Inter religious Dialogue

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Shakuhachi

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It is not for everybody but I enjoy it. The Bible, starting with what we call the Old Testament, gives us a revelation of God to a particular culture at a particular time. Some of it is universal but some not. We can see how revelation changed in the life and preaching of Jesus. But that also was in the Jewish context. I just think that God is too awesome to be contained in the revelation of a single culture. There is certainly enough there for one’s spiritual needs but where else can we find revelation.

We took that revelation and through pagan Greek and Roma cultures added to it or reasoned with it, articulated it and developed it. Did we not?

So I think it worth while to look at other religions and perhaps come back to our own with a wider appreciation and understanding for the way God speaks to all his people in all times and in all cultures.

Is ther revelation in the Vedas? Upanishads? I Ching? Tao Te Ching? Koran? Buddhism? I think it is worth exploring. Some see this as a threat or danger to Catholicism. And it could be if one is not careful to be clear on distinctions. But overall, if we hope to move towards a world where people can live together in peace, I think we neeed to make the effort to understand and appreciate each other’s strongly held beliefs while not necessarily agreeing with them.
 
All of Scripture gives us a revelation of God or it would not be in the Canon.
Sure, it may have cultural details of the day, but there is underlying TRUTH throughout.

We respect other religions because we understand they are on the path.
Philosophies are just that. The musings of man.

I don’t see a threat, I just don’t really see anything there that is somehow lacking, missing, or errant in Catholicism.

Great you are studying, but be careful not to begin to believe things contrary to the faith such as “such and such is not sinful” “there is more than one God” “that morality is subjective” “that nothing really matters, we’re all going to heaven” or such misleading ideas.

In other words, a Catholic shoudl know a little about other faiths in order to lead people to the Church or dialogue with them, but not so much that it changes our beliefs.

What you have is a pearl of great price.
Don’t drop it!

Peace.
 
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Think of how Greek philosophy and Roman law helped shaped what we now know as Catholicism. The depths of God are infinite. God has always touched people across cultures. That touch has been interpreted in many different ways. We are comfortable in the language and images of the Jude’s-Christian heritage and that is great and enough for many. But exploring other languages and images has helped me come back to our own with fresh appreciation and deeper understanding. This is especially true when I go through a dry spell and our familiar images and concepts dont seem to do much for me. Seeing them in a new light with new insight always refreshes my journey.

I am not saying we all must do it, as some do find it dangerous and threatening. But many of us find it helpful.
 
Did I say it was bad? No. 😑
But we see every single day people who have garnered bizarre notions about God and the afterlife from “dabbling” in these things.
If you’re an educated person and disciplined, well catechized go for it.
But it’s not for everyone Particularly those who don’t even know their own faith well.
 
Yes, for sure. There is plenty to dig into in our own back yard.

But one area I try to understand more is the “Father” image. We tend to think of the Father in terms of the Old Testament and, thanks to Jesus, in a more approachable personal way. But it only scratches the surface. As we seek to know Jesus, The Father and the Holy Spirit personally, it takes us to en encounter starting within our own hearts. All humans have hearts and I think we benefit from sharing our experiences ( at least those we choose to share, others remain deeply personal and unspeakable). Hearing how a Hindu or Muslim experiences God, not just believes or understands God, but experiences God, can break open our own interpretation of our experience.

I think beliefs come from interpretations. A belief has to have some correspondence with our experience to be meaningful. People of all faiths find some meaning in their beliefs. I like to hear them out. But now I am rambling. Sorry.
 
Shakuhachi said:
ther revelation in the Vedas? Upanishads? I Ching? Tao Te Ching? Koran?
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I think there is natural revelation which is a reflection of God and much truth and wisdom contained in these various religious writings. However, I would reject the notion that there is supernatural revelation from God himself in, say, the Quran, because then God would be contradicting himself, which is absurd. How can truth contradict truth? And since they are purely natural, human works, and not supernatural revelations from God, they also contain mistakes, errors, mistruths and falsehoods.
 
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Yes. I agree but even with “supernatural” revelation people come away with erroneous interpretations. Wisdom and truth, it seems to me, will not be culture bound. Would you call them “natural” revelation by means of reason and intuition?
 
Supernatural revelation is subject to erroneous hermeneutic, that much is true.

But ontologically, supernatural revelation is qualitatively different than natural revelation.

Natural revelation flows forth from the mind of man. Supernatural revelation flows forth from the mind of God.
 
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Spyridon said:
. How can truth contradict truth?
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It may be only partially true, but not 100% true. Even some Catholics don’t think that the Bible is 100% true. Take for example, the revelation that God was walking in a garden on earth. Or that the revelation that the sun and the moon stopped and stood still in the middle of the sky and remained motionless there for one whole day. How many Catholics believe that this is 100% true?
 
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AlNg said:
Take for example, the revelation that God was walking in a garden on earth. Or that the revelation that the sun and the moon stopped and stood still in the middle of the sky and remained motionless there for one whole day. How many Catholics believe that this is 100% true?
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You can believe those are true stories without interpreting them in a literalistic fashion. The Scriptures contain various genres of writing.

If you read the Song of Songs with the same interpretive lens as you read 1 Kings, then you will run into problems fast.

Catholics are required to believe the Scriptures are 100% true and contain no errors - any supposed Catholic who believes the Scriptures contain falsehood, lies, or untruth is confused and erring at best, or, at worst, is a modernist heretic.

Personally, the way I interpret those two stories is this: God walking in the garden could be either the pre-incarnate Christ literally walking in the garden, or it could be a figure of speech for the wind of God blowing through the garden. Either one is acceptable. The sun standing motionless, I believe that the sun didn’t physically stop moving, but rather that God simply made it appear as if the sun had stopped moving in that part of the world.
 
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I think this is important to become more open-minded and open-hearted. (And before someone else says it, being open-minded does NOT mean our brains will fall out!) Knowledge is one of the sources of our tolerance and understanding. But beware: “a little learning is a dangerous thing,” according to Alexander Pope, in that we should not consider ourselves experts just because we have dabbled in the teachings of other religions, or our own.
 
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That is a very good point. “I read a book so I know a lot about …”
No, not even close.

And it is important to be open minded about our own beliefs. There is a pretty wide orthodox spectrum as mentioned in the post above. And we should each want to grow in our own spirituality. That is part of my point here. By visiting other religions, other world views I come back to my own seeing it a little differently with more possible meanings.
 
The only “inter religious dialogue” we need is to inform them of the truth. That is the only merciful thing to do.
 
In that case, you’d better learn a lot about their beliefs so that you can successfully debate against theirs in an effort to persuade them of the truth. And I think dialogue is a good way to learn about others’ beliefs.
 
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AlNg said:
figure of speech is not 100% true.
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How so?

So if I say “it’s raining cats and dogs outside” and there’s no felines and canines plummeting to the ground from the heavens, that makes me a liar?
 
Spyridon said:
How so?
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It is either God was walking in the garden or it was not God who was walking in the garden, but it was a wind blowing in the garden. A wind is not omnipotent and omniscient and all merciful. In fact some winds are downright murderous as many children have been killed by tornadoes and hurricanes.
BTW, if God is above time and outside of spacetime, how was He walking around in a garden?
 
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