The Meaning and Goals of Interreligious Dialogue
Keywords:
InterreligiousAbstract
Dialogue is "an exchange of ideas or opinions on a particular issue, especially a political or religious issue, with a view to reaching an amicable agreement or settlement". Dialogue is thus something more than conversation. It shares with conversation the elements of exchange of ideas or opinions and an ambience of amiability but is something more than conversation in that it is not quite so freewheeling. It is oriented to issues. At the same time, although it is more than conversation, it is less than participation. Participation involves a greater degree of commitment to joint action than is usually associated with the process of dialogue. Dialogue can, of course, lead to participation.
References
Eric J. Sharpe, ' 'The Goals of Inter-Religious Dialogue" in John Hick, ed., Truth and Dialogue in World Religions: Conflicting Truth Claims (Philadelphia : The Westminster Press, 1970), p. 81.
Philip H. Ashby, The Conflict of Religions (New York : Scribner's, 1955).
Richard W. Taylor, "The Meaning of Dialogue" in Herbert Jai Singh, ed., Inter-religious Dialogue (Bangalore : The Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society, 1967), p. 58.
P. Tillich, Christianity and the Encounter with World Religions (New York : Columbia University Press, 1963); Consultation on Buddhist-Christian Encounter (Colombo : Christian Institute of Buddhist Studies, 1961).
R. C. Zaehner, "Religious Truth" in John Hick, ed., op. cit., p. 18; Matter and Spirit: their convergence in eastern religions, Marx and Teilhard de Chardin (New York : Harper & Row, 1963).
Kenneth E. Nolin, "A Theological Base for Dialogue with Muslims," in Herbert Jai Singh, ed., op. cit., p. 209; Kenneth Cragg, "Hearing by the Word of God," The International Review of Missions, Vol. 46 (July 1967).
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. Vol. 15 (Chicago: Helen Hemingway Benton, 1974), p. 634.
Our Unity in Diversity, International Association of Religious Freedom, XXII Congress, Montreal, 15-22 August 1975, pp. 25-31.
Ninian Smart, A Dialogue of Religions (London : SCM Press Ltd., 1960).
R. C. Zaehner, At Sundry Times (London: Faber and Faber, 1958).
S. J. Samartha, "Major Issues in the Hindu-Christian Dialogue in India Today," in Herbert Jai Singh, ed., op. cit., p. 150.
Paul Verghese, "Dialogue with Secularism," in Herbert Jai Singh, ed., op. cit., p. 237.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Fellowship of the Spirit (Cambridge: Centre for the Study of World Religions, 1961), pp. 39—40.
Jess Stein Editor-in-Chief, The Random House Dictionary of the English Language (New York: Random House, 1967), p. 398.
R.R. Niebuhr, "Religion and the Frugality of Christ", Harvard Divinity School Bulletin 27(April 1963);
Karl Barth, Evangelical Theology, (New York: Holt, 1963); Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol. V, (Baltimore: Helicon Press, 1966.
John B. Carman, "Continuing Tasks in Interreligious Dialogue" in S. J. Samartha, ed., Living Faiths and the Ecumenical Movements (Geneva : World Council of Churches, 1971), pp. 83-94.
K. N. Jayatilleka, The Buddhist Attitude to Other Religions, Ceylon : Public Trustee Department, 1966, p. I),
K. M. Panikkar, Hindu Society at Cross Roads, New Delhi : Asia Publishing House, 1955
George Rupp, Christologies and Cultures (The Hague: Mouton, 1974), P. 257.
