Critical Study of John Hick's Religious Pluralism

John Hick’s pluralism hypothesis is an endeavor from and within Christian tradition to explain the relation of Christianity with other world religions. His basically claim is that all religions epistemologically have the same value and do well in leading their followers to the ultimate salvation. For justifying his claim, Hick has to defend his hypothesis at two levels: first he has to defend the realism of religious statements (against non-realists), and second he has to defend the pluralistic interpretation of religious diversity (against exclusivists and inclusivists). However, it seems that pluralism model has intrinsic oppositions which are addressed in this article in three types of criticism. These criticisms will finally ascertain that Hick's pluralistic model is: (1) not pluralistic, (2) not acceptable in Christian tradition, and (3) not successful in achieving its predetermined goal.