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Some Requisites for Interfaith Dialogue

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

David B. Burrell C.S.C.
David B. Burrell C.S.C.*
Affiliation:
Philosophy and Theology, University of Notre Dame, Bishop McCauley House, PO Box 25827, Kampala, Uganda
*
Email: dburrell@nd.edu
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Abstract

A prolonged (yet telescoped) rendition of the chequered history of relations between Christianity and Islam, as each religious community operated out of different political contexts, illustrates diverse modes of interaction, from disputation to mutual illumination via a shared Hellenic philosophical tradition. A theological probe takes us to the heart of Christian teaching—the triune God—only to unveil remarkable affinities with Islamic developments regarding divine unity. The key to our entire exploration—intellectual humility—functions specially well here: recognizing the comparable logics of revelation, as well as acknowledging the power of these revelations to transform human beings into holy men and women, should motivate us to attempt to reconcile apparent contradictions between Abrahamic faiths in a manner similar to the way philosophical theologians of these traditions proceeded in the Middle Ages to reconcile their respective revelations with reason. A tactic axial to this analysis compares Qur'an with Jesus, rather than Qur'an and Bible, to show the fruitfulness of this more coherent approach. Support from both traditions for a pervasive attitude of intellectual humility shows how to open ways forward.

Keywords

ChristianMuslimDialogueQur'anHumility
Type
Original Articles
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 89 , Issue 1021 , May 2008 , pp. 300 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © The author 2008. Journal compilation © The Dominican Council/Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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References

1 Cornille, Catherine, The Im-Possibility of Interreligious Dialogue (New York: Continuum/Herder and Herder 2008)Google Scholar.

2 Khatami, Seyyed Muhammad, La Religion et la Pensée Prises ou Piège d'Autocratie (Cahiers de MIDEO 4 Louvain/Paris: Peeters 2005)Google Scholar.

3 Reynolds, Gabriel Said, A Muslim Theologian in a Sectarian Milieu: Abd al-Jabbār and the Critique of Christian Origins (Leiden: Brill 2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 Makdisi, George, The Rise of Colleges:Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press 1981)Google Scholar.

5 Burrell, David, Knowing the Unknowable God (Notre Dame IN: University of Notre Dame Press 1986)Google Scholar.

6 I am indebted, for this articulation of the conditions needed for genuine dialogue, to a forthcoming study by Catherine Cornille (noted here with her permission), entitled The Im-Possibility of Interreligious Dialogue, to be published by Continuum/Herder and Herder in 2008.