Theology And The Dialogue Of Religions

Publisher Description

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

The academic study of religion is undergoing great changes in response to globalization. Just as sociologists now find it necessary to think in terms of "multiculturalism," so religion scholars and theologians today must work in the context of "multireligiosity." Globalization is leading not only to multiethnic societies but also to plurality in religions and worldviews. Theology and the Religions: A Dialogue offers the first sustained analysis of the trend toward multireligiosity and its implications for the study of religion. Drawing on the resources of cultural analysis, religious studies, and theology, an international slate of scholars explores the relation of multiculturality and multireligiosity, the need for interreligious dialogue, and the possibilities for a "theology of religions." This groundbreaking work is supported by case studies of various religious traditions in diverse cultures from around the world. Special attention is paid to Christian theological reflection, however, since, as a global religion, Christianity is particularly challenged by multireligiosity. Offering an engaging, wide-angle view of religion worldwide, Theology and the Religions makes a vital contribution to our understanding of the forces shaping the future of religious and social life. Contributors: Kajsa Ahlstrand Theodor Ahrens Jan-Martin Berentsen Ulrich Dehn Helene Egnell Marianne C. Qvortrup Fibiger Patrik Friedlund Virginia Garrard-Burnett Geomon K. George Elisabeth Gerle Friedrich Wilhelm Graf Hans Hauge Ulf Hedetoft S. Mark Heim Chris Hewer Klaus Hock Michael Ipgrave Andrew J. Kirk Lene Kühle Volker Küster Aasulv Lande Oddbjorn Leirvik Ole Skjerbæk Madsen Hiromasa Mase Mogens S. Mogensen Viggo Mortensen Johannes Nissen Klaus Nürnberger Caleb Oladipo Tinu Ruparell Risto Saarinen Lamin Sanneh Olaf Schumann Notto R. Thelle Joachim Track Vítor Westhelle H. S. Wilson

This is a joint publication with the Board of Mission which includes an essay by Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali on interfaith dialogue in Pakistan.

In this incisive and important volume, Jacques Dupuis offers new insights on the most important issue facing Christian theology today -- giving an account of Christian faith as Christians go more deeply along the road of dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religious traditions. His task is to square a dogmatic circle. How does one do justice to the Gospel claim that Jesus the Christ is the final and universal savior of all humankind in every age, while also doing justice to the experience that truth, grace, holiness, and power are experienced in other religious traditions? In the first six chapters Dupuis reviews the history of the Western Christian tradition's teaching on other religious Ways through the breakthrough at Vatican Council II. In chapters 7 and 8 he reviews the critical issues of uniqueness of Christ and Christian proposals to account for the mediation of salvation in other religious Ways. He discusses also the relationship between the Reign of God, the Church, and the Religions. In chapter 9 he explores the nature and role of dialogue in a pluralistic society. In chapter 10 offers sage reflections on interreligious prayer.

"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

Dialogue with the Other" expresses David Tracy's ongoing interest in the other and The Other. His reflections enter into dialogue with figures as diverse as Meister Eckhart and William James and traditions as different as those of Buddhism, Christianity and Judaism. David Tracy is Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. He is Professor of Theology at the Chicago Divinity School and Professor in the Committee on the Analysis of Ideas and Methods. Among his better known are "Blessed Rage for Order" (1975), "The Analogical Imagination" (1981), and "Plurality and Ambiguity" (1987)

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.