Harold A. Netland (born 1955), is a missionary educator turned academic. He is the author or editor of nine books and many journal articles on the topic of religion and philosophy.
Netland grew up in Japan, the child of American missionaries. He did his undergraduate work at Biola University and received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University.
Netland worked in Japan for the Evangelical Free Church of America for nine years where he taught at Tokyo Christian University. In 1993 he moved back to the United States and joined Trinity Evangelical Divinity School as Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Intercultural Studies. He served for several years as the Director of the PhD/Intercultural Studies program at 'TEDS'.
From 2003 to 2006 Netland was a member of the Executive Committee of the Evangelical Philosophical Society.
Netland is considered an authority in the field of religious pluralism and is often quoted on such matters. Johnson quotes him in his article on John Hick's 'pluralism Hypothesis' - "To say that truth is propositional, then, is to recognize that although 'true' and 'truth' can be used in a variety of ways, in the logically basic sense truth is a quality or property of propositions. That is, truth is a property of propositions such that a proposition is true if and only if the state of affairs to which refers is as the proposition asserts it to be; otherwise it is false." When attempting to validate a position on Eastern Orthodox theology the author Adam Sparks makes reference to Netland work and expertise.
One of John Hick's former students and now established in his own right, Netland has taken a more critical stance of his erstwhile tutor's work. This critique can mainly be found with Netland's 2001 work Encountering Religious Pluralism: The Challenge to Christian Faith & Mission where he takes an evangelical position on Hick's proposals.
Netland believes that modern religious pluralism (the idea that all religions are equally true or valid) creates serious problems for Christian theology. He argues that this view grew out of modern skepticism about truth and the rise of secular thinking, which tend to value personal spiritual experience more than doctrinal beliefs. Netland rejects the idea that all religions are equally correct or that their conflicting truth claims do not matter. Instead, he points out that religions make very different and often incompatible claims about God, human nature, and salvation. He maintains that truth is real and can be expressed in clear statements, while also recognizing that it involves a personal relationship. He suggests that religions should be evaluated based on logical consistency and moral coherence. Netland supports an evangelical Christian approach that is grounded in the Bible, seeks to understand other religions accurately, and emphasizes the importance of Christian mission because of its conviction that ChristianityâÂÂs claims are uniquely true.