Culture and Dialogue 6 (2018) 126-150 brill.com/cad Trialogue in an Interreligious Context: Reinterpreting the Dialogue Model of Martin Buber Josef Boehle School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham, UK
[email protected] Abstract In this article it is proposed to reflect on the structures of all dialogue by using a Tria- logue model: in the encounter between the dialogue partners the presence of a third dimension, Ultimate Reality, as well as the Ultimate Self of each of the dialogue part- ners are postulated and reflected upon. Trialogue, with this meaning, is a new model and is reinterpreting the core concepts used in the dialogical thinking of Martin Buber: I-It; I-Thou; and the eternal Thou. The concepts used in the Trialogue model are ap- propriate for an interreligious context: Ultimate Self and Ultimate Reality are concepts not limited to a specific religious tradition. Trialogue, understood as a universal type of encounter between persons, goes beyond the confines of Abrahamic traditions and a Western Enlightenment understanding of selfhood. Keywords Trialogue – dialogue – interreligious – Ultimate Reality – Ultimate Self – Martin Buber – consciousness – spirituality … © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi:10.1163/24683949-12340050Downloaded from Brill.com09/24/2021 02:01:20PM via free access Trialogue in an Interreligious Context 127 All real living is meeting. Through the Thou a man becomes I. Martin Buber1 ∵ 1 Introduction This essay reflects on the structures of all dialogue by using a Trialogue model:2 in the encounter between the dialogue partners a “third presence,” Ultimate Reality, as well as the Ultimate Self of each of the dialogue partners are pos- tulated and reflected upon.