Trends and Developments in Interreligious Dialogue

GEORG EVERS

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

50Years after Vatican II and Interreligious Dialogue The 50th anniversary of the beginning of Vatican II has been the occasion for many activities, conferences, and publications. The question “What has Vati- can II produced in the different fields of being church and in doing theology today?” has constantly arisen. Among the positive contributions that Vatican II introduced, the many activities in the field of interreligious dialogue and theology of religion rank high. There is no question that Vatican II meant the open- ing of the Catholic Church—and not only the Catholic Church but Christian churches in general—to the other religions, to their traditions, spirituality, and religious life. In the years immediately after the council we could observe an enthusiasm from the Christian side combined with high hopes of entering into dialogue with members of other religions. Given the experiences of sometimes aggressive missionary activities by Christian organisations, the potential participants in dialogue from other religions were somewhat sceptical regarding what this change on the part of Christians could imply. Even if they responded positively to the new openness and interest Christians showed for their respective religious traditions, the suspicion remained that the new readiness to enter into dialogue was nothing but a cover for the unchanged agenda of missionary activity by Christian churches. After all, Christians had believed for centuries that Jesus Christ was “the only Saviour” and that “there was no salvation outside of the church.” Other religions were seen as obstacles to Christian mission, which was destined to convert the world to Jesus Christ, as the proud slogan of the Edinburgh Conference in 1910 proclaimed: “Christianization of the World in this Century.” Given this negative history, it is amazing that in the years following Vatican II, so many dialogue activities were started on different continents and with different members of other religions. In recent decades interreligious dialogue has made progress and much trust has been built up among members of different religions. In the early years, the enthusiasm for and expectations of interreligious dialogue were high, sometimes too high, and the obstacles and difficulties of finding a new “dialogical language” and forms of dealing with the “other” were ignored. Those who were actively engaged in dialogue often forgot to keep in touch with the members of their own community who experienced difficulties with the quick pace in which attitudes were changing and old tenets of faith were abandoned.

228 TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Other negative elements, which extinguished some of the fervour and enthusiasm for interreligious dialogue, were the emerging trends of fundamentalism in various religions, often resulting in the use of force in the name of religion. For some opposed to interreligious dialogue, these developments were seen as proof that interreligious dialogue was an exercise only for some idealists, who were blind to the harsh facts of real life while pursuing an unreal dream of peace and understanding among members of different religions. Despite these objections and negative developments, during the last 50 years we have seen much progress in the practice of interreligious dialogue, which has led to a host of activities by members of different religions meeting, sharing their religious traditions, and working together for peace and harmony in society. After all, they are convinced that the alternative to perseveration in the efforts of working for understanding among members of different religions can only mean continued violence and strife in the name of religion. Any validity in the trite saying “There is no alternative” can found in reference to interreligious dialogue. Actual interreligious dialogue can be fruitful and sustained only when it is based on mutual trust and respect for the principle of reciprocity. Distrust and direct confrontations, as well as discrimination against partners and many other negative factors can make dialogue de facto impossible. Look- ing at the situation of several countries today we have to admit that there are many trends that are counterproductive to harmony and good relations among the various religious groups. Fundamentalist and communalist forces are active in countries like Indonesia, Pakistan, and India and engage in the persecution of religious minorities. Sometimes, these adverse tendencies are so strong that advocating the necessity of continuing the dialogue might look rather naïve, inappropriate, or even outright impossible. On the other hand, the theological insights gained in the field of theology of religions that God’s universal will of salvation is operative in all religions and that the Spirit is active beyond the boundaries of Christianity and Christian churches are not refuted when radical elements in certain religions start “Holy Wars” and other kinds of religiously motivated violence.

The Contribution of Asian Theologians to Interreligious Dialogue and Theology of Religions In religiously pluralist Asia the problem of the relationships between the different religions has been one of the central theological questions for Asian theologians when they started doing theology on their own by making use of their religious and cultural heritage. In doing so, they had to respond to the theological work developed in Western theology. Before Vatican II, only few European theologians were interested in reflecting on the question of the salvific significance of other non-Christian religions. These European theologians became the authors of the first declaration ever issued by a council on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, i.e. the declaration Nostra Aetate, that was inspired or prepared by theologians like Jean Daniélou, Henri

229 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 22 (2012) 2 de Lubac, Yves Congar, Otto Karrer, Karl Rahner, Heinz-Robert Schlette, and Joseph Ratzinger. What all these theologians had in common was that they had never been exposed to the living reality of any non-Christian religion nor did they have any experience of actually having been engaged in dialogue with members of other religions. There were practically no Asian theologians involved in preparing the texts for the council on non-Christian religions. Only some expatriate missionaries working in Asian countries were invited to contribute as experts to some parts of the document. The declaration Nostra Aetate marked a new approach in the theological reflection of the Church regarding other religions. What today is called “theology of religions” begun as theological reflection on the salvific value of non-Christian religions within Western theology in the decades preceding Vatican II.

When in the aftermath of Vatican II Asian theologians started to study the problems of interreligious dialogue and the theology of religions for themselves, they soon realised that the whole approach to the questions involved, the method applied, and the results found by the Western theologians, were not really satisfying and did not answer most of their questions. The approach by European theologians was “from outside,” studying the problem of non-Chris- tian religions without having had any existential contact with them. This can be seen in an exemplary way in the case of Karl Rahner, who developed his much-discussed theory of “anonymous Christianity” and “anonymous Chris- tians” within the parameters of traditional theology. Rahner did contribute some new insights on the salvific significance of the other religions, but these new insights were not “new” as regards the theological method he employed. What was “new,” however, was his assertion that there was a possibility within the boundaries of traditional theology of finding theologically sound reasons to attribute salvific significance to non-Christian religions. Starting from the premise of God’s universal will for salvation (1 Timothy 2:4), the Holy Spirit can be seen as operative in other religions. These religions, therefore, have a salvific function for their members, at least temporarily, until the moment of an existential encounter with Jesus Christ and his message. Rahner’s contribution can be understood as the work of a theologian “within the system of traditional Western theology” who showed ad intra, that is for the Christian community, a new way of evaluating the role of other religions without deviating from the teachings of the past. In actual interreligious dialogue, however, Rahner’s the- sis of the “anonymous Christian” is more of an obstacle than a help because it denies the authenticity and difference of the other in dialogue.

When Asian theologians approach the problem of the many religions and the theological problems that result, they refuse to stay within the parameters of traditional Western theology and claim to have the right to address the questions of a theology of religions anew. The fact that after so many centuries Christian mission in Asian countries has hardly made any impact on the great religious traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Jainism, Shintoism, and 230 TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS other religious traditions in Asia is in their eyes not just a failure of the missionary method employed by Western missionaries. It also poses new theological questions not yet answered by the church fathers, Western theology orthe Roman Catholic Church’s Magisterium. Asian theologians are convinced that they have to face the question of the salvific meaning of these religious traditions in a new way. Asian theologians point out the glaring inconsistency that, on the one hand, Christianity admits the possibility of the salvation of people of other religions, recognises God’s salvific will as mysteriously present and active everywhere, and believes in the work of the Spirit in other religions and, on the other, denies that these religions can be seen as “ways of salvation” for their members. But Asian theologians are faced with the fact that these allegedly obsolete and spent Asian religions are not only surviving but showing many signs of vitality and are spurning movements of renewal. Therefore, Christian theologians in Asia feel the need to reflect anew on the salvific meaning of these religions and their place in the history of salvation. They see the Spirit of God at work in many of the religious traditions in Asia and signs of the Kingdom of God in the way people of these traditions live their lives in private and in society. The theological answers traditionally given by Western theology that these religions are at most a preparation for the Gos- pel does not seem to match the reality they experience.

Asian Christian theologians are convinced that the Asian Churches with their experience of living as minorities in the world of the Asian religions are called in a special way to contribute to the theology of religions. For Asian theologians the central problem in reflecting on the other religions is not the relation of Christianity to these traditions but the question of the place of Christianity within the religiously pluralistic world of Asia. This means a significant change in the perspective and approach to other religions. For Asian theologians, interreligious dialogue is more than simply a particular problem among other theological problems because they see something of a heuristic principle for devel- oping a genuinely Asian theology in dialogue with other religions. At the first Plenary Assembly of the FABC in Taipei in 1974 the Final Statement says: In dialogue we accept the Asian religions as significant and positive elements in the economy of God’s design of salvation. In them we recognise and respect profound spiritual and ethical meanings and values. Over many centuries they have been the treasury of the religious experience of our ancestors, from which our contemporaries do not cease to draw light and strength. They have been and continue to be the authentic expression of the noblest longings of their hearts, and the home of their contemplation and prayer. They have helped to give shape to the histories and cultures of our nations. In dialogue with these religions, we will find ways of expressing our own Christian faith. The great religious traditions can shed light on the truths of the Gospel. They can help us understand the riches of our own faith. The great religious traditions can shed light on the truths of the Gospel. They can help us 231 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 22 (2012) 2 understand the riches of our own faith.(G.B. Rosales and C.G. Arévalo (eds.), For All the Peoples of Asia: FABC Documents 1970-1991[Manila: Claretian Publications, 1992], p. 14, 23). To describe this different approach to the other religious traditions, Asian theologians speak of a double loyalty or a double allegiance. As Christian theologians, they accept the Bible, the church fathers, the documents of the ecumenical councils and the teaching of the Roman Catholic Magisterium as sources and guidelines in their theologising. But, as Christian theologians with Asian roots, they respect the religious traditions and holy scriptures of other Asian religions as parts of their own cultural and religious heritage that de- mand their loyalty and allegiance as well. After all, they are convinced that the Holy Spirit has worked and still is working beyond the boundaries of Chris- tianity and the church. From the beginning, Asian theologians were convinced that interreligious dialogue must take into account the totality of the Asian situation, i.e. that it cannot be reduced to the sphere of religious expressions alone but must take up the social problems of today’s Asia as well, a continent marked by poverty, exploitation, and excess population growth. Since the religions, like Christian churches are intended for the service to the world, interreligious dialogue cannot be confined to the religious sphere but must embrace all dimensions of life: economic, socio-political, cultural, and religious. It is in the common commitment to the fuller life of the human community that we discover the complementarity, urgency, and relevance of dialogue at all levels—socio-economic, intellectual, and spiritual—among the common people in daily life as well as among scholars and people with deep religious experience. Consequently, the Office for Human Development of the FABC has started a series of seminars in the field of social and interreligious activities called “Faith Encounters for Social Action” (FEISA) that bring together people from different religions to reflect and work on social issues in Asian societies. With these activities, the FABC is giving its social activities a new religious meaning and is at the same time making clear that only by co- operating with members of other religions can the work of the small Christian churches for changing social conditions have any impact on the societies in Asia at large. This positive appreciation of the religious heritage of Asian peoples is not a conclusion arrived at by theological reflection and debate but an attitude and conviction born out of direct and existential living contact with the followers of these religions. Rather than a theological issue to be tackled by experts in the field of religious studies and theology, religious pluralism is a lived reality for all the minority churches in Asia. This constitutes the specific character of the approach to dialogue by Christians in Asia and by the FABC and distinguishes it from the theological discussion within the theological tradition of the West. The Asian churches see their task within the universal Church as addressing themselves to address themselves to the urgent task of giving new theological answers to the challenge of living within the orbit of the great religious traditions.

232 TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Within the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (OEIA) has played an important role in co-ordinating the various dialogue efforts of the Asian churches. Together with the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), it has organised several seminars on interreligious dialogue,such as the conference “Living and Working Together with Sisters and Brothers of Other Faiths in Asia” in Singapore in 1987.The series of the Bishops’ Institutes for Religious Affairs (BIRA) can be viewed as a well-organised study programme to help the bishops in the Asian churches on this important issue.

In a first series BIRA I-III (1979-1982), an attempt was made to take up the prevalent religions in a given sub-region of the FABC, to consider the existing relationship and to reflect on the theological problems and pastoral challenges resulting from them. The BIRA IV series (1984-1991) had as its aim to deepen insights into the nature and the challenges of interreligious dialogue. They dealt with specific aspects of interreligious dialogue, such as the notion of the Kingdom of God, the discernment of the work of the Spirit within and beyond the Asian churches and other related topics. The BIRA V series (1992-1996) looked for ways for “cooperation in harmony” with the major religions in Asia as the central theme of the different conferences. It started with a conference on the possibilities of co-operation between Christians and Muslims held in Multan, Pakistan in October 1992. Thailand was again the venue for looking into the ways of Christian-Buddhist co-operation at a conference in April 1994. The next conference in the series took place in New Delhi in October 1995 and dealt with the issues of Christian-Hindu dialogue and co-operation. The sem- inar BIRA V/4 held in Taiwan in April 1996 took up the philosophical and religious tradition of Confucianism and Taoism, so influential in several countries in East Asia, for the first timeand explored the ways of possible harmon- ious co-operation with the Christian churches of the FABC. The main purpose of BIRA/5 held in Indonesia in October/November 1996, was to evaluate the earlier seminars and to reflect on issues related to interreligious dialogue and to make suggestions for the future work of the FABC in this area. What all these seminars shared was that interreligious dialogue can be seen as an inte- gral commitment of the mission of the Asian local churches. The bishops agreed to make sure that the issue of interreligious dialogue would receive a prominent place in the theological formation of future priests and in the various pastoral programmes in their respective dioceses. There is general agree- ment that the efforts of the BIRA have helped the Asian churches, the bishops, pastoral agents, and the faithful to understand more deeply the theological implications of interreligious dialogue, to see the importance of dialogue for being church in Asia and the challenges for pastoral activities that interreligious dialogue poses.

233 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 22 (2012) 2

Selected Examples of Interreligious Activities after Vatican II Using the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Vatican II, it will be useful to look back and present some examples of interreligious activities. Given the multitude of such activities, only some more or less exemplary initiatives and activities will be described. During Vatican II in 1964, Pope Paul VI founded the Secretariat for Non-Christians, which was later renamed (1988) the Pon- tifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID). Its work and publications helped to strengthen the many activities of interreligious dialogue in the Catho- lic Church worldwide. In the follow-up to the discussions caused by the declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dominus Jesus, published on 6 August 2000, Pope Benedict XVI ordered the PCID to be dissolved and be absorbed into the Pontifical Council for Culture in 2006. This move seemed to be in conformity with the position expressed in the declaration Dominus Jesus, which declared the other religions to be mere expressions of the desire of humans for the Transcendent or Absolute but not inspired by “theological faith” (fides theologalis). In the aftermath of the negative reactions to the Regensburg speech on Islam in September 2006, Benedict XVI reinstated the PCID to its former status.

In the Protestant churches, especially in the World Council of Churches (WCC) after the WCC Assembly in Uppsala in 1968, new theological positions were marked with regard to other religions. The subunit “Dialogue with People of Livings Faiths” was set up in 1971 with the aims of promoting interreligious dialogue, helping churches reflect on the theological significance of other religious traditions, engaging in the actual practice of dialogue, and looking at its implications for the life and ministry of the churches, and finally, of being the WCC’s link to international interreligious bodies and organiza- tions. In 1992 the subunit “Dialogue with People of Living Faiths” was reor- ganized to become the “Office on Interreligious Relations” within the General Secretariat of the WCC and again changed in 2007 to become the “Programme on Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation.” Inter-Monastic Dialogue and Other Activities in Buddhist-Christian Dialogue The initiative for inter-monastic dialogue started in Japan with organising the first “East-West Spiritual Exchange” in 1979 when a group of Buddhist monks and nuns travelled to Europe to live for a few weeks in Benedictine and Trap- pist monasteries in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, and Italy. Four years later, a group of Christian monks and nuns made a return visit to Jap- anese monasteries. Out of this initiative developed what is now called “Inter- Monastic Dialogue.” Since 1977 monks and nuns of the Benedictine and Trap- pist traditions have been engaging in interreligious and monastic dialogue at the level of spiritual practice and experience with Buddhist monks and nuns of the Zen tradition in Japan. “Inter-Monastic-Dialogue,” as the movement was called when it assumed organisational structure, has been engaged in organising visits by Christian monks and nuns to Zen monasteries in Japan and 234 TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS hosting Buddhist monks and nuns in their respective monasteries first in Eu- rope and later in North America. Branches were later established in India and Sri Lanka as well. The activities of the Inter-Monastic-Dialogue movement were later extended to include monastic men and women from other religions as well. Since 2011, the organisation has been publishing the international, multilingual journal, Dilatato Corde, that provides information and back- ground contributions on inter-monastic dialogue worldwide. Already before Vatican II, some theologians in Japan started to reconsider the traditional attitude to other religions. The Jesuit Hugo Enomiya Lassalle (1898-1990) was one of the pioneers who looked to Zen Buddhism for ways to adopt meditation techniques and experiences for Christian meditation. Enomiya-Lassalle introduced the Christian Zen he developed in his centre Shinmeikutsu (Cave of Heavenly Darkness) near Tokyoin many meditation courses in Europe. His fellow monk Heinrich Dumoulin (1905-1995) contributed fundamental studies on the history of Zen Buddhism. The Nanzan Centre for Religion and Culture was set up in Nagoyain the 1970s. This institute founded Inter-Religio, the network of Christian organisations for interreligious dialogue that brought together institutions and individuals working in the field of interreligious understanding in East Asia.

In the years after Vatican II, many activities in the field of Christian-Buddhist dialogue were started in Sri Lanka. One of pioneers here was the Jesuit Aloy- sius Pieris who was the first Catholic priest to do a doctorate in Buddhist studies at a Buddhist institution. He later founded the Tulana Research Centre for Encounter and Dialogue in Kelaniya as a place for dialogue, meditation, research in the rich library, editorial work on the Palicanon and religious art. The sculptures Mary, the Samaritan woman, Jesus washing the feet of the apostles and others done by Buddhist monks and artists are unique. The dialogue with Buddhist monks led to new forms of interreligious co-operation in the field of sacred art. The work of the Buddhist monk Hatigammana Uttarananda Thera gained national and international renown; he created important frescoes and pictures illustrating and interpreting the life of Jesus, influenced by the dialogue experiences with Aloysius Pieris. Together with the Protestant theologian Lynn de Silva (1919-1982) from the Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue in Colombo, Pieris has been editing the journal Dialogue on Chris- tian-Buddhist studies and encounter. Notable contributions in the field of interreligious understanding and dialogue were also made by Anthony Fernando who taught for many years at the government university in Kelaniya, giving introductory courses in Christianity for Buddhist students. Conversely, in Christian institutions Fernando offered introductory courses into Buddhism for Christian students. A different type of Buddhist-Christian dialogue was developed by Michael Rodrigo OMI (1927-1987) who lived his commitment to interreligious understanding and dialogue by going out into the countryside and by sharing the life of the local people in villages. In 1980 he founded the small centre “Suba Seth Gedara” (Open and Welcoming House) in southern Sri 235 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 22 (2012) 2

Lanka in Badulla. From his contacts with the local people and the Buddhist monks of the place, Rodrigo developed what he called “examples of the dialogue of life on the village level.” This new type of Christian-Buddhist dialogue, which was not limited to dealing only with religious issues but engaged in social activities as well, met with opposition and resistance. When he refused to leave, he was shot while saying mass in the small chapel of his centre on 10 November 1987.

In the Buddhist countries in South East Asia (Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand) some initiatives in Christian-Buddhist dialogue were started in the years following Vatican II. One of the pioneers in this field was the Italian Oblate Marcello Zago (1932-2001) whowas in charge of interreligious dialogue for the Bishops’ Conference of Laos and Cambodia when he was sta- tioned in Laos in the early 1970s,.

To give only one example of Buddhist-Christian dialogue in Europe, the Euro- pean Network of Buddhist Christian Studies should be mentioned. It started in 1996 in Hamburg, where scholars and individuals engaged in Buddhist-Chris- tian dialogue met to exchange experiences and to coordinate their initiatives. The co-ordinating centre of the biannually held conferences is at the Benedic- tine Abbey of St. Ottilien. The conferences held so far dealt with important themes and problems in Buddhist-Christian encounter and dialogue. Themes that were treated were: Buddhist Perceptions of Jesus, Christian Perceptions of Buddha, Buddhism and Christianity and the Question of Creation, the Problem of Conversion, the Attitude towards other Religions. Christian-Muslim Dialogue Initiatives One of the most important initiatives in the field of Christian-Muslim dialogue in the Philippines is the “Silsilah Movement” founded in 1984 in Zamboanga in Mindanao by Fr. Sebastiano D`Ambra. Over the years, the movement has developed its own specific approach of establishing a “culture of dialogue in a dialogue of life.” Since 1986, the Silsilah Movement has been conducting annual training courses for priests, monks and nuns, seminarians, Muslim students, and other interested people during which the participants learn about the fundamental teachings of both religions. In 1987 the Emmaus Community was founded as a secular institute for Christian women who live together in a commitment to consecrate their lives to the cause of interreligious dialogue and to live a spirituality of dialogue. Silsilah is also engaged in the field of the social apostolate with literacy programs for fishermen, elementary schools in slum areas, and other activities. Another dialogue initiative is the Bishops’ Ulama Conference, a working group of Catholic bishops from Mindanao, bishops from the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, and representatives of the Ulama League that was founded in 1996 and has since met regularly to discuss fundamental and social problems among Christians, Muslims, and the representatives of the traditional religions of the indigenous tribal groups. 236 TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Since 1999, the Bishops’ Ulama Conference has organised an annual “Week of Peace in Mindanao.” Dialogue Initiatives in India In recent decades many dialogue centres have been established in India as well as several Christian ashrams. The Catholic Ashram Movement started already before Vatican II in 1950, when the French Benedictine monk Jules Mon- chanin (1895-1957) together with his fellow monk Henri Le Saux (1910- 1973), better known as Abishiktananda, set up the Shantinavam Ashram in Kulithalai, near Tiruchirappalli. Several years later Bede Griffiths, the British Benedictine monk, succeeded Abishiktananda as the spiritual leader (acharya) of the Shantinavam Ashram. In 1957 Fr. Francis Maheu, a Cistercian monk from Belgium, set up the Kurisumala Ashram in the mountains of Kerala, where the liturgy is celebrated in the Syro-Malabar rite. Already in 1928 the Anglican missionary J. Winslow (1882-1974) founded the Christa Prema Seva Ashram in Pune, which operated for a few years and was revived in 1972 through an ecumenical venture by Anglican and Catholic religious sisters. The first spiritual leader (acharya) was VandanMataji of the Sacred Heart Congregation who later founded the Jivandhara Ashram in Rishikesh. In 1977 the Catholic Ashram Association was founded with the aim of co-ordinating a spiritual exchange among the various religious congregations and individuals who had set up an ashram on their own. The Christian Ashram movement tries to promote a new form of religious life by taking over Indian, mostly Hindu traditions of community life, and meditation combined with an ecological lifestyle in their efforts to foster interreligious encounter and dialogue.

Jesuits were the pioneers in the field of Christian-Muslim dialogue in India and in 1977 formed the movement “Jesuits among Muslims,” from which the “Islamic Study Association” (ISA) developed. In the following years ISA con- ducted training seminars for people active in interreligious dialogue, published the journal Salaam and organised research seminars. Already in 1963, Pro- testants founded the Henry Martyn Institute in Hyderabad to foster Christian- Muslim dialogue and to conduct training courses for church workers in Islamic subjects.

Another initiative in Christian-Muslim dialogue was constituted by the Jour- nées Romaines, which were originally organised in 1956 by the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Christian Studies (PISAI) to bring together experts in the field of Christian-Muslim studies. After Vatican II these biannual conferences brought together people engaged in Christian-Muslim dialogue from North Africa, Europe, the Near East, and Asia to share their experiences and co-ordinate their dialogue initiatives. Other conference series developed from the Journées Romaines, such as the Journées Maghrébines for North Afri- ca, the Journées d’Arras for Europe, and the Asian Ways for Asia. The Jour- nées Romaines ceased in 1999 and resumed in 2011. 237 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 22 (2012) 2

Initiatives in Christian-Jewish Dialogue The fathers of Vatican II had originally intended only to make a declaration on the relationship of the Catholic Church to Judaism. Due to the interventions of the bishops from predominantly Muslim countries, the scope of the declaration was widened to include first Islam and then also, briefly, Buddhism and Hinduism in the Declaration on the Relation of the Catholic Church to Non- Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate. The main bulk of the declaration, however, was devoted to the new attitude of the Catholic Church to Judaism after the Holocaust or Shoah. In the years following Vatican II, there were many activities in the field of Christian-Jewish dialogue, not only in the Catholic Church but in many Protestant Churches in Europe and North America as well. One of the critical issues was the question of mission to the Jews. Starting with the Reformed Church in the Netherlands, which already in 1948 declared that it would no longer engage in missions to the Jews, other Protestant churches in Europe, especially in Germany, modified their policy with regard to missions to Jews. On 16 May 2012 Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, gave an overview of Jewish-Christian relationships in the last 50 years when he delivered the John Paul II Lecture on Interreligious Understanding at Angelicum University in Rome. He recalled the motives of the council fathers that led to the declaration Nostra Aetate, which had become so influential in changing the attitude of the Catholic Church to Judaism. Other documents on presenting Judaism in preaching and catechism (1985) and the paper “We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah” (1998) gave further guidelines for Jewish-Christian relations. On the institu- tional level, the foundation of International Jewish Committee on Interreli- gious Consultations (IJCIC) helped to put the Jewish-Christian dialogue on a firm basis. For both Pope John Paul II and his successor Benedict XVI, Jewish-Christian dialogue played and plays a major role. The anti-Semitic utterances of Bishop Richard Williamson, who denied the Shoah and whose excommunication had been lifted by the Vatican just prior to the public uproar he provoked caused only a temporary crisis.

Out of the host of activities in the field of Jewish-Christian dialogue, the Jew- ish-Christian Bible Week, a small initiative started in 1969 in the Hedwig- Dransfeld-Haus in Bendorf should be singled out. The idea of bringing Chris- tians and Jews together to study the Tanakh/Bible originated from the ecumenical encounter of Catholics and Protestants who realised the necessity of going “back to the roots” and establishing a new relationship with Judaism by inviting Jews to share in the common heritage of biblical tradition. The annual Bible study weeks were born out of contacts with Leo Baeck College in London and other contacts in Israel. Mention should be made of the pioneers of this venture, namely Anneliese Debray, Robert Spaemann, and Jonathan Magonet. Given the fact that this initiative is still being continued till today, it is one of the most enduring dialogue initiatives ever.

238 TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Jewish-Christian-Muslim Dialogue It was only consistent to extent of Jewish-Christian dialogue by inviting Muslims to join. The origin of the “Standing Conference of European Jews- Christian-Muslims” (JCM) goes back to a conference organised by Winfried Maechler, then director of the Protestant Academy of Berlin, who brought together Jews, Christians and Muslims in 1967. The experience of the Six-Day War and the fact that so many Muslims were living in Europe led to the idea of organising regular meetings of members of the three religions in Europe. These initiatives led to form the organisation of the standing conference JCM, supported by the Protestant Academy of Berlin, the Hedwig-Dransfeld-Haus in Bendorf, and Leo Baeck College in London. One of the most effective initiatives of JCM was the annual study weeks of Jewish rabbinical students, Catholic and Protestant theology students, and young Muslim students. The conferences dealt with topics common to all three religions, studying, such as “living as religious minorities in a secularized world,” the lives and work of “Moses Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas, Al Ghazzali,” or “Leo Baeck, Karl Barth, Muhammad Abduh.”It was also very important to live together and observe the religious obligations of Kashrut or Hallal when eating, to join or be present at the religious practices of prayer and liturgy of the other. The encounter of young Jews, Christians, and Muslims who did not yet hold any office in their respective religious communities and were not therefore obliged “to represent” those communities was helpful in their openness to the new experiences found in the different traditions.

To give only one example of interreligious experience in Israel, the Holy Land or Palestine, I would like to mention the work of Fr. Bruno Hussar (1911- 1996), the founder of “Neve Shalom-Wahat al-Salam” near the Trappist Abbey of Latrun. The small village “Neve Shalom” (Oasis of Peace) which he started in 1970 was intended to bring Jews, Christians, and Muslims to live together in peace, each one faithful to his own faith and traditions, while respecting those of others and thus being enriched by the other. Neve Shalom was meant to be a “school of peace” in contrast to the many “schools of war” that existed in so many countries as military academies. In Bruno Hussar’swords: People would come from all over the country to meet those from whom they were estranged, wanting to break down the barriers of fear, mistrust, ignor- ance, misunderstanding, preconceived ideas and to build bridges of trust, respect, mutual understanding, and if possible, friendship. These aims were realised through courses, seminars, group psychology techniques, shared physical work, and recreational activities. A foundation continued the work of the founder after his death. John Paul II and the World Day of Prayer on 27 October 1986 in Assisi During his many visits in Asia, Pope John Paul II always made it a point to meet with representatives of other regions. On these occasions he stressed the 239 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 22 (2012) 2 important role interreligious dialogue played in endeavours to foster peace and understanding in the world. The most lasting impression of John Paul II’s commitment to interreligious dialogue was the World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi on 27 October 1986. John Paul II had invited representatives from many religions to come to Assisi and to pray with him for peace in the world. The gathering in Assisi was unique because never before had so many representatives of different religions came together to pray first according to their own traditions and then assembled to pray one after the other for the common aim of peace. Christian traditionalists criticized the prayer meeting of different religions as an exercise in fostering idolatry. John Paul II answered his critics on different occasions by stating that for him every authentic prayer is a prayer prompted by the Holy Spirit who is miraculously present in the heart of every person. It came somewhat as a surprise when Pope Benedict XVI who, as prefect of the Congregation of the Faith had been one of the critics of the World Day, again invited representatives of different religions to come together in Assisi on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the World Day of Prayer, for a “Day of Reflection, Dialogue and Prayer for Peace and Justice in the World” on 27 October 2011.

The spirit of the original Assisi meeting of 1986 was kept alive by the Com- munity of Sant’ Egidio, which organised an annual international meeting of representatives of different religions in the work of peace and understanding. The last meeting took place in September 2012 in Sarajevo, which had been at the centre of the violent conflict between the ethnic groups in former Yugo- slavia during the civil war. The conference “Living Together is the Future: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue” brought together representatives from the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities that had fought one another in the past and whose representatives today used the occasion to make steps towards reconciliation. The representatives of the many religions present dealt with a host of problems that endanger peace and harmony in this world. As in the years before, the Community of Sant’ Egidio and its founder Andrea Ricardi succeeded in sending a signal of hope for a better future from Sarajevo. Some Recent Dialogue Initiatives In India, which has become somewhat notorious for news about religiously inspired violence in recent years¸ there has been a small but remarkable initiative of fostering interreligious harmony by the Indian Catholic businessman Eric Correa who established a small community for poor people in Muragoli, near Mangalore in Karnataka state. The Sauharda Nagara (Village of Harmony) is a hamlet of 34 houses, which were divided among 11 Hindus, 11 Catholics, 9 Muslims and 3 Protestant families. The members of the new village were de- termined by drawing lots, therefore, prior to their moving into the new village, they did not have any organizational ties with one another. On the one hand, the initiative is a social activity to provide homeless people with a place to live and, on the other, to offer a place where people of different faiths can live and 240 TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS share their lives together. These ideas were stressed by Bishop Paul D’Souza of Mangalore when he blessed the houses at the inauguration in October 2012.

In January 2012 religious leaders from different Asian countries, the Near East, and the USA met in Bangkok on the initiative of the Office for Evangelization of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) to consider the various social challenges commonly faced today and to look for ways to tackle these issues by engaging in religious dialogue and co-operation among members of the different religions. Participants came from Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Lebanon, Macao, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, and the United States. The issues discussed included violence, the economic crisis, corruption, conflicts between cultures and religions, the ecological crisis, and the loss of values. One of the aims of the conference was to demonstrate the richness of the various religious traditions and their potential to be made operative in combatting the present-day problems by co-ordinating their resources. The conference concluded with expressing the conviction that religious and cultural exchanges can help to alleviate tensions in countries where Christians, as well as ethnical religious minorities, are victims of at- tacks. To achieve this aim, the factors causing these tensions have to studied and the motives prompting these actions be singled out. Only then can joint efforts by the members of the religious traditions involved become fruitful.

The Christian presence on the Arabian Peninsula has been growing in recent years. In Kuwait, which has a population of 3.1 million, Christians number 1 million, Saudi Arabia has 1 million Christians as well, mostly migrant workers from the Philippines and India, living among a population of 27 million. Other countries in the Gulf States also have a sizeable Christian population. While Christians are forbidden to practise their religion in Saudi Arabia, in other Gulf States, such as Qatar, the emir donated property for the construction of16 Christian churches. When, on 15 March 2012, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, promulgated a fatwa in a response to an inquiry from Kuwait forbidding the construction of any new churches on the Arabian Peninsula and stating that all existing churches were to be destroyed, this declaration met with fierce opposition. The Austrian and the German bishops’ conferences protested against this attack against religious freedom. But critique also came from the Muslim side, in a statement by the leading imam of Turkey who accused the Saudi Arabian Grand Mufti of con- tradicting the centuries-old Islamic teachings of tolerance and sanctity of institutions belonging to other religions.

A somewhat contradictory sign with regard to the Christian presence in the Arab world came from Iraq, where the community of Mar Musa from Syria plans to build a new monastery as a place for encounter and prayer for Chris- tians and Muslims in Süleymaniye in northern Iraq. In April 2012 two monks and two nuns came to this old Marian pilgrimage site at the invitation of the 241 STUDIES IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE 22 (2012) 2 archbishop of Kirkuk, Mgr. Louis Sako. The Marian shrine in Suleymaniye will be used as place for meetings and prayer. The community of Mar Musa lives in a monastery in Syria dating back to back to the Abyssinian monk and hermit who lived there at the end of the fifth century. The monastic tradition was revived in 1982 by the Italian Jesuit Paolo Dall’Oglio who founded a small community of men and women that was recognised by the Syrian Catho- lic Church in 1991. In addition to prayer and meditation, the community has been active in ecumenical and interreligious activities. The community has been affected by the present internal strife in Syria when the monastery was attacked in February 2012 by a group of armed men who searched the place for weapons and detained the community and visitors who were present for several hours. They left after not finding any weapons.

The visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Lebanon in mid-September 2012 coincided with the violent protests of Muslims in the Arabic world and elsewhere against a video maligning the prophet Muhammad. These circumstances, however, were conducive to the international media reporting extensively about the trip and the speeches delivered by the pope. The highlight of the visit—as seen in the ecclesiastical world—was the proclamation of the results of the Bishops’ Synod on the Near East held in Rome in October 2010. In the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente, published during the Leban- on visit, we find a clear commitment to interreligious dialogue, which is said to be a requirement of the church’s nature and vocation (no.19). In the Middle East, this dialogue is based on the historical and spiritual bonds uniting Chris- tians with Jews and Muslims. As regards the relationship with Judaism, it is stated that despite many differences and misunderstandings throughout the course of history, both religions have interacted in the past and produced what is now known as Judeo-Christian culture. When speaking on the relation of Christians and Muslims, the statements of Nostra Aetate regarding Islam are repeated. Then, with a view to history, it is said that there has been a special form of symbiosis between the two religions with the Christians learning from the Muslims and being challenged by them. In the face of the present forms of violence observed today, the exhortation stresses the historical fact that the three religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam together have developed the rich culture proper to the Middle East. The insistence on religious freedom as an unalienable human right is important, including the freedom to choose the religion one considers to be true and profess in public one’s belief and symbols without putting one’s own life or personal freedom at danger.

In Memory of John Hick (1922-2012) John Hick, who died in February 2012, was well known as the main represen- tative of the theory of religious pluralism and a pluralist theology of religions that he developed in the latter stages of his long academic career. A member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Hick joined the Religious Society of

242 TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Friends (Quakers) towards the end of his life, in 2009. In 1967 Hick became professor at the University of Birmingham. During this time he was very active and engaged in interreligious encounter and dialogue in this most religiously pluralist city of the UK. He developed his ideas on religious pluralism and its theological implications on the basis of those experiences. In his God has Many Names (Westminster Press 1980) and especially in his major opus, An Interpretation of Religion. Human Responses to the Transcendent (1989), he developed his theory of religious pluralism that defends the principal parity of all the world religions as ways of salvation. This theory does not deny that there are differences between the different religions but insists that there is a parity in their function of offering salvation for their respective members. Hick’s theses on religious pluralism met with strong objections from his op- ponents who claimed that Hick’s position would lead to an untenable “religious relativism.” This opposition was strongly expressed by the then prefect of the Congregation for the Faith, Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who argued that Hick’s theory would lead to a purely horizontal understanding of human destiny, ignoring the transcendental aspects of the human spirit’s search in the encounter with the revelatory God. These objections were again raised in the declaration Dominus Jesus published in 2000. Ratzinger was convinced that Hick’s ideas had influenced other defendants of the pluralist theory of religions, such as Paul E. Knitter, Leonard Swidler, Jacques Dupuis, Roger Haight, and Tissa Balasuriya. In his response to Ratzinger’s objections, Hick pointed out that this criticism of his position has no foundation in his own writings, which obviously had been wrongly read or insufficiently understood. Whatever position one may take with regard to the undeniable fact of religious pluralism and its theological implications, John Hick has been very influential in inspiring the debate on this subject, which is of such great significance and importance in today’s religiously, culturally, and ideologically pluralist world.

243