Flourishing Miroslav Volf Analysis

In Miroslav Volf’s book, Flourishing, he claims that world religions can live at peace with each other while advocating their own views of flourishing. Since they are both witnesses and seekers of truth, Volf believes that they are good for globalization despite, or even because of, their religious exclusiveness. When it comes to how people view religion, they are either religious exclusivists or religious pluralists. The exclusivists believe that they alone know the full truth of how to live according to God’s will. To the religious exclusivists, other religions may have ideas about God that are similar to what they believe to be the truth; however, they do not have the truth in its totality. Religious pluralists, on the other hand, believe that all world religions are equally true with different perspectives. Volf defines it as “the conviction that all world religions are roughly equally true, provide equally valid access to the divine, foster human flourishing equally well, and are equally effective means for reaching the hoped-for ever-lasting life.” Volf believes that both religious exclusivists and religious pluralists can live together peacefully because their ultimate goal is to know the truth that leads them to ever-lasting life. “[T]hey all have an interest in the truth claims of all religions and therefore

Volf argues that strongly held religious convictions about the standards of a good life are what globalization needs. “[F]aith of strong… convictions rather than provisionally held beliefs…will be able to inspire a social movement for cultural and political change” (Volf 160). When world religions have a strong hold on their convictions, it allows others to witness and accept that religion’s view of what constitutes a good life. According to Volf, the more people that grasp on to this idea, the better our world will