Mansions of the Spirit: The Gospel in a Multi-Faith World

A.J. Pell is the rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral, Diocese of New
Westminster in British Columbia.

This study of interfaith dialogue at the end of the 20th century
examines the four main approaches to interfaith encounters. The author
provides evenhanded evaluations of exclusivism, inclusivism, and
pluralism, but concludes that each is inadequate for use in today’s
multifaith society.

It is the fourth path, syncretism, that Ingham espouses—although he
never actually names it. Drawing on sources as diverse as the medieval
monk Meister Eckhart (filtered through contemporary Christian
spiritualist Matthew Fox), United Church of Canada theologian David
Lochhead (The Dialogical Imperative, 1988), and Swiss theosophist
philosopher Frithjof Schuon (The Transcendent Unity of Religions, 1993),
Ingham constructs a monist view of reality and religions. Every
legitimate religious expression is the culturally specific manifestation
of a single spiritual reality. Those Christians (and members of other
faith traditions) who seek truth in the concrete and practical will
never quite see this. But those religious folk who are drawn behind and
beyond the particular to the universal will reach the monist
enlightenment Ingham espouses.

The theologican problem with Mansions of the Spirit is that monism is
in basic conflict with historic, creedal Christianity—not to mention
with Islam and Judaism. Only theosophists and some Hindus might be open
to this approach to syncretism. That makes Ingham’s current position
as an Anglican bishop somewhat difficult, and the book’s publication
by the official Anglican publishing house surprising. Interfaith
dialogue needs an open respect for the basic theologies of all
participants, something Ingham’s monist position denies them.