Description:
Synthesizing the thinking of the most prominent scholars, Professor Edmund Chia discusses practically everything that should be known about Christianity's encounter with other religions in this comprehensive book. Topics include:
- the invention of the idea of World Religions and World Christianity
- the Bible and the church's attitude toward other faiths
- Vatican II, Asian Christianity, and interfaith dialogue
- the what, why, when, and how of dialogue
- the global ecumenical movement
- theologies of religious pluralism
- cross-textual hermeneutics
- comparative theology
- interfaith worship
- religious syncretism
- multiple religious belonging
- interfaith learning in seminaries.
Brief description:
Archbishop Michael Louis Fitzgerald, MAfr, was ordained priest as a member of the Society of Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) in 1961, and he obtained his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University (1965) and a BAhons in Arabic from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University (1968). He served on the General Council of the Missionaries of Africa (1980-1986) and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. He was ordained bishop in 1992 and was raised to the rank of archbishop in 2002. From 2006 to 2012, he was apostolic nuncio in Egypt and delegate to the League of Arab States. He is author (with R. Caspar) of Signs of Dialogue (1992); Dieu rêve d'unité (2005); (with John Borelli) of Interfaith Dialogue (2006), and of numerous articles.
Review Quotes: "This is an original and comprehensive introduction to the encounter between world Christianity and world religions. The book covers the latest scholarly debates, yet it is written in comprehensible language. Rooted in his longtime Southeast Asian experience, the author succeeds in writing about polarities in thinking about inter-faith dialogue in a holistic way."Frans Wijsen, Chair of Empirical & Practical Religious Studies, Radboud University, The Netherlands