Abstract
This chapter provides a historical survey of negative and positive approaches to other religions during 2,000 years of Christian history. It focuses on theological developments in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The chapter explores some negative reactions to some of the positive evaluations that have emerged. It also focuses on the prominent twentieth-century theologian, Karl Barth, who argued that all religions, Christianity included, are idolatrous efforts to control God. At the outset of the twentieth century, there was a highly significant theological development in the Protestant world. The twentieth century closed with a broad range of reflection on interreligious issues, but little overall consensus among theologians. The twentieth century was a time of rapid development in terms of a positive, Christian evaluation of non-Christian religions. The critical difference between Christianity and other religions is that Christ extends his saving grace to Christianity in spite of its corruption.