaeus, Against Heresies, II, 6:1, p. 106. See also Terrance L. Tiessen, Irenaeus On the Salvation of the Unevangelized: ATLA Monograph Series, No. 31 (Metuchen, N.J. & London: The Scarecrow Press, 1993).
8 Clement, Stromata 7:2, in The Writings of Clement of Alexandria, 2 volumes, trans. Rev. William Wilson (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1867, 69), II:413. Clement speaks of those “justified by philosophy” in Clement of Alexandria, Stromata I:4. www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/clement-stromata-book1.html (Accessed October 20, 2020.) He also states: “Accordingly, before the advent of the Lord, philosophy was necessary to the Greeks for righteousness.” Stromata I:5, in ibid. He did however state that they must believe in the true God and abandon idolatry: Stromata VI:6, in ibid. (Accessed October 20, 2020.)
9 Clement, Stromata I:15, in www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/clement-stromata-book1.html (Accessed October 21, 2020.)
10 Clement of Alexandria, Stromata VI:6 in www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/clement-stromata-book6.html (Accessed October 21, 2020.) For Origen, see, Contra Celsus, 2:43, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, IV:772. Though the idea of post-mortem evangelization of those who lived prior to Christ was rejected by Gregory the Great, and thus became anathema in the western church, it was held in favor by a number of the Greek and Alexandrian fathers. See Caperan, Le Probleme, 1:160–169 for the history of this discussion. For an historical overview of the discussion, from a writer sympathetic to this view see: A. O. Hudson, Future Probation in Christian Belief (Middlesex, England: Bible Fellowship Union, 1975), 73–82. See also, Ralph V. Turner, “Descent Ad Inferos: Medieval Views on Christ’s Descent Into Hell and the Salvation of the Ancient Just,” Journal of the History of Ideas 27.2: 173–194; Jeffrey A. Trumbower, Rescue from the Dead: The Posthumous Salvation of Non-Christians in Early Christianity (Oxford: University Press, 2001); James Belby, Postmortem Opportunity: A Biblical and Theological Assessment of Salvation After Death (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2021), ch. 6.
11 John Chrysostom, “Homily XXXVI (Matt. xi. 1),” in The Homilies of S. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. Matthew, 2 volumes, trans. Sir George Prevost (Oxford: J.H. Parker, 1843–1844), II:527. By “conversation” Chrysostom means “conduct.”
12 Ibid., II:527.
13 John Chrysostom, The Homilies of S. John Chrysostom on the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans (Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1841), 438.
14 Aurelius Augustine, “Exposition on the Psalms,” in Philip Schaff, ed., A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1886), 8:522. Augustine did make a very interesting comment about the faith of Cornelius: “A man begins to receive grace the moment he begins to believe in God, being moved to faith by some internal or external admonition. But the fullness and evidentness of the infusion of grace depends on temporal junctures and on sacramental rites. Catechumens are not unbelievers, otherwise Cornelius did not believe in God, although by his prayers and alms he showed himself worthy to have an angel sent to him. But these good deeds would have no effect had he not already believed; and he would not have believed had he not been called by some secret admonition coming through visions of the mind or spirit, or by more open admonitions reaching him through the bodily senses. In some there is the grace of faith, but not enough to obtain the kingdom of heaven, as in catechumens, or in Cornelius himself before he was incorporated into the Church by participation in the sacraments . . . . There are therefore inchoate beginnings of faith, which resemble conception. It is not enough to be conceived. A man must also be born if he is to obtain eternal life. None of these beginnings is without the grace of God’s mercy. And good works, if there are any, follow and do not precede the grace . . . .” De Diversis Quaestionibus Ad Simplicianum (To Simplician On Various Questions): 2, trans. John H. S. Burleigh, www.romancatholicism.org/jansenism/augustine-simplician.htm (Accessed January 12, 2021.) Here he does acknowledge a grace and “faith” before saving faith.
15 Aurelius Augustine, Epist. 102:15, in Boniface Ramsey, ed., The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, Part II: Letters, Volume 2, trans. and notes by Roland Teske (New York: New City Press, 2003), II:28.
16 Sullivan, Salvation Outside the Church?, 29, 37–38. Regarding Augustine’s attributing to God’s election the matter of who is called through the gospel and who is not, see On the Predestination of the Saints, IX: “Christ willed…that his gospel should be preached among those…who had been elected in Himself before the foundation of the world.” www.newadvent.org/fathers/15121.htm (Accessed October 21, 2020.)
17 Augustine, City of God VII:32, in Marcus Dods, ed., The Works of Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, A New Translation, Volume I: “The City of God, Vol. I,” trans. Marcus Dods. (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1871), 299. See also ibid., XVIII:42, 47. Speaking of the dispersion of the Jews, Augustine says they “have been torn from their native abode and dispersed over the whole world in order to bear this testimony, so that the Church of Christ has everywhere increased.” Ibid., XVIII:47, (p. 280).
18 Ibid., XVIII:47, (pp. 279–280).
19 Ibid., XVIII:47 (p. 280).
20 See Caperan, Le Probleme, 1:170f.
21 Caperan, Le Probleme, 1:171–173. See also R. Martin, “La Necessite de croire au mystere de l’Incarnation,” Revue Thomiste 25 (1920), 273ff.
22 Caperan, Le Probleme, 1:174.
23 “Hugues de Saint-Victor enseigne que, dans l’impossibilite de recevoir le bapteme, la foi et la conversion du Coeur suffisent.” (“Hugo of St. Victor taught that, when it is impossible to receive baptism, faith and conversion of the heart is sufficient.”) Caperan, Le Probleme, 1:182. He cites Hugo of St. Victor’s work On the Sacraments, lib. II, part. vi, cap. vii.
24 Aquinas’ teaching on the unevangelized is summarized and documented in Sullivan, Salvation Outside the Church?, 47–62. For a discussion of various views on Aquinas’ teaching regarding the unevangelized, see Maurice Eminyan S.J., “Saint Thomas On the Salvation of the Infidels,” Melita Theologica Vol. IX, No. 2 (Dec. 1956), 49–60.
25 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II – II, q. 1, a. 7. Online edition (Benziger Bros. edition, 1947, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province). www.ccel.org/a/aquinas/summa/home.html (Accessed October 16, 2020.)
26 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II – II, q. 2. a. 7. Ibid. (Accessed October 16, 2020.)
27 Thomas Aquinas, Summa II–II, q. 2, a. 7. Ibid. (Accessed October 16, 2020.)
28 Thomas Aquinas, Summa II–II, q. 2, a. 7. Ibid. (Accessed October 16, 2020.)
29 Thomas Aquinas, De Veritate, q. 14, a. 11, ad 1. Questiones Disputatae de Veritate. Questions 10–20, trans. James V. McGlynn, S.J. (Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1953). www.isidore.co/aquinas/QDdeVer.htm (Accessed October 16, 2020.)
30 Caperan, Le Probleme, 1:217; Sullivan, Salvation Outside the Church? 52.
31 Summa III, q. 68, a. 1: “(W)ithout baptism there is no salvation for men.” Summa Theologica III. Q. 68, a. 1. www.ccel.org/a/aquinas/summa/home.html (Accessed October 16, 2020.)
32 Speaking of a man who dies before he is able to be baptized, Aquinas says: “such a man can obtain salvation without actually being baptized, on account of his desire for Baptism . . . .” Summa, III, q. 68, a. 2. Ibid. (Accessed October 16, 2020.) He also stated: “man receives the forgiveness of sins before Baptism in so far as he has Baptism of desire, explicitly or implicitly . . . .” Summa III, q. 69, a 4. Ibid. (Accessed October 16, 2020.)
33 Thomas F. O’Meara believes that Aquinas can be read in such a way that his teaching on the sufficiency of implicit faith for people who lived before Christ can also be applied to the unevangelized who have lived since Christ. See Thomas F. O’Meara, “The Presence of Grace Outside Evangelization, Baptism and Church in Thomas Aquinas’ Theology,” in Michael F. Casuto and F. Edward Coughlin, eds., That Others May Know and Love: Essays in Honor of Zachary Hayes (St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute, St. Bonaventure University, 1997), 91–131. He cites, among other passages, Summa III, q. 60, a. 5: “(U)nder the state of the Law of nature man was moved by inward instinct and without any outward law, to worship God . . . .” www.ccel.org/a/aquinas/summa/home.html (Accessed October 16, 2020.) A similar conclusion is reached by George Sabra in Thomas Aquinas’ Vision of the Church (Mainz: Matthias-Grunewald-Verlag, 1987), 156–169.
34 Richard S. Westfall, Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1958), 4.
35 “There is one Universal Church of the faithful, outside of which there is absolutely no salvation.” Fourth Lateran Council, Canon 1. Medieval Sourcebook: Twelfth Ecumenical Council: Lateran IV 1215. www.sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/lateran4.asp (Accessed October 16, 2020.) For a history of this maxim, see Jerome P. Thiesen, The Ultimate Church and the Promise of Salvation, (Collegeville MN: St. John’s University Press, 1976); Yves Congar, The Wide World My Parish, trans. Donald Attwater (Baltimore: Helicon, 1962), ch. 10. See also Sullivan, Salvation Outside the Church?, ch. 1.
36 The development of the views of these theologians is discussed in Sullivan, Salvation Outside the Church?, ch. 5 and 6.
37 Francisco Suarez, De fide theologica, disp. 12, sect. 4, n. 22 (ed. Vives, Paris, 1858), 12:359. For a discussion of the impact of the discovery of the Americas on Catholic theology, see Thomas F. O’Meara, “The Dominican School of Salamanca and the Spanish Conquest of America: Some Bibliographical Notes,” The Thomist 56.4 (Oct. 1992), 555–582.
38 Pope Pius IX, Singulari quadam, Acta Pii IX, I/1, 626. Quoted in Sullivan, Salvation Outside the Church?, 113.
39 Pope Pius IX, Quanto conficiamur moerore, Acta Pii IX, I/3, 613. Quoted in Sullivan, Salvation Outside the Church?, 114. Two articles by P. De Letter, S.J. appeared in 1952, which advanced the belief that the unevangelized might be saved: “Good Pagans and Baptism of Desire,” The Clergy Monthly (September, 1952), 288–97; and “Good Pagans and Baptism of Desire: II. Contrition Perfected by Charity,” The Clergy Monthly (December, 1952), 409–416. In the latter article, De Letter stated: ‘When a good pagan who believes in God mispronounces His name and calls Him Rama or Krishna, or when a neo-pagan who attempts to do without religion calls the Ideal with humanistic names, may it not happen that their sincere deeds, when inspired by grace as they can be, speak louder and express better the deep aspiration of their being than the poor mistaken name their lips pronounce?” (p. 413).
40 Lumen Gentium, 16. Quoted in Sullivan, Salvation Outside the Church?, 153–154. The literature on the subject of the unevangelized and on non-Christian religions among Catholic writers is voluminous. For a broad survey of the views of influential Catholic writers on this subject (including Rahner, Kung, Dupuis, and D’Costa) see Veli-Matti Karkkainen, An Introduction to the Theology of Religions: Biblical, Historical & Contemporary Perspectives (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003). For a thorough study of the teaching of Vatican II on non-Christian religions, see Miikka Ruokanen, The Catholic Doctrine of Non-Christian Religions According to the Second Vatican Council (Leiden, New York, Koln: E. J. Brill, 1992). For a discussion of the views on salvation outside the church prior to Vatican II, see two works by Maurice Eminyan: The Theology of Salvation (Jamaica Plain, Boston: Daughters of St. Paul, 1960), and The Salvation of Infidels in Current Theology (1943–1958) (Rome: Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana, 1959). Eminyan identifies four possible ways of salvation for those outside the church which were embraced by various Catholic theologians:
1) Supernatural and positive values in false religions; 2) Special divine intervention: interior inspiration; 3) At the dawn of reason: first human act; 4) At the sunset of life; the instant of death. See also Riccardo Lombardi, The Salvation of the Unbeliever (Westminster, MD: The Newman Press, 1956).
41 Rev. Frank Gavin, Th.D., Some Aspects of Contemporary Greek Orthodox Thought (Milwaukee: Morehouse Publishing Co., London: A. R. Mowbray and Co., 1923), 240–241.
42 Hans Kung, “The Freedom of Religions,” in Owen C. Thomas, ed., Attitudes Toward Other Religions: Some Christian Interpretations (New York: Harper & Row, 1969), 210.
43 Karl Rahner, Foundations of the Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity (New York: Crossroad, 1982), 139.
44 Karl Rahner, “Christianity and the non-Christian Religions,” in volume 5 of Theological Investigations (New York: Crossroad, 1966), 5:121.
45 Karkkainen, An Introduction to the Theology of Religions: 195. He quotes from “Anonymous Christians,” in Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations (New York: Crossroad, 1979), 6:394. Jacques Dupuis cites the view of V. Boublik, who in contrast to Rahner “proposes the concept of ‘anonymous catechumenate,’ which keeps people who belong to other religions oriented throughout their lives to an encounter with the mystery of Christ which will come only at the end. Human death will be for them ‘the hour of salvation.’” Jacques Dupuis, Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997), 3.
46 R. Panikkar,” The Rules of the Game,” in Gerald H. Anderson and Thomas F. Stransky, eds., Missions Trends No. 5:Faith Meets Faith (New York: Paulist Fathers; Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1981), 122. See also Panikkar’s book, The Unknown Christ of Hinduism (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1965).
47 Lumen Gentium 16. Quoted in Ralph Martin, Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2012), 7–8. Martin contends that the fact that these latter words are so frequently overlooked has led to the virtual disappearance of evangelistic mission in the Catholic Church.
Related Topics: Evangelism, Missions, Soteriology (Salvation)