Inter-Religious Dialogue: A Provocation to Pray

Author(s):  
Catriona Laing
Keyword(s):  
1984 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Lipner

In this essay I propose to offer some observations in due course on how Christian thought and practice in general (though some reference will be made to the Indian context) might profit from a central theme in the theology of Rāmānuja, a Tamil Vaisnava Brahmin whose traditional date straddles the eleventh and twelfth centuries of the Christian era. The central theme I have in mind is expressed in Rāmānuja's view that the ‘world’ is the ‘body’ of Brahman or God. We shall go on to explain what this means, but let me state first that my overall aim is to further inter-religious understanding, especially between Christian and Hindu points of view. In professing a concern for inter-religious dialogue I know that I reflect a longstanding interest of Professor H. D. Lewis. I shall seek to show that the Christian religion can profit both from the content and the method of Rāmānuja's body-of-God theology. To this end this essay is divided into two sections. Section I is the longer: it contains an analysis of what Rāmānuja did (and did not) mean by his body-of-God theme – doubtless unfamiliar ground for most of the readers of this essay – and serves as a propaedeutic for what follows in section 2. In section 2 I shall attempt to ‘extrapolate’ Rāmānuja's thinking into a Christian context, with dialogue in mind. Section 2 cannot be appreciated for the promise I hope it holds out without the (sometimes involved) detail of the first section.


2010 ◽  
Vol 42 (116) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Faustino Teixeira

O diálogo inter-religioso apresenta-se hoje como um dos grandes desafios do século XXI, sendo caminho essencial para a afirmação de um horizonte de paz para a humanidade. Trata-se de uma das artes mais difíceis e arriscadas da conversação, mas essencial na construção de uma cidadania que respeite a alteridade. O objetivo desse artigo é apresentar a trajetória de um dos grandes interlocutores do diálogo entre cristianismo e islã, Louis Massignon (1883-1962), um pioneiro na abertura da igreja católica ao mundo muçulmano. Com sua perspectiva de vida e reflexão favoreceu um novo olhar sobre o islã, esse mundo religioso que envolve hoje cerca de uma em cada cinco pessoas do mundo.ABSTRACT: The Inter-religious dialogue is presented today as one of the great challenges of the 21st century, being an essential way for the affirmation of a horizon of peace for humanity. It is about one of the most difficult and risky arts of the conversation, but essential in the construction of a citizenship that respects the alteridade. The objective of this article is to present the trajectory of one of the great interlocutors of the dialogue between Christianity and Islam, Louis Massignon (1883-1962), a pioneer in the opening of the Catholic Church to the Muslim world. With its perspective of life and reflection it favored a new to look at on Islam, this religious world that today involves about one out of every five people of the world.


Author(s):  
Alexander Sotnichenko

After the fall of Soviet Union we can state a fact of a religious heritage in Russia. It is applied not only to the traditional religious institutions, like Moscow Patriarchy, but also to different heterodox religious movements. Now we can state a fact of the originally shaped religion policy of Moscow. Orthodox Christianity in Russia has one universally recognized center – Moscow Patriarchy. Its position is shared by 90% of Russian Christians. But we can’t say that the leaders have one consolidated opinion about the problems of the relations between Islam and Christianity. We can single out two groups; one can be called „For Islam” and the second „Against Islam”. Their followers have different views on the problems of proselytism, inter-religious dialogue and religion policy of the state and the foreign policy of Russia. The same, but much more multifaceted situation is in Russian Islam. Muslims in Russia don’t have any universally recognized authority. There are several organizations, regional or aspiring to the center position, authorities, sheikhs and popular homilists with their own opinions. Here we try to classify the main organizations and their views on the problem of a dialogue with Russian Orthodoxy, Christianity at all and the Russian State’s regional policy.


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