Theology And The Dialogue Of Religions

This page intentionally left blank Theology and the Dialogue of Religions Theology of religions is an area of theological reflection on interreligious relations which raises fundamental questions not just for Christians but for all people of faith in a pluralist, post-modern world. How to practise a religious faith with integrity while respecting other claims to ultimate truth? Must ‘the other’ always be regarded as a problematic complication on the fringes of a Christianity-centred world? Is there a ‘third way’ between an alldominating exclusivism and a tacit relativism? This book contributes to the debate about the place of inter-religious relations in the life of the Church by developing a ‘theology of dialogue’. In offering a critique of much current thinking in this area, Michael Barnes SJ proposes instead a theology rooted in the themes of welcome and hospitality. He argues for a vision of Christianity as a ‘school of faith’, a community called not just to teach others but to learn from them as well. M I C H A E L B A R N E S S J is Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies and Academic Director of the Centre for Christianity in Inter-religious Dialogue at Heythrop College, University of London. His publications include Religions in Conversation (1989), God East and West (1991), Walking the City (1999), and Traces of the Other (2000). Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine Edited by Professor COLIN GUNTON, King’s College London Professor DANIEL W. HARDY, University of Cambridge Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine is an important series which aims to engage critically with the traditional doctrines of Christianity, and at the same time to locate and make sense of them within a secular context. Without losing sight of the authority of scripture and the traditions of the church, the books in this series subject pertinent dogmas and credal statements to careful scrutiny, analysing them in light of the insights of both church and society, and thereby practising theology in the fullest sense of the word. Titles published in the series 1. Self and Salvation: Being Transformed DAVID F. FORD 2. Realist Christian Theology in a Postmodern Age SUE PATTERSON 3. Trinity and Truth BRUCE D. MARSHALL 4. Theology, Music and Time JEREMY S. BEGBIE 5. The Bible, Theology, and Faith: A Study of Abraham and Jesus R. W. L. MOBERLY 6. Bound to Sin: Abuse, Holocaust and the Christian Doctrine of Sin ALISTAIR MCFADYEN 7. Church, World and the Christian Life: Practical-Prophetic Ecclesiology NICHOLAS M. HEALY 8. Theology and the Dialogue of Religions MICHAEL BARNES SJ Forthcoming titles in the series A Political Theology of Nature PETER SCOTT Remythologizing Theology: Divine Action and Authorship KEVIN J. VANHOOZER Theology and the Dialogue of Religions by MICHAEL BARNES SJ           The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom    The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org © Michael Barnes SJ 2004 First published in printed format 2002 ISBN 0-511-02975-6 eBook (Adobe Reader) ISBN 0-521-81077-9 hardback ISBN 0-521-00908-1 paperb