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approach.
Where the theology of religions is concerned, the paradigm shift from
exclusivism to inclusivism implies a clear-cut distinction between the role of Jesus
Christ in the order of salvation and that of the Church. Both are not, and can
never be, placed on one and the same level. Jesus Christ alone is, according to
the New Testament, the mediator between God and human beings (see 1 Tim 2:5
; Heb 8:6 ; 9:15 ; 12:24). Whatever role may have to be attributed to the Church
in the order of the salvation, it can never be be placedon a par with that of Jesus
Chirst; not can the same necessity ever be attributed to it. This goes to show
that an ecclesiocentric outlook needs to be transcended. A theology of religions
cannot be build on an ecclesiological inflation that would falsify perspective. The
Church, as a derived mystery and utterly relative to the mystery of Christ, cannot
be the yardstick by which the salvation of others is measured. What role is to be
assigned to it in relation to the religions and their members, in a decentered
perspective, is a quation to which we need to return later.