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Between Charybdis and Scylla: Catholic Theology and Interreligious Dialogue
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2024
Abstract
Why should Catholics enter into dialogue with representatives of non-Christian religious traditions? Although the last decades have witnessed an impressive involvement of Catholic theologians in these contacts, a positive dogmatic framework of interreligious dialogue is still waiting in the wings. On one hand, one can no longer be satisfied with trying to make non-Christians realize that Christianity is their beliefs ultimate truth (what about a dialogue with non-Christians then?). On the other hand, one cannot admit of expecting to get some additional knowledge about God that would not already be contained in Tradition and Scriptures, believed to convey the fullness of Gods Revelation to mankind. Putting forward the Traditions legitimate development, the present paper argues that new insights into the fullness of Gods Revelation can be gained from types of religious thinking born beyond the historical limits of Gods Revelation. According to its essence, this Revelation appeals to the contribution of those who have never heard of it.
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References
1 See for instance Problems of Religious Pluralism, Macmillan, 1988Google Scholar.
2 Owing to some sublime absence of hazard, the main writing of Justin, which is referred to here, bears the word “dialogue” in its title, The Dialogue with the Jew Tryphon.
3 Second Vatican Council, “Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church”, Ad Gentes, 3, 11, 15; “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World”Gaudium et Spes, 10–11, 22, 26, 38, 41, 92–93. Of course, this is the common heritage of all the Christian Churches. Justin's theology is also present in the most significant contribution of the Orthodox Church to this fundamental issue, the presentation by Metropolitan Georges Khodr at the WCC assembly of Addis Ababa (1971) which deals with the “Economy of the Holy Spirit” as a counterpoise to the Reformation's “Christomonism”, See Khodr G., “Christianity in a Pluralistic World”, The Ecumenical Review 23 (1971). Nevertheless, Catholic thinking, during the Middle Ages, has developed Justin's insight into a theological program which is relevant in contemporary Interreligious Dialogue: it has tried to bring forward, on a metaphysical basis, the link between nature, as investigated by natural reason, and dogma, the content of God's supernatural Revelation.
4 By way of sampling the previous mentality, let me quote a few lines from the instructions given by King Manuel II, at the beginning of the XVIth century, regarding his Indian missions, as reported by a contemporary: “In order to persuade these people to accept the truths, the priests and friars were to put before them all natural and legal arguments and employ ceremonies prescribed by the Canon Law. And if these people were stubborn in their errors, and would in no wise accept the tenets of true faith, denying the law of peace which should unite mankind for the preservation of the human race, and raising difficulties and obstacles to the exercise of trade and commerce, the means by which peace and love among men are established and maintained for trade is the basis of all human policy – they should in this case be taught by fire and sword and all the horrors of war”, in Miller, R. E., “The Context of Hindu-Christian Dialogue in Kerala”, in Hindu-Christian Dialogue, New-York, 1990, p. 53Google Scholar.
5 “Interreligious dialogue is a part of the Church's evangelizing mission. Understood as a method and means of mutual knowledge and enrichment, dialogue is not in opposition to the mission ad gentes; indeed, it has special links with that mission and is one of its expressions” (n. 55).
6 Ibid., p. 151–152 (the translation is mine).
7 <<Faith meets Faith>> series, Orbis Book, New York.
8 See Schriften zur Theologie V, 1968.
9 “The non-Absoluteness of Christianity” in Christian Uniqueness reconsidered, op.cit., p. 22.
10 Ibid.
11 “The Cross and the Rainbow”, cf. ibid., p. 77.
12 See Problems of Religious Pluralism, Macmillan, New York, 1985Google Scholar.
13 “The Jordan, the Tiber and the Ganges”, cf. ibid., p. 109.
14 See The Intrareligious Dialogue, Pauline Press, US, 1999Google Scholar.
15 161c.
16 Gaudium et Spes, §29. As far as I know, a clear statement of this kind is nowhere to be found in the official documents emanating from the Protestant world. It is true that the latest document of the WCC (“Ecumenical consideration for dialogue and relations with people of other religions”, 2002), states that the Spirit of God is at work in non-Christian religions, though in a manner which escapes our grasp (par.14); it emphasizes also that Salvation belongs to God only, without giving further doctrinal precisions (par.17); yet it starts by proclaiming that the paschal mystery is “the centre of God's redeeming work for us and for the world” (par.12). At best, the main ambiguity still lingers on: is participation in this Pascal mystery equivalent to explicit faith in Christ? If it is so, I cannot see how non-Christians would be able to achieve Salvation within their own religions, despite God's Spirit having his mysterious ways among them.
17 See Dupuis, J., Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism, Orbis Books, 1999, p. 271 sq.Google Scholar