The Problem with Interreligious Dialogue

The Problem with Interreligious Dialogue PDF Author: Muthuraj Swamy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474256422
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Muthuraj Swamy provides a fresh perspective on the world religions paradigm and 'interreligious dialogue'. By challenging the assumption that 'world religions' operate as essential entities separate from the lived experiences of practitioners, he shows that interreligious dialogue is in turn problematic as it is built on this very paradigm, and on the myth of religious conflict. Offering a critique of the idea of 'dialogue' as it has been advanced by its proponents such as religious leaders and theologians whose aims are to promote inter-religious conversation and understanding, the author argues that this approach is 'elitist' and that in reality, people do not make sharp distinctions between religions, nor do they separate political, economic, social and cultural beliefs and practices from their religious traditions. Case studies from villages in southern India explore how Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities interact in numerous ways that break the neat categories often used to describe each religion. Swamy argues that those who promote dialogue are ostensibly attempting to overcome the separate identities of religious practitioners through understanding, but in fact, they re-enforce them by encouraging a false sense of separation. The Problem with Interreligious Dialogue: Plurality, Conflict and Elitism in Hindu-Christian-Muslim Relations provides an innovative approach to a central issue confronting Religious Studies, combining both theory and ethnography.

The Problem with Interreligious Dialogue

The Problem with Interreligious Dialogue PDF Author: Muthuraj Swamy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474256422
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Muthuraj Swamy provides a fresh perspective on the world religions paradigm and 'interreligious dialogue'. By challenging the assumption that 'world religions' operate as essential entities separate from the lived experiences of practitioners, he shows that interreligious dialogue is in turn problematic as it is built on this very paradigm, and on the myth of religious conflict. Offering a critique of the idea of 'dialogue' as it has been advanced by its proponents such as religious leaders and theologians whose aims are to promote inter-religious conversation and understanding, the author argues that this approach is 'elitist' and that in reality, people do not make sharp distinctions between religions, nor do they separate political, economic, social and cultural beliefs and practices from their religious traditions. Case studies from villages in southern India explore how Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities interact in numerous ways that break the neat categories often used to describe each religion. Swamy argues that those who promote dialogue are ostensibly attempting to overcome the separate identities of religious practitioners through understanding, but in fact, they re-enforce them by encouraging a false sense of separation. The Problem with Interreligious Dialogue: Plurality, Conflict and Elitism in Hindu-Christian-Muslim Relations provides an innovative approach to a central issue confronting Religious Studies, combining both theory and ethnography.

The Im-possibility of Interreligious Dialogue

The Im-possibility of Interreligious Dialogue PDF Author: Catherine Cornille
Publisher: Herder & Herder
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
In the face of competing religious claims in our shrinking world, many turn to dialogue as a hopeful way of fostering understanding and reducing violence. But why does actual dialogue so often fail? This provocative study investigates the possibilities and limits of interreligious dialogue. By showing the significant obstacles for dialogue within Christianity, the book also proposes ways in which these obstacles may be overcome from within. Major themes include Humility, Conviction, Interconnection, Empathy, and Generosity.

Stepping Stones to Other Religions

Stepping Stones to Other Religions PDF Author: Dermot A. Lane
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781570759918
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
This new work by eminent theologian Dermot Lane is an informed report of progress in the Catholic Church on the importance of dialogue with other religions. The author shows that interreligious dialogue is no longer an option, but is rather part of what it means to be Catholic in the twenty-first century. Adopting a pneumatological approach to dialogue with other religions, Lane shows how a theology of the Holy Spirit is the key to unlocking the riches of other religions.

The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Inter-Religious Dialogue

The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Inter-Religious Dialogue PDF Author: Catherine Cornille
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119572592
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 514

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Book Description
This comprehensive volume brings together a distinguished editorial team, including some of the field’s pioneers, to explore the aims, practice, and historical context of interfaith collaboration. Explores in full the background, history, objectives, and discourse between the leaders and practitioners of the world’s major religions Examines relations between religions from around the world, moving well beyond the common focus on Christianity, to also cover over 12 major religions Features a wealth of case studies on contemporary interreligious dialogue Charts a long-term shift away from a competitive rivalry between belief systems, and a change in focus towards the more respectful, cooperative approach reflected in institutions such as the World Council of Churches Includes up-to-date commentary on the growing dialogue of recent years, written by some of the leading figures working in the field of interfaith discourse

Christian Theology and Inter-religious Dialogue

Christian Theology and Inter-religious Dialogue PDF Author: Maurice Wiles
Publisher: Trinity Press International
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 104

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Book Description
"That Professor Wiles has now turned from the field of Christian doctrine and its history, for which he is so well known, to that of inter-faith dialogue is an indication of the importance which that subject is now assuming. This is not a book, he confesses, which he had expected to write, but in recent years, he has increasingly felt that the close co-existence of different faith-communities in the modern world is as important a background to Christian theology as the rise of the scientific world-view." "In his book, which arises out of lectures at Manchester and Yale universities, Professor Wiles begins by asking whether acceptance of the possibility of open dialogue with other religions is not a desertion of the way in which church has understood its faith down the ages. He then goes on to argue that pressure to acknowledge other religions is only one of several pressures arising out of changes in contemporary knowledge and experience of the world which Christians face today. A third chapter examines how Karl Rahner tried to incorporate these changes into a coherent theological position, and the last chapter builds on this approach and offers a personal account of a Christian theology for dialogue." "At a time of increasing conservatism and opposition to interfaith activity in the churches, here is encouragement to those who believe that narrow christocentricity is not the way forward."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Controversies in Interreligious Dialogue and the Theology of Religions

Controversies in Interreligious Dialogue and the Theology of Religions PDF Author: Paul Hedges
Publisher: SCM Press
ISBN: 0334047668
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
A challenging controversial discussion of the current state of the debate about Christianity and other world faiths.

Confucianism and Christianity

Confucianism and Christianity PDF Author: Edmund Kee-Fook Chia
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000264351
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
This book reflects on three broad themes of Confucian-Christian relations to assist in the appreciation of the church’s theology of mission. While the themes of this volume are theological in orientation, the dialogue is engaged in from an interdisciplinary approach that prioritises the act of listening. Part I surveys the historical background necessary for an adequate understanding of the contemporary Confucian-Christian dialogues. It examines the history of Confucian-Christian relations, explores the Chinese Rites Controversy, and delineates the contemporary task of indigenizing Christianity by Sino-Christian theologians. Part II compares elements in the Confucian and Christian traditions that exemplify the epitome and fullness of spiritual development. It discusses the Confucian practice of rites (li), interrogates how the noble or exemplary person (junzi) competes, and outlines the Confucian understanding of sageliness (shengren). Lastly, Part III examines different aspects of the church’s engagements with the world outside of itself. It advocates for a Confucian-Christian hermeneutic of moral goodness, attends to the Confucian emphasis on moral self-cultivation, proposes that Confucian virtue ethics can shed light on Christian moral living, and offers a Confucian-Christian understanding of care for mother earth. This book is ideally suited to lecturers and students of both Christian studies and Confucian studies, as well as those engaged in mission studies and interfaith studies. It will also be a valuable resource for anyone interested in comparative religious and theological studies on Christianity and Confucianism.

Encounters in Faith

Encounters in Faith PDF Author: Peter Feldmeier
Publisher: Anselm Academic Christian Brothers Pub.
ISBN: 9781599820316
Category : Christianity and other religions
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
With Christianity as a counterpoint, Feldmeier explores the spirituality and theology of Christianity, mysticism, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zen, the Chinese spirit, indigenous traditions, and the New Age movement. The text provides a model for how religious traditions are more powerfully experienced and learned in interrelationship than in isolation. In the process, Feldmeier provides opportunities and inspiration for investigating and reflecting on one's own religious beliefs.--From publisher's description.

The Future of Interreligious Dialogue

The Future of Interreligious Dialogue PDF Author: Charles L. Cohen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781626982451
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Written by some of the world's leading scholars of theology and interreligious dialogue, the essays in this volume provide a number of original voices to conversations around Nostra Aetate, bringing new ferment to the field of interreligious understanding.

The Past, Present, and Future of Theologies of Interreligious Dialogue

The Past, Present, and Future of Theologies of Interreligious Dialogue PDF Author: Terrence Merrigan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198792344
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
The Past, Present and Future of Theology of Interreligious Dialogue brings together several of the most widely regarded specialists who have contributed to theological reflection on religious diversity and interreligious encounter. The chapters are united by the consistent theme of the obligation to engage with the challenges that emerge from the tension between the doctrinal tradition(s) of Christianity and the need to reconsider them in light of and in response to the fact of religious otherness. As a whole, these reflections are motivated by the desire to bring together a significant selection of different theological approaches that have been developed and appropriated in order to engage with religious difference in the past and present, as well as to suggest possibilities for the future. This confluence of perspectives reveals the complexity of theological reflection on religious diversity, and gives some indication of future challenges that must be acknowledged, and perhaps successfully met, in the ongoing attempt to address a universal reality in light of traditional doctrinal particularities and cultural concerns.