Why dialogue? Christian engagement in interfaith relations (original) (raw)
Related papers
Christianity and interfaith engagement
… The Challenges of Change, University of …, 2008
Early in the twentieth century the Christian Church began to question long-held exclusivist and negative assumptions toward other religions. By mid-century far-reaching changes were underway: other religions and their peoples were honoured as dialoguepartners and viewed as co-religionists capable of common cause action. Since the 1960s the official stance of the Vatican is one of goodwill, high valuation, and respect toward other faiths. Christian perspectives on religious diversity changed from vexed problem to celebrated phenomenon. However, the global resurgence of religion and allied ideologies such as fundamentalism provide new challenges to the age-old question of Christianity and other faiths. 10 Indeed, secularism, as a point of common cause with other faiths, was soon critiqued by Hendrikus Kraemer: see his ‗Christianity and Secularism', IRM, Vol 19 (1930), 195-208, where he advocates the theology of Karl Barth and the priority of revelation as the counterpoint to ‗secular corrosion'; and also by Emil Brunner who argued that against-the all-menacing tide of secularism there is but one breakwater-the Word of God‖, ‗Secularism as a problem for the Church',
Interfaith Relations after One Hundred Years: Christian Mission among Other Faiths
2011
The paper looks historically at factors in Europe that affected Christian interaction with Muslims before 9/11. It then considers what has happened since, with the greatly increased profile of Islam caused by several factors outlined. It considers changes within Christian and Muslim Communities, and at Christian responses to Islam. An extensive section considers contemporary approaches to mission with Muslims theologically and practically, in ten areas. The conclusion provides evidence for why Europe in general, and Britain in particular, are pivotal for the development of a constructive approach to Muslim Christian relations, and a sensitive approach to mission. Mission and Muslims in the Contemporary British and European Contexts The context has changed drastically since the Edinburgh Conference of 1910. At that point, engagement with Islam was something happening elsewhere, within the old ‘mission field.’ This meant, in the main, the Middle East, parts of Africa and the Asian sub...
Revisiting interreligious relations: The convergence of global context and ecclesial developments
Dialog, 2019
Following the important work of the 1980s and 1990s by the US churches and ecumenical bodies in developing interfaith statements and policies, significant events in both the US and international arenas were coincidental and motivational for US Christians to reconsider their interreligious engagement in a new context. This article examines the major contextual factors, as well as ecumenical developments with particular attention to the United Church of Christ and the National Council of Churches, which also will consider new statements in 2019.
International Journal of African Catholicism , 2013
Interreligious dialogue ought to lead to transformation of hearts and the theological traditions of the religions engaged in dialogue. This cannot happen when the dialogical model adopted by any of the religions is shaped by an exclusivist theology that refuses to consider the dialogical partners as possessing salvific truths, legitimate in themselves, without reference to another religion for its legitimacy. Though the Second Vatican Council encouraged dialogue among religions, the question remains, can the Catholic Church accept the view that its dialogue partners are legitimate media for God's salvific truths in themselves? After fifty years since the Council, it is important that a critical review of the dialogical model adopted by the Catholic Church be done and a more transformative method of dialogue be embraced that affirms God's freedom to engage human society through the many religions.
Dialogue with People of Other Faiths and Ecumenical Theology
Ecumenical Review, 1987
Christian ecumenism, as we have come to understand it in the course of this century, has been primarily concerned with intra-ecclesial unity. In the face of the plurality of theological positions and diversity of cultural expressions, it has been an ongoing pilgrimage on the part of churches in search of unity or a collective sense of identity without stifling diversity. With every progress made in visible expressions of unity or consensus in theological self-understanding, our horizons have gradually expanded. As this journey continues, the concerns of Christian ecumenical theology will be increasingly widened to include extra-ecclesial issues which impinge upon our evolving self-understanding and theological task.
Preachers of Dialogue 1 : International Relations and Interfaith Theology
While the appeal of 'civilisational dialogue' is on the rise, its sources, functions, and con-sequences arouse controversy within and between faith communities. Some religious lead-ers have attempted to clarify the religious foundations for such dialogue. Among them are Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth, Edward Idris, Cardinal Cassidy of the Catholic Church, and Fethullah Gülen. The paper compares the approach of these three religious leaders from the Abrahamic tra-dition as presented in their scholarly works – Sacks' The Dignity of Difference, Cardinal Cassidy's Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue, and Gülen's Advocate of Dialogue. The discussion attempts to answer the following questions: Can monotheistic traditions accom-modate the dignity of followers of other monotheistic and polytheistic religions as well as non-theistic religions and philosophies? Is a belief in the unity of God compatible ...
Interreligious and Interchurch Debates: Open Questions for the 21st Century
This chapter deals with the recent megatrends in Christianity and the way in which they affect the Ecumenical movement as well as what kind of conclusions one should draw in Ecumenics, in the academic study of Ecumenism. Briefly, the recent developments in World Christianity challenge all the former models which calls for a radical rethinking of Ecumenism.
Christian discipleship and interreligious dialogue: A theological exploration
Systematic Theology Association of …, 2006
What is the relationship between Christian mission and inter-faith engagement? What has interreligious dialogue got to do with Christian discipleship? Is one in competition with the other? Is one subsumed within the other? Is one effectively vitiated by the other? And what is the relation of mission to discipleship? Is it the case that "making disciples" is the goal of mission? "Discipleship has been for centuries a way of thinking and speaking about the nature of the Christian life… But what is meant by Christian discipleship?" 1 Is engagement in dialogue an authentic component of Christian discipleship and witness? Or is interreligious dialogue enjoined, in the end, by virtue of being subsumed to mission, whose aim is something other than the pursuit of dialogical relations? These are examples of the deep questions and theological issues that have arisen ever since, in the course of the twentieth century, a sea-change occurred with the wider Christian Church in regard to relationships with, and views about, other religions. In this paper I shall address just three questions: Is there a biblical basis for inter-faith engagement? What may we make of the "Great Commission" in respect to interreligious dialogue? What is the understanding of mission in regards to discipleship, and how might that relate to interreligious dialogue?