By me, here at the excellent Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (printable version). A taste of it:
…pluralistic approaches to religious diversity say that, within bounds, one religion is as good as any other. In contrast, exclusivist approaches say that only one religion is uniquely valuable. Finally, inclusivist theories try to steer a middle course by agreeing with exclusivism that one religion has the most value while also agreeing with pluralism that others still have significant religious value.
I had a couple of readers who are Catholic philosophers and they pushed me hard on a few points, to make sure was accurately summarizing the various past and recent catholic and Roman Catholic views. I think I finally did those justice, though I’m sure some will disagree. To their credit, it is Roman Catholic theologians who have put the most thought into this issue.
I sweated particularly over the terminology here, which is quite a problem. In my view the trichotomy of pluralism – inclusivism – exclusivism is still helpful, though I note several criticisms of it. And I think we must lay aside John Hick’s habit of using “pluralism” to mean just his own highly developed theory, which I, following others, here call a form of “Identist” pluralism.
Finally, I would like to call out work by Kevin Meeker, the late Jacques Dupuis, and especially Hajj Muhammad Legenhausen as especially helpful and under-appreciated. I hope this article will help others to find their penetrating works.
