Towards a World Theology

This monograph represents Smith's culminating statement on religious pluralism and the nature of faith across human cultures. Building on his earlier comparative studies, Smith argues that the conventional Western understanding of distinct "religions" fundamentally misrepresents how most humans have experienced and conceptualized the transcendent. Rather than separate systems of belief competing for truth, he proposes understanding human religiousness as varied cultural responses to a shared encounter with transcendent reality.

Smith's central thesis challenges both exclusivist religious claims and secular dismissals of religious experience. He contends that beneath the diversity of religious expressions lies a common human orientation toward what different traditions name as God, the Absolute, or Ultimate Reality. This orientation manifests through culturally specific symbols, narratives, and practices, but these particularities should not obscure the underlying unity of religious consciousness. The work thus advocates moving "towards" rather than arriving at a definitive world theology, emphasizing process over product.

The methodology combines historical analysis with phenomenological description. Smith draws extensively on his expertise in Islamic studies while engaging Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian materials. He demonstrates how the Western concept of "religion" as a bounded system of beliefs emerged relatively recently and poorly captures how most practitioners understand their faith. Instead, he proposes viewing religious life as participation in cumulative traditions that mediate transcendent encounter through evolving cultural forms.

Smith directly challenges both religious fundamentalists who claim exclusive access to divine truth and secular scholars who reduce religion to purely human projection. Against the former, he argues that absolutizing particular cultural expressions of faith betrays the transcendent reality they attempt to convey. Against the latter, he maintains that religious experience points to genuine encounter with ultimate reality, however culturally mediated its expression.

The work's significance lies in reframing debates about religious truth and pluralism. Rather than asking which religion is true, Smith asks how different traditions truly orient humans toward transcendent reality. This shift has influenced subsequent discussions in comparative theology, religious studies methodology, and interfaith dialogue. His vision of emerging global religious consciousness, while controversial, offers a framework for understanding religious diversity without either relativism or exclusivism. The monograph thus provides crucial resources for those seeking to affirm both religious truth and pluralistic respect.