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Document Details : Title: Alle volken reine lippen Subtitle: Gods ene waarheid als perspectief te midden van de vele godsdiensten Author(s): BORGMAN, Erik Journal: Tijdschrift voor Theologie Volume: 51 Issue: 2 Date: 2011 Pages: 140-151 DOI: 10.2143/TVT.51.2.3203379 Abstract : This essay is about what Anton Houtepen called a ‘kairologic’ approach to the relations between religions. In his view, this approach escaped the familiar classification into the exclusivist, inclusivist and pluralistic views of the relation of Christianity to other religions. He viewed religions as oriented toward a unity and a universality that is not possessed fully by any one of them. The second-century Epistle to Diognetus says that God sent Jesus Christ ‘as a Saviour’ and ‘as seeking to persuade, not to compel us; for violence has no place in the character of God’. Consistent with this, Houtepen stresses the way the New Testament presents Jesus as one who breaks boundaries to a unique degree and in a unique way. In breaking religious boundaries, he shows himself to be the 'Ebed JHWH, the servant and anointed of God, the Christ’. Houtepen picks up on this characteristic of Jesus’ activity. The core question is what the various traditions contribute to answering the unavoidable questions that arise at a given time and place. New views of God, humanity and the world can develop when people discuss their views on what comes to light in these moments of kairos. Religious differences are thus presented, but also surpassed, as the various traditions are thought of as directed toward goodness and truth. Houtepen’s thinking built upon the Second Vatican Council’s documents Dignitatis humanae and Nostra aetate. In this essay it is also linked to the way in which Pope John Paul II, when addressing the un in 1995, called respect for diversity fundamental, and confronted with the way Pope Benedict XVI postulated that Christianity is the foundation of western culture, excluding other traditions and especially Islam. For Houtepen, a welcoming and open view of the contributions of other religions is part of the Christian virtue of love and of the church’s mission to serve the world. In recent years he saw mainly the importance of working for dialogue between Christians and Muslims. |
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