Christian Dialogues with Other Faiths

The dialogues movement has sprouted in the twentieth century and may well bear large fruit in the twenty-first.The purpose is mutual knowledge and growing friendship; the learning away of preudices and those ideas which are false or only partly true and inneed of correction. The purpose is not conversion. For the time of dialogue the goal of conversion is set aside while they together try to understand each other, learn from each other, and increase in friendship. No doubt, conversion in either direction remains present as a possibility even though it is consciously disavowed as an intention.

Dialogues understood in this way, can be seen by Christian as part of the Christian mission. Mission includes the whole of Christians as outreach to those outside the church, which means it can take the form of evangelistic proclamation or of serving human need, or, in this case, of dialogues. The world today has much in it that is conducive to the increase of dialogues, now and in the future. First of all, we may note how people are being drawn together as never before by swift transportation and rapid communication.

A second factor that is conducive to dialogue is the fact that human problems are increasingly shared; worldwide have to be faced on a world scale. The most successful forms of interfaith dialogue that have taken place have been those dealing with pace, justice, and the environment.

Among Christian a demographic fact that will doubtless lead toward greater dialogue is the increasing numerical dominance of Asian, African and Latin American Christians in the worldwide Christian church. These Christian are becoming more and more interested in indigenizing their faith in the land of their birth, and hence in knowing more about their own social and religious background this lead them into dialogue with the religions of their compatriots . A final fact of contemporary life Thai leads toward dialogue between religious believers is the spread of irreligion in the world. Those who hold to their faith often feel threatened by any decline in religious belief and want to draw closer to other believers for reassurance.

The essential positive motivation to dialogue, both now and in the future, however, we will have to look beyond world conditions. For that a religious basis is required, not just a propitious world situation. Religious is a matter of our ultimate concern and ultimate commitment, and therefore, for any religious person, religion must determine how he or she approaches the world, rather than the world making the determination, though the practicalities of the world situation need to be taken into consideration.

Having seen the strong reasons for dialogue both in the world and in our faith, we need at this point to recognize how much has been accomplished by way of laying foundations for twenty-first-century advance. A vigorous moment of dialogue is well under way. In dialogue we should know that “we cannot point to any other way of salvation than Jesus Christ at the same time we cannot set limits to the saving power of God”. Among Christian one common way of putting preconditions on dialogue is to claim that in order to have real dialogue we should regard all religions as true. This approach will doubtless provide for pleasant conversation, but if carried through consistently, it will destroy the possibility of challenging discussion since beliefs are seen as true kills’ dialogue.

The laudable aim of these preconditions is the elimination of a sense of Christian superiority that will undermine dialogue, and such a sense is surely to be guarded against. But as David Loch head has pointed out in a perceptive analysis of the problems of dialogue, even those who believe that all religions provide salvation may develop a sense of superiority toward those who are not sufficiently enlightened to share this belief. An attitude of superiority is a universal human tendency that we must all try to avoid in dialogue. It may be better, as Loch head says, to make no advance evaluation of other religions as a precondition of dialogue.

Christians can be helped in many ways through dialogue. As we have seen, God has been working in all creation and therefore there is much to learn from all human beings about God and about right and helpful ways of human life. Christians who take Christ as the criterion for recognizing God’s actions can find new illumination of Christ from the experience of other faiths. Because of the potential for learning on our part, because of the learning that we trust will be made available to others, and most of all because of the nature of our Christian calling we can only hope that interreligious dialogue will fulfill its promise and enjoy a continuing and growing place in Christian mission during the century ahead.

To. Professor Dr. GERVASIS

21^st Century issues in mission

Reporter; Cung Bik

Student

PCU

Date 24/02/2012