Reconciliation between Religions: A Christian Perspective

1
Reconciliation between ReligionsA Christian
Perspective

• Presented by David SchützExecutive Officer of
  the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission of the
  Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne

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The Primary Religious Concern

• God

3
The Secondary Religious Concern

• Humanity

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Christianity regards the primary and secondary
concerns as one

• 36 Teacher, which commandment in the law is the
  greatest? 37 He said to him, You shall love
  the Lord your God with all your heart, and with
  all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This
  is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a
  second is like it You shall love your neighbor
  as yourself. 40 On these two commandments hang
  all the law and the prophets.
• (Matthew 2236-40, NRSV)

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The Tertiary Religious Concern

• Creation

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Christianity is about Reconciliation

• Between
• God Humanity
• Humans Humans
• God Creation
• Humanity Creation

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Reconciliation with other people

• 23 So when you are offering your gift at the
  altar, if you remember that your brother or
  sister has something against you, 24 leave your
  gift there before the altar and go first be
  reconciled to your brother or sister, and then
  come and offer your gift.
• (Matthew 523-24, NRSV)

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Reconciliation between Humans through Christ

• 11 So then, remember that at one time you
  Gentiles by birth, aliens from the commonwealth
  of Israel, 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who
  once were far off have been brought near by the
  blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace in his
  flesh he has made both groups into one and has
  broken down the dividing wall, that is, the
  hostility between us

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Reconciliation between Humans through Christ

• 15 He has created in himself one new humanity in
  place of the two, thus making peace, 16 and
  reconciling both groups to God in one body
  through the cross, thus putting to death that
  hostility through it. 17 So he came and
  proclaimed peace to you who were far off and
  peace to those who were near 18 for through him
  both of us have access in one Spirit to the
  Father.
• (Ephesians 211-18, NRSV)

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Reconciliation with Creation through Christ

• 19 For in Christ all the fullness of God was
  pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was
  pleased to reconcile to himself all things,
  whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace
  through the blood of his cross.
• (Colossians 119-20, NRSV)

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Reconciliation between Religions?

• The different religions have
• Common concern for worship of God
• Common concern for truth about God, human beings
  and creation
• Different ways of worshipping God
• Different things to say about God, human beings
  and creation

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Religious Diplomacy?

• Christopher Hall insists on the need for a
  "religious diplomacy" that enables the advocates
  of religious traditions to speak about their
  understanding of the truth in a way that is
  acceptable to adherents of other traditions.
• Christopher Hall is dean of the Templeton Honors
  College at Eastern University (St. Davids,
  Pennsylvania), where he has been teaching in the
  biblical and theological studies program. He is
  also associate editor of the Ancient Christian
  Commentary on Scripture.
• In "Religion and Security The New Nexus in
  International Relations," a selection of
  contributions edited by Robert Seiple and Dennis
  Hoover (published by Rowman Littlefield)

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What is religious diplomacy?

• Humility
• Mutual respect
• Willingness to engage in dialogue
• Cultivation of listening skills
• Willingness to acknowledge the sins of the past
  and the present
• Commitment to tell the truth
• Joint advocacy of religious truth in public life
• Avoiding the temptation "to water things down to
  a vapid commonality."

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Value of other Religions

• The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is
  true and holy in these religions. She has a high
  regard for the manner of life and conduct, the
  precepts and teachings, which, although differing
  in many ways from her own teaching, nonetheless
  often reflect a ray of that truth which
  enlightens all men.
• Nostra Aetate, 2nd Vatican Council

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Healing of Memories

• the sign of the purification of memory calls
  everyone to make an act of courage and humility
  in recognizing the wrongs done by those who have
  borne or bear the name of Christian
• May the joy of forgiveness be stronger and
  greater than any resentment.
• (John Paul II, Incarnationis Mysterium)

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Healing of Memories

• This purification aims at liberating personal
  and communal conscience from all forms of
  resentment and violence that are the legacy of
  past faults... This should leadto a
  corresponding recognition of guilt and contribute
  to the path of reconciliation...
• (International Theological Commission, Memory
  and Reconciliation)

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Healing of Memories

• Such a process can have a significant effect on
  the present, precisely because the consequences
  of past faults still make themselves felt and can
  persist as tensions in the present
• (International Theological Commission, Memory
  and Reconciliation)

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Freedom of Religion

• This Vatican Council declares that the human
  person has a right to religious freedom. This
  freedom means that all men are to be immune from
  coercion on the part of individuals or of social
  groups and of any human power, in such wise that
  no one is to be forced to act in a manner
  contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or
  publicly, whether alone or in association with
  others, within due limits

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Freedom of Religion

• The council further declares that the right to
  religious freedom has its foundation in the very
  dignity of the human person as this dignity is
  known through the revealed word of God and by
  reason itself.
• (2nd Vatican Council, Dignitatis Humanae

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What about Mission?

• Christianity is a missionary religion
• Salvation can only come through Jesus Christ
• The Lord Jesus, before ascending into heaven,
  commanded his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to
  the whole world and to baptize all nations Go
  into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to
  every creature. He who believes and is baptized
  will be saved he who does not believe will be
  condemned (Mark 1615-16)

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JPII Propose, dont Impose

• On her part, the Church addresses people with
  full respect for their freedom
• The Church proposes she imposes nothing.
• She respects individuals and cultures, and she
  honours the sanctuary of conscience.
• (John Paul II, RM)

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JPII Propose, dont Impose

• The Church is thus obliged to do everything
  possible to carry out her mission in the world
  and to reach all peoples
• At the same time Religious freedom, which is
  still at times limited or restricted, remains the
  premise and guarantee of all the freedoms that
  ensure the common good of individuals and peoples

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Mission and/or Dialogue?

• The Church's proclamation of Jesus Christ, the
  way, the truth, and the life (John 146), today
  also makes use of the practice of inter-religious
  dialogue.
• Such dialogue certainly does not replace, but
  rather accompanies the mission to the nations
• Declaration Dominus Iesus, 2001

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Mission and/or Dialogue?

• Inter-religious dialogueis part of the Church's
  evangelizing mission.
• It requires an attitude of understanding and a
  relationship of mutual knowledge and reciprocal
  enrichment, in obedience to the truth and with
  respect for freedom.
• Declaration Dominus Iesus, 2001

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Speaking the Truth in Love

• Speaking the truth in love (St Paul, Ephesians
  415)
• Especially when speaking to or about other faiths
• "That Christians be sensitive to the needs of
  everyone, without ever hiding the radical
  requirements of the Gospel message.
• (Pope Benedict XVI, General Intention for prayer,
  July 2005)

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Speaking the Truth in Love

• The Commission believes that dialogue should
  be central to every form of Christian discourse
  on the beliefs of others in our proclamation,
  teaching, testimony and (especially) apologetics,
  our discourse should be informed, sensitive,
  honest, and respectful of those who hold views
  that differ from ours.
• (EIC, Statement March 2005)

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Joint witness to Truth

• Goals of reconciliation between religions?
• Harmony between people of religious faith
• Promotion of world peace
• What about
• Joint advocacy of religious truth in public
  life (Christopher Hall)?
• What form might such witness take?

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Joint witness to Truth

• Religious belief and the Public Square
• Secularism Separation of Church and State?
• Various Models France, Turkey, USA
• "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.
• Benjamin Franklin, April 18, 1787
• Can we find an interreligious, nonpartisan
  approach to a religiously informed public
  philosophy for the ordering of society
• A code of conduct on which we can and should rely
  to guide our personal and civic behavior?

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An attitude of hope?

• Ifwhat divides us from others has been
  emphasized, what unites us with them should not
  be forgotten that we are all part of a single
  history that is in many different fashions on the
  way toward God...
• The Christian knows that through every failure
  and all human discord, the end of history is
  being fulfilledthe transformation of the chaos
  with which the world began into the eternal city
  of Jerusalem, in which God, the one eternal God,
  dwells among men and enlightens them as the light
  forevermore. (Joseph Ratzinger)