"Is God listening to my Hindu neighbour's prayer?" The question is simple, but Christians have
enormous
difficulty in responding to it. By and large, Christians have ignored theological questions relating to
God's life with
our neighbours of other religious traditions and their life with God.
At the heart of this hesitation lies a number of profound theological issues. Does God's self-revelation
take place in
nature, in all human history, and in human experience? Or does God reveal Godself only through the
specific
historical experience of a people within one stream of history? Is it important to have an adequate (if
any)
understanding of who God is, before God begins to listen to our prayers?
Of a more fundamental nature are questions that lie at the heart of the Christian faith itself. What is the
relationship
between God's saving activity in the life, death and resurrection of Christ to God's presence and activity
in all
history? How does one reconcile the affirmation that "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof"
with the
Johannine verses "No one comes to the Father except through me"?
Since the beginning of the modern ecumenical movement these questions have engaged the attention of
the
missionary movement and the Church. The practice of dialogue and reflection upon it have brought a
new sense of
urgency to those questions. We need to base our relationship with our neighbours of other faiths on a
theological
foundation.
Much of the theology of religions operative in Christian thinking was enumerated during the height of
the
missionary movement. Reflections on other faiths served the missionary imperative, and provided
justification for
the extension of the Church at the expense of other religions. The theology of religions did not arise out
of the
experience of a living encounter with others but from a deductive thinking from the standpoint of one's
own faith.
A selective reading of the Bible reinforced a mission-serving theology of religions. Nevertheless, at all
the early
major missionary conferences (e.g. Edinburgh 1910, Jerusalem 1928, Tambaram 1938) there were voices
that
challenged the predominant attitude which saw little faith-value in other traditions. But a mainly
mission-oriented
theology of religions has survived.
At both the Nairobi (1975) and Vancouver (1983) assemblies of the WCC, dialogue became a
controversial point,
primarily because of the implicit assumptions made in dialogue about the theological significance of other
faiths.
At Vancouver, for example, a major stream within the Assembly rejected the possibility of God's
presence and
activity in the religious life of our neighbours.
The Dialogue sub-unit of the WCC undertook a four-year study programme on 'My Neighbour's Faith
and Mine -
Theological Discoveries through Interfaith Dialogue'. As the apex of this study, delegates from the
Orthodox,
Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions were brought together to reflect on some of these issues. A
week of
intense discussions centred on questions such as the significance of religious plurality, christology, and
the issues in
understanding the activity of the Spirit in the world. The document which follows is a statement made
by the
members of this consultation, which was held in Baar, near Zurich, Switzerland in January 1990. It is
hoped that
the statement will help to animate and facilitate the discussion of these important issues as we face the
Seventh
Assembly in Canberra in February 1991.
I. Introduction
Since the Nairobi WCC Assembly in 1975 this common adventure has been seen primarily as "dialogue
in
community". This has meant entering into dialogue with our neighbours of other faiths in the
communities we as
Christians share with them, exploring such issues as peace, justice, and humanity's relation to nature. We
have
found repeatedly that Christians may not behave as if we were the only people of faith as we face
common
problems of an interdependent world. It is evident the various religious traditions of the world have
much to
contribute in wisdom and inspiration towards solving these problems.
In this ecumenical consultation we have reaffirmed the importance of Dialogue in Community as
articulated in the
Guidelines on Dialogues (1979). We also recall the affirmation of the Central Committee in
adopting
these guidelines: "To enter into dialogue requires an opening of the mind and heart to others. It is an
undertaking
which requires risk as well as a deep sense of vocation" (Central Committee, Kingston, Jamaica,
1979).
We turned our attention with particular urgency to the theological questions that have emerged from
the practice of
dialogue. As the Guidelines suggested: "Christians engaged in faithful 'dialogue in community'
with
people of other faiths....cannot avoid asking themselves penetrating questions about the place of these
people in the
activity of God in history. They ask these questions not in theory, but in terms of what God may be
doing in the
lives of hundreds of millions of men and women who live in and seek community together with
Christians, but
along different ways" (Guidelines, p.11).
Dialogue with people of other living faiths leads us to ask what is the relation of the diversity of
religious
traditions to the mystery of the one Triune God? It is clear to us that interfaith dialogue has implications
not only
for our human relations in community with people of other faiths, but for our Christian theology as
well.
From the beginning Christians have encountered people of other faiths, and from time to time
theologians have
grappled with the significance of religious plurality. The modern ecumenical movement from its earliest
beginnings
(Edinburgh 1910) has made many attempts to understand the relation of the Christian message to the
world of
many faiths.
Today our greater awareness and appreciation of religious plurality leads us to move in this "common
adventure"
toward a more adequate theology of religions. There is a widely felt need for such a theology, for
without it
Christians remain ill-equipped to understand the profound religious experiences which they witness in
the lives of
people of other faiths or to articulate their own experience in a way that will be understood by people
of other
faiths.
II. A Theological Understanding of Religious Plurality
People have at all times and in all places responded to the presence and activity of God among them, and
have
given their witness to their encounters with the Living God. In this testimony they speak both of seeking
and of
having found salvation, or wholeness, or enlightenment, or divine guidance, or rest, or liberation.
We therefore take this witness with the utmost seriousness and acknowledge that among all the nations
and peoples
there has always been the saving presence of God. Though as Christians our testimony is always to the
salvation
we have experienced through Christ, we at the same time "cannot set limits to the saving power of God"
(CWME,
San Antonio 1989).
We see the plurality of religious traditions as both the result of the manifold ways in which God has
related to
peoples and nations as well as a manifestation of the richness and diversity of humankind. We affirm that
God has
been present in their seeking and finding, that where there is truth and wisdom in their teachings, and
love and
holiness in their living, this like any wisdom, insight, knowledge, understanding, love and holiness that
is found
among us is the gift of the Holy Spirit. We also affirm that God is with them as they struggle, along with
us, for
justice and liberation.
This conviction that God as creator of all is present and active in the plurality of religions makes it
inconceivable to
us that God's saving activity could be confined to any one continent, cultural type, or groups of peoples.
A refusal
to take seriously the many and diverse religious testimonies to be found among the nations and peoples
of the
whole world amounts to disowning the biblical testimony to God as creator of all things and father of
humankind.
"The Spirit of God is at work in ways that pass human understanding and in places that to us are least
expected. In
entering into dialogue with others, therefore, Christians seek to discern the unsearchable riches of Christ
and the
way God deals with humanity" (CWME Statement, Mission and Evangelism).
It is our Christian faith in God which challenges us to take seriously the whole realm of religious
plurality. We see
this not so much as an obstacle to be overcome, but rather as an opportunity for deepening our
encounter with God
and with our neighbours as we await the fulfilment when "God will be all in all" (1 Cor. 15-18). Seeking
to
develop new and greater understandings of "the wisdom, love and power which God has given to men
(and women)
of other faiths" (New Delhi Report, 1961), we must affirm our "openness to the possibility that the God
we know
in Jesus Christ may encounter us also in the lives of our neighbours of other faiths" (CWME Report, San
Antonio
1989, para. 29). The one God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ has not left Himself without witness,
anywhere
(Acts 14.17).
Ambiguity in the Religious Traditions
III. Christology And Religious Plurality
We affirm that in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, the entire human family has been united to God in
an
irrevocable bond and covenant. The saving presence of God's activity in all creation and human history
comes to its
focal point in the event of Christ.
In Jesus's words and action, in His proclamation, in His ministry of
healing and service, God was establishing His reign on earth, a sovereign
rule whose presence and power cannot be limited to any one community or
culture. The attitudes of Jesus as He reached out to those beyond the house
of Israel testify to this universal reign. He spoke with the woman of
Samaria, affirming all who would worship God in Spirit and truth (Jn. 4.7-24). He marvelled at the faith
of a centurion, acknowledging that He had
not found such faith in all Israel (Matt. 8.5-11). For the sake of a Syro-Phoenician woman, and in
response to her faith, He performed a miracle of
healing (Matt. 15.21-28).
But while it appears that the saving power of the reign of God made present
in Jesus during His earthly ministry was in some sense limited (cf. Matt.
10.23), through the event of His death and resurrection, the paschal
mystery itself, these limits were transcended. The cross and the
resurrection disclose for us the universal dimension of the saving mystery
of God.
This saving mystery is mediated and expressed in many and various ways as
God's plan unfolds toward its fulfillment. It may be available to those
outside the fold of Christ (Jn. 10.16) in ways we cannot understand, as
they live faithful and truthful lives in their concrete circumstances and
in the framework of the religious traditions which guide and inspire them.
The Christ event is for us the clearest expression of the salvific will of
God in all human history. (I Tim. 2.4)
IV. The Holy Spirit And Religious Plurality
We are clear, therefore, that a positive answer must be given to the
question raised in the Guidelines on Dialogue (1979) "is it right and
helpful to understand the work of God outside the Church in terms of the
Holy Spirit" (para. 23). We affirm unequivocally that God the Holy Spirit
has been at work in the life and traditions of peoples of living faiths.
Further we affirm that it is within the realm of the Spirit that we may be
able to interpret the truth and goodness of other religions and distinguish
the "things that differ", so that our "love may abound more and more, with
knowledge and all discernment" (Phil. 1.9-10).
We also affirm that the Holy Spirit, the Interpreter of Christ and of our
own Scriptures (Jn. 14.26) will lead us to understand afresh the deposit of
the faith already given to us, and into fresh and unexpected discovery of
new wisdom and insight, as we learn more from our neighbours of other
faiths.
V. Interreligious Dialogue: A Theological Perspective
We need to respect their religious convictions, different as these may be
from our own, and to admire the things which God has accomplished and
continues to accomplish in them through the Spirit. Interreligious dialogue
is therefore a "two-way street". Christians must enter into it in a spirit
of openness, prepared to receive from others, while on their part, they
give witness of their own faith. Authentic dialogue opens both partners to
a deeper conversion to the God who speaks to each through the other.
Through the witness of others, we Christians can truly discover facets of
the divine mystery which we have not yet seen or responded to. The practice
of dialogue will then result in the deepening of our own life of faith. We
believe that walking together with people of other living faiths will bring
us to a fuller understanding and experience of truth.
We feel called to allow the practice of interreligious dialogue to
transform the way in which we do theology. We need to move toward a
dialogical theology in which the praxis of dialogue together with that of
human liberation, will constitute a true locus theologicus, i.e.
both a source of and basis for theological work. The challenge of religious
plurality and the praxis of dialogue are part of the context in which we
must search for fresh understandings, new questions, and better expressions
of our Christian faith and commitment.
Dialogue with people of living faiths has been part of the Work of the WCC since 1971 when the Central
Committee meeting in Addis Ababa affirmed that dialogue "is to be understood as the common
adventure of the
churches".
Our theological understanding of religious plurality begins with our faith in the one God who created
all things, the
living God, present and active in all creation from the beginning. The Bible testifies to God as God of
all nations
and peoples, whose love and compassion includes all humankind. We see in the Covenant with Noah
a covenant
with all creation. We see His wisdom and justice extending to the ends of the earth as He guides the
nations
through their traditions of wisdom and understanding. God's glory penetrates the whole of creation.
Any affirmation of the positive qualities of wisdom, love, compassion, and spiritual insight in the world's
religious
traditions must also speak with honesty and with sadness of the human wickedness and folly that is also
present in
all religious communities. We must recognize the ways in which religion has functioned too often to
support
systems of oppression and exclusion. Any adequate theology of religions must deal with human
wickedness and
sin, with disobedience to spiritual insight and failure to live in accordance with the highest ideals.
Therefore we are
continually challenged by the Spirit to discern the wisdom and purposes of God.
Because we have seen and experienced goodness, truth and holiness among followers of other paths and
ways than
that of Jesus Christ, we are forced to confront with total seriousness the question raised in the
Guidelines on
Dialogue (1979) concerning the universal creative and redemptive activity of God towards all
humankind and
the particular redemptive activity of God in the history of Israel and in the person and work of Jesus
Christ (para.
23). We find ourselves recognizing a need to move beyond a theology which confines salvation to the
explicit
personal commitment to Jesus Christ.
We have been especially concerned in this Consultation with the person and
work of the Holy Spirit, who moved and still moves over the face of the
earth to create, nurture, challenge, renew and sustain. We have learned
again to see the activity of the Spirit as beyond our definitions,
descriptions and limitations, as "the wind blows where it wills" (Jn. 3.8).
We have marvelled at the "economy" of the Spirit in all the world, and are
full of hope and expectancy. We see the freedom of the Spirit moving in
ways which we cannot predict, we see the nurturing power of the Spirit
bringing order out of chaos and renewing the face of the earth, and the
'energies' of the Spirit working within and inspiring human beings in their
universal longing for and seeking after truth, peace and justice.
Everything which belongs to 'love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control' is properly to be
recognized and acknowledged as the fruit of the activity of the Holy
Spirit. (Gal. 5.22-23, cf. Rom. 14.17).
Our recognition of the mystery of salvation in men and women of other
religious traditions shapes the concrete attitudes with which we Christians
must approach them in interreligious dialogue.
