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Document Details : Title: Christianity and Other Faiths Subtitle: Exploring Interfaith Engagement Author(s): PRATT, Douglas Journal: Studies in Interreligious Dialogue Volume: 26 Issue: 1 Date: 2016 Pages: 5-19 DOI: 10.2143/SID.26.1.3194363 Abstract : Interreligious dialogue has been a fixture on the wider Christian Church agenda since about the early 1960s. This paper engages a review of the development and promotion of interreligious dialogue within and by the World Council of Churches, in respect to the ecumenical family of churches, and the Vatican, in respect to the Roman Catholic Church. In less than a century, the wider Christian Church, at least formally in respect of these two institutional expressions, has undergone a 180 degree turn with regard to the received tradition concerning other faiths. The religious ‘other’ is no longer a threat or competitor so much as a partner and neighbour. Relations for the most part are hospitable and open, albeit not without limits and concerns even though there has been, and continues to be, much co-operative engagement at practical levels, as well as varying degrees of intellectual intercourse. The ‘dialogue of discourse’ sits alongside the many dialogues of life and action. The religious ‘other’, from a Christian perspective, is less likely to be a target of conversion as a collaborator and fellow-traveller in a world increasingly hostile to religion per se. Issues thrown up by the advance into an era of interreligious dialogue, together with an examination of its continuing significance for Christianity, round out the discussion. |
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