Catholicism in Dialogue by Wayne Teasdale

Author:Wayne Teasdale [Teasdale, Wayne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781461674726
Publisher: Sheed & Ward
Published: 2013-06-25T00:00:00+00:00

What Eck is saying is that pluralism represents a realistic, compassionate decision to accept actively the fact and value of diversity. It is a process of creatively and honestly engaging this diversity with great expectation of mutual understanding, growth, and an evolving, tangible sense of community between Christians and members of the other world religions. Pluralism is a commitment to dialogue because it seeks the Truth, the larger picture that emerges when we take into account the experience and insights of all the religions. Embracing this dialogical path makes us vulnerable to change from what we may learn. There is a willingness to accept the challenge.

Eck goes on to clarify that pluralism is not in any way a form of syncretism or a forced creation of a new religion based on elements from various traditions, as some critics might claim. The pluralist is not interested in developing another religion but in understanding what already exists, and the pluralist respects these traditions with their differences from the Christian faith.35 Eck is eloquent in its insistence that pluralism has its basis in the value and practice of dialogue, interreligious dialogue. In a summarizing paragraph that evaluates each of the three positions of Christianity, she emphasizes the importance pluralism attaches to interreligious conversation:

The isolation or dogmatism of the exclusivist is not open to dialogue. The inclusivist, while open to dialogue, does not really hear the self-understanding of the other. The truth-seeking of the pluralist, however, can be built on no other foundation than the give-and-take of dialogue. There is something we must know—both about the other and about ourselves—that can be found in no other way. She also tells us that the way of interreligious dialogue makes us true and effective instruments of relationship, the primary value of pluralism. This practice of dialogue is not concerned with debate of one another’s position, but with encounters that have the aim of genuine and mutual truth-seeking.36

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