The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Inter-Religious Dialogue E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Blackwell Companions to Religion
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1227

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

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

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

The Wiley-Blackwell Companions to Religion

Title page

Copyright page

List of Contributors

Introduction

PART I: Focal Topics

CHAPTER 1: The History of Inter-Religious Dialogue

The Christian Ecumenical Movement

The Move to Dialogue with Other Religions

Reasons for the Rise of Dialogue

The Deepening and Expanding of Inter-Religious Dialogue

Conclusion: The Current State of Inter-Religious Dialogue

CHAPTER 2: Conditions for Inter-Religious Dialogue

Humility

Commitment

Interconnection

Empathy

Hospitality

Conclusion

CHAPTER 3: Monastic Inter-Religious Dialogue

The Creation of Commissions for Monastic Inter-Religious Dialogue

The Pioneers of Dialogue at the Level of Spiritual Experience

The History of DIM/MID, 1978 to 2012

Communication

Communion

CHAPTER 4: Comparative Theology and Inter-Religious Dialogue

Comparative Theology and Inter-Religious Dialogue: Some Starting Points

A Note on the Historical Interconnections of Comparative Theology and Inter-Religious Dialogue

Comparative Theology as the Right Theological Practice to go with Inter-Religious Dialogue

The New Contexts of Comparative Theology and Inter-Religious Dialogue

Comparative Theology and Scriptural Reasoning at the Margins of Inter-Religious Dialogue

Comparative Theology in Critical Relationship with Inter-Religious Dialogue

Is Inter-Religious Dialogue Unsettled by Comparative Theology?

In Conclusion

CHAPTER 5: Scriptural Reasoning as Inter-Religious Dialogue

From Liberal Pluralism to Postliberal Particularism

How Scriptural Reasoning Works

The Roots of Scriptural Reasoning

From Textual Reasoning to Scriptural Reasoning

Scripture: Source of Conflict; Source of Reconciliation?

Some “Rules of Conduct”

Scriptural Reasoning Between Identity (House) and Openness (Tent)

Scriptural Reasoning as a Postsecular Project

To Conclude: Some Unanswered Theological Questions

CHAPTER 6: Inter-Religious Worship

Inter-Religious Worship: The Individual Level

Inter-Religious Worship and the Community

Religion, Communion, and Transcendence

Beginnings of Inter-Religious Worship: Mahatma Gandhi

The Background of the Indian Tradition

Dialogue and the Second Vatican Council

The Initiative of Pope John Paul II

Dimensions of Inter-Religious Prayer

Ways of Praying Together

Prayer with Non-Theistic Religions

Conclusion

CHAPTER 7: Art and Inter-Religious Dialogue

The Difference of Art

The Act of Creation

Mediation

Empathic Relation

CHAPTER 8: Inter-Religious Dialogue and Interstitial Theology

Syncretism and Hybridity

A New Model of Dialogue and Hybridity: Interstitial Theology

CHAPTER 9: Inter-Religious Dialogue and Social Action

Contextualizing: Types of Dialogue and Virtues for Dialogue

Problematizing: The Subjugation of the Particular by the Universal

The Necessity and Priority of Socially Engaged Inter-Religious Dialogue

Gathered Around the Suffering Ones of the Earth

The “Hermeneutical Privilege” of the Oppressed Within a Socially Engaged Dialogue

Guidelines for Socially Engaged Dialogue

Practical Next Steps

CHAPTER 10: Inter-Religious Dialogue and Peacebuilding

Introduction

Conceptual Framework: The Relevance of Inter-Religious Dialogue to Peacebuilding

Conditions For Effective Inter-Religious Dialogue

Conclusion

CHAPTER 11: Women in Inter-Religious Dialogue

Women and the Parliament Model of Dialogue

The Challenge of Women in the Parliament Model of Dialogue

Women and the Activist Model of Dialogue

Dialogue in the Everyday – A Storytelling Model

Why Women’s Voices Matter in the Dialogue of Religions

PART II: Case Studies

CHAPTER 12: Buddhist–Hindu Dialogue

Doubt and Debate in Ancient South Asia, and the Challenge of Buddhism

Discursive Ethics of Hindu and Buddhist Scholastic Philosophies

Disputes Over Jalpa and Vitaā

Schools of Hindu Realism versus Buddhist Idealism and Phenomenalism

Universal Challenge of Mādhyamaka Buddhism

Hindu Philosophies of Transcendental Language

Conclusion: Hindu and Buddhist Philosophy in the Global Cosmopolis

CHAPTER 13: Jewish–Christian Dialogue

The Historical Background of the Dialogue

Stirring Times: Radical Hatred and Groundbreaking Dialogue

The Age of Dialogue

Vatican II and its Aftermath

An Alternative Dialogue: Conservative Christians and Jews

Conclusion

CHAPTER 14: Jewish–Muslim Dialogue

Historical Background

Dialogue between Muslims and Jews as Conscious Community Building and Civic Engagement

Some Differences and Hurdles that Affect Muslim–Jewish Dialogue

Some Shared Attributes and their Impact on Dialogue

Current Trends and Observations in Muslim–Jewish Relations in North America

CHAPTER 15: Christian–Muslim Dialogue

Mixed Messages

Perennial Issues

The Twentieth Century

Theological Dialogue

Abrahamic Dialogue

Dynamics for the Future

Repentance

CHAPTER 16: Shinto–Buddhist Dialogue

Harmony in Shinto–Buddhist History

Shinto–Buddhist Dialogue before Modernization

Shinto Challenges Buddhist Dominance, 1185–1867

Emerging Shinto Dominance

Shinto–Buddhist Dialogue under State-Shinto

Toshio Kuroda and Kenmitsu Buddhism

Shinto–Buddhist Dialogue in Democratic Japan

Harmony in Interreligious Dialogue in Japan

Shinto–Buddhist Harmony Revisited

CHAPTER 17: Muslim–Hindu Dialogue

Traders and Raiders

Islamic Empires, Plural Populations

Colonial India

“Dialogue of Life”

Interfaith Activists

Conclusion

CHAPTER 18: Christian–Confucian Dialogue

Transmitting the Confucian Dao 道: The Chinese Prelude

The First Phases of Confucian–Christian Dialogue

The Modern Renewal of Confucian–Christian Dialogue

CHAPTER 19: Dialogue between Islam and African Religions

Normative Islam and African Religions

Sufism and African Religions

Indigenous Movements

Ceremonies in African Islam

Critical Questions

CHAPTER 20: Hindu–Christian Dialogue

Hindu Reform Movements and Dialogue with Christianity

Vivekananda in Dialogue with Christianity

Gandhi and Christianity

Savarkar and Christianity

Present Hindu–Christian Dialogue

CHAPTER 21: Native American Spirituality and Christianity

Native American Religions: A Way of Life

A Dialogue in the Making

The Meeting of the Rivers

Conclusion

CHAPTER 22: Islam and Buddhism

Buddhism and Islam in History

Buddha and Muhammad – Prophetic Dimensions

The Buddha and Muhammad as Founders of Traditions

The Buddha as Enlightened Bodhisattva and Muhammad as Insan al-Kamil

Contemporary Issues and Themes of Dialogue

CHAPTER 23: Christian–Buddhist Dialogue

Conceptual Dialogue

Socially Engaged Dialogue

Interior Dialogue

Concluding Observations

CHAPTER 24: Buddhist–Jewish Relations

Ancient Times

Medieval Times

Mysticism

Modern Europe

Asian Nationalisms and the Jews

The Holocaust and the Genesis of JuBu

The Contemporary Jewish–Buddhist Encounter

Idolatry?

Trajectories

CHAPTER 25: Hindu–Jewish Encounters

Mapping Hindu–Jewish Encounters: Landmark Collaborative Initiatives

Historical Encounters: South Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures, Indic and Judaic Worlds

Collaborative Scholarly Encounters: Comparative Studies of Hindu and Jewish Traditions

Inter-Religious Encounters: Hindu–Jewish Dialogue

CHAPTER 26: The Implicit Dialogue of Confucian Muslims

The Islamic Background

Wang Daiyu and Liu Zhi

A Note on Recent Developments

CHAPTER 27: A Confucian–Jewish Dialogue

A Historical Note: A Confucian–Jewish Dialogue in Kaifeng Community

The Framework for Dialogue

A Dialogue Based on Family Reverence

Guidelines for Life

Conclusion: Inter-Religious Dialogue Based on Family-Reverence

CHAPTER 28: The Mormon–Evangelical Dialogue

Is This Person For Real?

The Conversation Broadens

Continued Challenges

Dialogue Topics

Looking Ahead

Index

The Wiley-Blackwell Companions to Religion

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The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Inter-Religious DialogueEdited by Catherine Cornille

This edition first published 2013

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The Wiley-Blackwell companion to inter-religious dialogue / edited by Catherine Cornille.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-470-65520-7 (hardback)

1. Religions–Relations. 2. Dialogue–Religious aspects. I. Cornille, C. (Catherine), editor of compilation.

BL410.W545 2013

201'.5–dc23

2012048006

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover image: Interaction, 1995. © Diana Ong / SuperStock

Cover design by Nicki Averill Design

List of Contributors

Michael Amaladoss, SJ is Director of the Institute for Dialogue with Cultures and Religions, Chennai, India.

Mary Anderson is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and scholar, currently an Associate at the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard University and Visiting Faculty in the Visual and Critical Studies Department at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Yaakov Ariel is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

John Azumah is Associate Professor of World Christianity at Columbia Theological Seminary.

John Berthrong is Associate Professor of Comparative Theology at Boston University.

Pierre-François de Béthune, OSB is a monk of the monastery of Saint-André de Clerlande in Belgium and former Secretary General of the Commissions for Inter-monastic Dialogue.

Anna Bigelow is Associate Professor of South Asian Religions at North Carolina State University.

William Chittick is Professor of Religious Studies at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.

Francis X. Clooney, SJ is the Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology at Harvard Divinity School.

Catherine Cornille is Professor of Comparative Theology at Boston College.

Reuven Firestone is Professor of Medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles.

Jeannine Hill Fletcher is Associate Professor of Theology at Fordham University.

Barbara A. Holdrege is Professor of Religious Studies, South Asian Traditions and Jewish Traditions at the University of California, Santa Clara.

Paul Ingram is Professor of Religion Emeritus at Pacific Lutheran University.

S. Ayse Kadayifci-Orellana is Visiting Assistant Professor in the MA program in Conflict Resolution at Georgetown University.

Nathan Katz is the Bhagwan Mahavir Professor of Jain Studies in the School of International Affairs and Research Professor at Florida International University.

Paul Knitter is the Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture at Union Theological Seminary.

Aasulv Lande is Professor Emeritus of Missiology and Ecumenics at the University of Lund and Senior Researcher at the Senior Center, Agder University.

David Peter Lawrence is Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy at the University of North Dakota.

Daniel Madigan, SJ is the Ruesch Family Associate Professor of Theology at Georgetown University.

Robert Millet is Professor of Ancient Scripture and Emeritus Dean of Religious Education at Brigham Young University.

Marianne Moyaert is Professor of Comparative Theology and the Hermeneutics of Interreligious Dialogue at the Free University of Amsterdam, and post-doctoral researcher at the Catholic University of Louvain.

Sachiko Murata is Professor of Religion and Asian Studies at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.

Galia Patt-Shamir is Professor of Comparative Philosophy and Religion at Tel-Aviv University.

Achiel Peelman, OMI is Professor of Theology at Saint Paul University, Ottawa.

Anantanand Rambachan is Professor of Religion, Philosophy and Asian Studies at Saint Olaf College.

Tinu Ruparell is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary.

Leonard Swidler is Professor of Catholic Thought and Interreligious Dialogue at Temple University.

Imtiyaz Yusuf is Professor of Islamics and Religion at the College of Religious Studies, Mahidol University, Salaya, Thailand.

Ping Zhang is Professor of Chinese and East Asian studies at Tel-Aviv University.

Introduction

Catherine Cornille

Since the middle of the twentieth century the notion of dialogue has become increasingly common in describing or prescribing the proper relationship between religions. Rather than competing with one another over territories, converts or claims, religions have generally come to adopt a more conciliatory and constructive attitude toward one another, collaborating in social projects and exchanging views on common religious questions. Centers for interreligious dialogue have emerged in different parts of the world, and high-profile international meetings have been organized, bringing together leaders and/or scholars from any number of religious traditions to engage in mutually respectful conversation about various religious topics. This has led in turn to increased reflection on the nature of inter-religious dialogue and on its many forms and manifestations.

The term dialogue tends to be used to cover a wide range of engagements between religious traditions, from daily interaction between believers living in the same neighborhoods to organized discussions and debates between expert scholars, and from formal or casual exchanges between spiritual or institutional leaders to inter-religious activism around social issues. The goals of particular dialogues may differ, from peaceful coexistence to social change, and from mutual understanding to actual religious growth. But the common denominator in all these forms of inter-religious engagement is mutual respect and openness to the possibility of learning from the other. The category of inter-religious dialogue may then be used to refer to any form or degree of constructive engagement between religious traditions.

In this, dialogue between religions may be distinguished from other types of inter-religious engagement that lack an actively constructive element, such as the neutral study of religion, or more traditional apologetics. It differs from religious studies ap­­proaches in that participants engage one another from a faith position, and in that the goal of dialogue lies not only in mutual understanding, but also in the pursuit of truth and of personal and religious growth. Such growth may take the form of deeper self-understanding or of appropriating new insights and practices from the other religion. It may also lead to confession and repair of past misdeeds committed against the other, or to the actual prevention of violent conflict.

While dialogue is often thought of as the peaceful and amicable exchange of views, it also often entails argument and fierce debate. If true to their convictions, believers will naturally wish to witness not only to the contents, but also to the truth of their faith. And since no two religions are ever perfectly compatible, the exchange and discussion of religious views cannot but involve some level of disagreement and some measure of defense of the plausibility of one’s own beliefs and practices. Apologetics may thus form part of advanced forms of dialogue. However, while classical apologetics is mainly oriented toward defeating the other, dialogue also involves openness and receptivity to the witness of the other. As such, dialogue between religions involves a delicate and often difficult balance between commitment to one’s own tradition and openness to the other.

The very possibility of dialogue between religious traditions signals, or perhaps requires significant shifts in the self-understanding of religious traditions. While religions tend to be naturally convinced of the superior, if not exclusive truth of their own teachings, dialogue presupposes some degree of humility about one’s own conception of truth and a certain receptivity, even hospitality to the truth of the other. The attitudes of humility and hospitality reinforce one another and have come to affect most religious traditions as these have come to terms with the reality of religious diversity. Direct encounter with and deeper knowledge of the teachings and practices of other religions tends to preclude an easy dismissal of their validity and truth. And the very conception of religious truth has undergone a significant paradigm shift, as Leonard Swidler points out in his contribution to this volume. While most religions have come to a basic recognition and acceptance of the reality of religious plurality, degrees of religious tolerance and openness toward the religious other continue to vary, not only between religious traditions but also within them. As such, inter-religious dialogue remains a challenge for religious traditions, often requiring considerable hermeneutical effort and the retrieval of internal textual or traditional resources to facilitate such constructive exchange.

While the systematic effort to bring people from different religions into dialogue with one another may be a relatively recent phenomenon, the history of religions is replete with examples of more or less constructive engagement between religions. The articles in this volume give ample testimony to this fact. Some form of dialogue already takes place whenever a new religion attempts to define its own identity through a process of acceptance, rejection and reinterpretation of the parent religion or religions. While this may be seen to lack the reciprocity of genuine dialogue, the emergence of a new offshoot religion often challenges the parent religion to redefine its own teachings or sharpen its own beliefs. The same process occurs when religions move from one cultural context to another and tend to naturally borrow teachings and practices from the traditional religion of the culture. The processes of appropriation and reinterpretation of teachings and practices of other religions which takes place in the process of acculturation may be regarded as a form of implicit dialogue. In addition to these forms of unintentional dialogue and unavoidable engagement of other religions, one may also find isolated historical examples of more conscious attempts at dialogue and debate between religions. While often serving political or social interests, such dialogues do involve peaceful exchanges of views and attempts at adjudicating the truth of these views in fairly transparent ways. Some of the historical dialogues discussed in this volume (e.g. the Buddhist–Hindu dialogue) in fact display a level of reflectivity about dialogue itself rarely encountered even in modern instances. Indeed, though dialogue is often thought of as a modern phenomenon and the relationship between religions as evolving toward greater openness, some contributions also suggest the opposite movement, from original intimacy and mutuality to growing animosity. Not only does religious self-understanding change in often unpredictable ways, but religions are also commonly used to bolster nationalistic and ethnocentric ideologies. As such, history provides not only examples of past dialogue, but also food for further dialogue.

This Companion focuses on the phenomenon of inter-religious dialogue in general and in concrete cases. The first part of the volume deals with focal topics in inter-religious dialogue. These topics bring to the fore some of the areas which have been particularly relevant in the pursuit and performance of inter-religious dialogue, as well as some critical issues arising from that dialogue. Some contributions deal with topics internal to the dialogue (comparative theology, scriptural reasoning, interstitial theology, etc.) while others deal with the relationship between of dialogue and broader social issues.

We start with a discussion of the history of inter-religious dialogue by Leonard Swidler, himself one of the pioneers of such dialogue in the West. This is followed by a closer exploration of the fundamental conditions for a constructive dialogue between religions. Monastics from different religions have played a crucial role in the development of inter-religious dialogue, not only in exemplifying openness and hospitality toward the religious other, but also in pointing to a deeper level of spiritual connection from which all actual dialogue may spring. One of the main architects and advocates of intermonastic dialogue, Pierre de Béthune, offers a thorough discussion of the background, the principles and the fruits of this dialogue.

Among scriptural traditions, inter-religious dialogue has often taken the form of the reading of sacred texts of another tradition. This may happen in solitary form, as a scholar of one tradition reads and engages in theological reflection on a text of another. But it may also happen in more communal fashion, as scholars from different religious traditions enter into dialogue on the meaning of a particular text. The first type of dialogue has been called comparative theology, and the latter scriptural reasoning. Francis Clooney, who is a pioneer and strong proponent of comparative theology, discusses the nature of this discipline and its relation to inter-religious dialogue. Marianne Moyaert offers an overview of the background, principles and practices of scriptural reasoning together with some critical reflections.

While dialogue is generally understood as verbal exchange, the act of participating in the rituals of another religion or of worshipping together also constitutes a form of dialogue. In his article, Michael Amaladoss deals with various types of inter-religious worship as practiced mainly in India, while also pointing to some of the contested issues in this dialogue. Art represents another powerful non-verbal vehicle for inter-religious exchange. Mary Anderson draws some beautifully evocative connections between the artistic relationship to the world and the openness, empathy and receptivity required for genuine dialogue between religions.

Among the different religious or theological innovations spawned by inter-religious dialogue, one of the most radical or extreme is that of interstitial theology. Tinu Ruparell, himself one of its vocal proponents, discusses the philosophical foundations and religious justifications of this type of theology which he defines as “the construction of hybrid perspectives for continuing the conversation between religions in an open and constructive way.”

The constructive dimension of inter-religious dialogue may involve direct learning from the insights and practices of another religion. But it may also entail collaboration between religions to bring about social change, either through the prevention of conflict (religious or other) or through the building of a more just society, drawing from the resources and the visions of different religions. Paul Knitter, one of the foremost advocates of inter-religious dialogue, offers an impassioned argument for the necessary interconnection between inter-religious dialogue and social action. Focusing specifically on the role of inter-religious dialogue in peace building, Ayse Kadayifci-Orellana discusses the various ways in which collaboration between religions may help prevent war and build a more sustainable peace.

One of the critical questions in inter-religious dialogue is that of women’s participation. While women have played and continue to play a crucial role in many forms of informal dialogue, they are rarely at the center of the more formal and institutional dialogues between religions. Jeannine Hill-Fletcher sheds a critical light on this situation, pointing to the reasons why women’s voices may have been overlooked or ignored, and why they matter.

The second part of the book deals with case studies in inter-religious dialogue. These cases are, of course, far from exhaustive, or representative of all of the dialogues which have taken place in the course of history or which are taking place today. They do, however, offer a sample of the dialogues which are taking place in different parts of the world and between different types of religions: old and new, large and small, scriptural and oral, ethnic and universalistic, theistic and nontheistic. Each of the case studies deals variously with the history of a particular dialogue, important thinkers and ideas, contemporary developments and/or future challenges. Some of the dialogues discussed in this volume have a very long history, while others are fairly new. Some are enmeshed in deep-seated social and political tensions, while others take place on a purely speculative and theological level. This diversity is reflected in the different approaches and contents of the particular case studies. Some offer an overview of the history of a particular dialogue, while other focus primarily on the contemporary engagement between two religions. One contribution even engages in actual live dialogue on a topic central to Judaism and Confucianism.

Most of the authors of the case studies approach the dialogue mainly from the perspective of one or the other religion, and even from the perspective of a particular school or tradition within a certain religion. This is inevitably the case, as most of the authors are themselves active participants in the dialogue, engaging the other religion constructively from their own religious perspective. Robert Millet, for example, is one of the first Mormons to engage with Evangelical Christians, and Anant Rambachan has become one of the favorite Hindu dialogue partners for Christians, just as Daniel Madigan and John Berthrong are often called upon to represent Christianity in the dialogue with, respectively, Islam and Confucianism. Each of these authors has a profound knowledge of and sympathy for the other religion, and for the other’s perspective on the dialogue. But one must keep in mind that the essay on the Christian–Buddhist dialogue that appears here would have been quite different if it had been written by a Buddhist, or for that matter by a Roman Catholic Christian, while a Muslim author might have shed a different light or taken a different approach to the Jewish–Muslim dialogue. A notable exception to the one-sidedness of the approaches to dialogue is the article on the Confucian–Jewish dialogue, which was co-authored by a Jewish scholar of Confucianism and a Confucian scholar of Judaism. Some authors do display a remarkable capacity to approach the dialogue “from the middle” between the two traditions, either because they are somewhat removed from either tradition, or, on the contrary, because they have come to identify with both.

The case studies are arranged roughly in order of antiquity, or according to the length of history of their engagement. As might be expected, the oldest dialogues are mostly between religions with some family relationship: Hinduism and Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity, Christianity and Islam. But there are also unrelated religions with a long tradition of mutual engagement: Shinto and Buddhism, or Hinduism and Islam. Until the twentieth century, engagement between religions was largely determined by physical proximity and the vicissitudes of territorial expansion. In the contemporary globalized context, however, dialogues may take place between any two or more religions, across territorial and ideological boundaries. The antiquity of a dialogue is of course no guarantee for its continuity or success. Relationships between religions change, often due to political and social factors, and religions which were once quite intimate (such as Shintoism and Buddhism) may grow apart, while religions with scant historical connection (such as Buddhism and Christianity) may come to engage in very active and productive dialogue. Dialogue is in fact often easier between religions with little or no family relationship, since there is less need to come to terms with directly opposing views or interpretations, and with a history of mutual rejection. As such, the dialogue between Christianity and Buddhism is considerably less contentious and encumbered than the dialogue between Christianity and Islam. However, as the fascination with novelty and difference wanes and as the burden of history is somewhat lifted, one may expect similar challenges and advances in both types of dialogue.

Relative to the long history of religions, the experience of genuine dialogue or constructive engagement between religions is still in fact in its infancy. While much may be learned from the history of encounter between two religions and from the evidence of conscious or unconscious borrowing, dialogue still constitutes for most religions a future promise, rather than a past accomplishment. The possibilities for inter-religious dialogue are virtually infinite, not only in terms of possible dialogue partners, but also in terms of unending and unpredictable possibility for growth and change. There are undoubtedly limits to the constructive potential of any dialogue between particular religions. But few, if any of the dialogues discussed in this volume have reached those limits. As such, it cannot represent a summary or an afterword to the history of inter-religious dialogue, so much as a preamble.

In closing, I wish to thank each and every scholar who has contributed to this volume. The task of writing a history of a particular dialogue was in many cases daunting and the authors have accepted the challenge with generosity and grace. Though every dialogue is ongoing and constantly changing, each article represents an invaluable record of certain important facts, an account of their emergence and their meaning, and an important contribution to scholarship on inter-religious dialogue. I also want to thank Glenn Willis for his expert help in editing this collection. This volume may be regarded as a companion to a series of books I have recently edited on various critical topics in inter-religious dialogue, each approached by scholars from different religious traditions.1 Together they point to the real challenges, the wide range of possibilities, the important achievements, and the enduring promise of genuine dialogue between religions.

Note

1 The volumes in the series are Catherine Cornille, ed. Criteria of Discernment in Interreligious Dialogue. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2009; Catherine Cornille and Chris Conway, eds. Interreligious Hermeneutics. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2010; Catherine Cornille and Glenn Willis, eds. The World Market and Interreligious Dialogue. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2011; Catherine Cornille and Stephanie Corigliano, eds. Interreligious Dialogue and Cultural Change. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock. 2012); and Catherine Cornille and Jillian Maxey, eds. Women and Interreligious Dialogue (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2013).

PART I

Focal Topics

CHAPTER 1

The History of Inter-Religious Dialogue

Leonard Swidler

The world has always needed dialogue, but after the 1989 “Fall of the Wall,” and even more after 9/11, the world increasingly realizes that it needs dialogue. At the heart of dialogue is inter-religious dialogue, because religion is the most comprehensive of all the human “disciplines”: “an explanation of the ultimate meaning of life, and how to live accordingly” (Swidler and Mojzes 2000). Until the slow emergence of inter-religious dialogue out of Modernity, out of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment of the West, religion was also the most absolutist, exclusivist of all the disciplines. Thus, dialogue – fundamentally meaning “I can learn from you” – is a dagger pointed at the heart of absolutist religion/ideology. But, let’s start briefly at the beginning.

As long as there has been Homo sapiens sapiens (perhaps since 70,000 BCE.) there have been attempts – however meager – to explain “the ultimate meaning of life and how to live accordingly”: religions. When small groups of humans gathered into large enough collectivities to form cities, each of these civilizations had at its heart a religion which both shaped and expressed that civilization. All of these ancient religions were “primary religions,” that is, were coterminous with the civilization or “state”; for instance, all members of the Israelite “nation,” and only they, were devotees of the Israelite religion.

That began to change drastically in the four ancient civilizations of Greece, Israel, India, China during the Axial Age (800–200 BCE). A shift occurred whereby some individuals began to identify no longer primarily with the collective, but with the personal conscience, to focus no longer primarily on the exterior, but on the interior. These religions increasingly tended to claim not just particularist but universal validity, that is, not just for, for instance, Athenians, but for all humans – which gave rise to religious absolutism. Still, the link between the state and religion remained strong, for as the state expanded the religion also tended to expand; and conquered peoples tended eventually to adopt the religion of the victors. For example, as the Christian, or later Muslim, armies were victorious, so too Christianity and Islam spread. Hence, the universalist claims of Axial and post-Axial religions led to at times peaceful, but also bellicose encounters among the various religions, with the latter by far dominating. There were occasional leading devotees of such religions who stand out as models of irenicism, like Ashoka the Great (304–232 BCE), the quasi-Buddhist Emperor of India, St. Francis of Assisi (1181–1226 CE), Akbar the Great, Muslim Emperor of India (1542–1605 CE). Their peaceful impacts on inter-religious relations were, however, limited, geographically and in other ways, and inter-religious encounters during the subsequent age of European exploration and colonization were marked primarily by proselytization.

This slowly began to change, though at first not noticeably, with the rise of Modernity and the Enlightenment, which was characterized by freedom, reason, history, and later dialogue ( 2011). The Enlightenment put forth a breakthrough thesis: at the heart of being human is freedom and rationality, and to that was added by the Late Enlightenment (German scholars write of ) a sense of history and dynamism. Embedded in the clarion call written in 1776 in Philadelphia (Greek: Brotherly/Sisterly Love), “All men are created equal” was the soft whisper, “therefore dialogue.” It became a public voice at the inter-religious encounter of the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago.