The possibility of religious pluralism

a reply to Gavin d'Costa

pp. 169-175

in: John Hick, Dialogues in the philosophy of religion, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010

Abstract

In "The Impossibility of a Pluralist View of Religions' (Religious Studies 32, June 1996) Gavin D"Costa¹ argues that "pluralism must always logically be a form of exclusivism and that nothing called pluralism really exists' (p. 225). He sees himself as doing a "conceptual spring cleaning exercise" (p. 225). However, the result is to obscure clear and useful distinctions by confused and confusing ones. Some further spring cleaning is therefore called for.