Academic literature on the topic 'Christianity in literature'

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Journal articles on the topic "Christianity in literature"

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Sariri, Meilina Simon. "Violence in the Religious Language of Christianity: Historical Analysis of Christian Religious Language Containing Violence as a Source of Critical Theology." PASCA : Jurnal Teologi dan Pendidikan Agama Kristen 20, no. 1 (May 31, 2024): 11–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.46494/psc.v20i1.347.

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Historical fact indicates that the religious language of Christianity is rife with violence. The spiritual language is echoed in such bloody tragedies as war, murder, and punishment. This study aimed to encourage Christianity to understand violent religious language by viewing it in a reflective frame. The study uses qualitative methods to analyze history, so the literature that records the incidents of Christianity's involvement in violence is used. Analysis of the various literature produced two essential things as critical reflections on Christian theology. Based on historical facts of Christianity's involvement in violence, Christianity was at one time in a phase creating its doctrine (violence is not God's will), and Christianity played God (God did not engage in violence). That discovery is supposed to be part of a critical vehement from a violent point of view.
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O'Briant, Jack. "Fluid Faiths: Reading Religion Relationally in Asian American Literature." Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association 55, no. 2 (September 2022): 97–121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/mml.2022.a924154.

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Abstract: While the designation of Asian American literature as a field dates back to as recently as the 1970s, it is nevertheless surprising that, to my knowledge, there is not a single scholarly monograph on the topic of religion in Asian American literature. However, in religious studies and the social sciences, there is a growing body of scholarship examining the role of religion in Asian American communities, and particularly, but not exclusively, the prominence of various expressions of Christianity therein. Despite this prominence, criticism within the field of Asian American literature has largely interpreted the presence of Christianity primarily in terms of its associations with oppressive colonial regimes. This article demonstrates the value of supplementing such readings with greater attentiveness to the specific religious histories underlying Asian American literature in order to better account for the ambivalence—rather than outright antagonism—toward Christianity that seems characteristic of many Asian American literary texts. Such an approach implies, just as national and racial identities are historically complex and often contested categories, that religion's cultural fluidity makes it an equally rich site for understanding literary expressions of the painful loss and transformation as well as the unexpected richness and beauty manifested within the conditions and consequences of global migration. Drawing on Shu-mei Shih's notion of relational comparison, the article turns to scholarship on the history of Christianity in both Korea and Vietnam to demonstrate how these histories inform and aid in interpreting the ambivalences of Christianity's presence in the novels Dictée by Theresa Hak Kyung and The Gangster We Are All Looking For by lê thi diem thúy.
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李英和. "Shusaku Endo’s Literature and Christianity." Japanese Language and Literature Association of Daehan ll, no. 37 (February 2008): 231–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.18631/jalali.2008..37.015.

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Boratti, Vijayakumar M. "Protestant Christianity and Devotional Literature." International Journal of Asian Christianity 6, no. 2 (August 25, 2023): 250–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/25424246-06020006.

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Abstract The present article explores the first-ever publication of vacanas of the twelfth century in colonial Karnataka in which a native Christian convert (catechist) of Basel mission writes a treatise on the religious and philosophical tradition of Liṅgāyats. The intention is to study how a native catechist consciously thought through colonial categories and vernacular idioms in interpreting vacanas and employing them as a touchstone to adjudicate Liṅgāyatism. Totally antithetical to Christian views of Liṅgāyatism, the native Liṅgāyat scholars’ idea of vacana literature and what it represented for them will be examined in the second part. The article straddles two registers: a) construction of Liṅgāyat religious/textual traditions with Christian categories and formulation of an ethical framework by the catechist in a Christian tract Liṅgāyata Mata Vicāra (1874) and b) reception, subversion and re- constitution of such construction by the elite Liṅgāyat scholars in the post-1874 scenario.
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Harp, Richard. "Christianity." Ben Jonson Journal 14, no. 1 (May 2007): 116–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/bjj.2007.14.1.116.

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McKnight, Scot. "Early Christianity and Its Sacred Literature." Bulletin for Biblical Research 14, no. 1 (January 1, 2004): 144–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/26422703.

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Girard, René. "Literature and Christianity: A Personal View." Philosophy and Literature 23, no. 1 (1999): 32–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/phl.1999.0017.

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Houlden, Leslie. "Early Christianity and Its Sacred Literature." Theology 104, no. 822 (November 2001): 447–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0040571x0110400617.

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Harris, Trudier. "Christianity’s Last Stand: Visions of Spirituality in Post-1970 African American Women’s Literature." Religions 11, no. 7 (July 18, 2020): 369. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel11070369.

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Christianity appealed to writers of African descent from the moment they set foot on New World soil. That attraction, perhaps as a result of the professed mission of slaveholders to “Christianize the heathen African,” held sway in African American letters well into the twentieth century. While African American male writers joined their female counterparts in expressing an attraction to Christianity, black women writers, beginning in the mid-twentieth century, consistently began to express doubts about the assumed altruistic nature of a religion that had been used as justification for enslaving their ancestors. Lorraine Hansberry’s Beneatha Younger in A Raisin in the Sun (1959) initiated a questioning mode in relation to Christianity that continues into the present day. It was especially after 1970 that black women writers turned their attention to other ways of knowing, other kinds of spirituality, other ways of being in the world. Consequently, they enable their characters to find divinity within themselves or within communities of extra-natural individuals of which they are a part, such as vampires. As this questioning and re-conceptualization of spirituality and divinity continue into the twenty-first century, African American women writers make it clear that their characters, in pushing against traditional renderings of religion and spirituality, envision worlds that their contemporary historical counterparts cannot begin to imagine.
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Marty, Martin E. "Christianity and Literature: Covertly Public, Overtly Private." Christianity & Literature 47, no. 3 (June 1998): 261–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/014833319804700302.

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This article is based upon an address to the Conference on Christianity and Literature at the Annual Convention of the Modern Language Association in Toronto on 29 December 1997. The invitation asked me to comment on the public/private distinction that I make as Director of the Public Religion Project and to accent the “cultural context,” which fits my History of Culture faculty assignment and three decades of writing Context, a newsletter relating religion to culture. I was to inform it theologically, which a divinity professor is supposed to be able to do, and to show some curiosity about the literary theme, as my decades-long stint as literary editor at The Christian Century should poise me to do. Under it all my limiting job description matches a badge provided me at a conference in Tübingen, where the hosts handed out identifications marked “Theologian of History,” “Theological Historian,” and “Historical Theologian.” Mine read simply, “Historical Historian.”—MEM
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Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Christianity in literature"

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Sanders, Adam K. "Mimetic Transformations of Sacred Symbols: Christianity in Appalachian Literature." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2005. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1009.

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Though many representations of Appalachian religious practices describe conservative, stagnant, xenophobic, and backward traditions, some authors present Christian practices in Appalachia as a potential source of social and individual progressiveness. Denise Giardina in Storming Heaven and The Unquiet Earth, Jim Wayne Miller in "Brier Sermon: 'You Must Be Born Again,'" and Lee Smith in Fair and Tender Ladies all represent "mountain religion" practices that offer relevancy not only to the characters in the novel but also to the reader. Analysis of these works through their symbolic representations of uniquely Appalachian religious traditions reveals the authors' commitment to sacralizing social and individual struggle through the sacred and mimetic transformations of characters and communities. By reusing and reinterpreting sacred patterns, both biblical and more contemporary regional patterns, the authors associate their works with sacred and regional traditions, demonstrating the viability, the flexibility, and the vitality of regional religious practices.
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Duff, Michelle. "Albert Camus's Ethical Condemnation of Christianity as Expressed in his Literature." Thesis, University of Ulster, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.529467.

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Scharper, Stephen B. "The Role of the Human in Christian Ecological Literature." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp02/NQ37021.pdf.

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Staton, Maria S. "Christianity in American Indian plays, 1760s-1850s." Virtual Press, 2006. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1364944.

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The main purpose of this study is to prove that the view on the American Indians, as it is presented in the plays, is determined by two dissimilar sets of values: those related to Christianity and those associated with democracy. The Christian ideals of mercy and benevolence are counterbalanced by the democratic values of freedom and patriotism in such a way that secular ideals in many cases supersede the religious ones. To achieve the purpose of the dissertation, I sifted the plays for a list of notions related to Christianity and, using textual evidence, demonstrated that these notions were not confined to particular pieces but systematically appeared in a significant number of plays. This method allowed me to make a claim that the motif of Christianity was one of the leading ones, yet it was systematically set against another major recurrent subject—the values of democracy. I also established the types of clerical characters in the plays and discovered their common characteristic—the ultimate bankruptcy of their ideals. This finding supported the main conclusion of this study: in the plays under discussion, Christianity was presented as no longer the only valid system of beliefs and was strongly contested by the outlook of democracy.I discovered that the motif of Christianity in the American Indian plays reveals itself in three ways: in the superiority of Christian civilization over Indian lifestyle, in the characterization of Indians within the framework of Christian morality, and in the importance of Christian clergy in the plays. None of these three topics, however, gets an unequivocal interpretation. First, the notion of Christian corruption is distinctly manifest. Second, the Indian heroes and heroines demonstrate important civic virtues: desire for freedom and willingness to sacrifice themselves for their land. Third, since the representation of the clerics varies from saintliness to villainy, the only thing they have in common is the impracticability and incredulity of the ideas they preach. More fundamental truths, it is suggested, should be sought outside of Christianity, and the newly found values should be not so much of a "Christian" as of "democratic" quality.
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Moore, Richard. "Christianity and paganism in Victorian fiction." Thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.683121.

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Jedrzejewski, Jan Pawel. "Hardy's church imagery as an expression of his attitude to Christianity." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.334945.

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Awano, Shuji. "Paradox and post-Christianity : Hardy's engagements with religious tradition and the Bible." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.361295.

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Gau, Nathan S. "An investigation of both of the cultural phenomenon of the Da Vinci code and the evangelical responses to it." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) Access this title online, 2005. http://www.tren.com.

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Reed, Annette Yoshiko. "Fallen angels and the history of Judaism and Christianity : the reception of Enochic literature /." New York, NY [u.a.] : Cambridge Univ. Press, 2005. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0514/2005018156.html.

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Laird, Benjamin Paul. "The formation, publication, and circulation of the Corpus Paulinum in early Christianity." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2016. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=230961.

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Books on the topic "Christianity in literature"

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Murphy, Daniel. Christianity and modern European literature. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1997.

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Steve, Teague, ed. Christianity. London: Dorling Kindersley, 2006.

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Self, David. Christianity. London: Hodder Children's, 2005.

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Penney, Sue. Christianity. Chicago, Ill: Heinemann Library, 2001.

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Penney, Sue. Christianity. Austin, Tex: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1997.

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Lace, William W. Christianity. San Diego, Calif: Lucent Books, 2005.

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Wallace, Holly. Christianity. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's, 2006.

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Martin, Nancy. Christianity. New York: Bookwright Press, 1986.

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Brown, Stephen F. Christianity. New York: Facts on File, 1991.

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Marsico, Katie. Christianity. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Cherry Lake Publishing, 2017.

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Book chapters on the topic "Christianity in literature"

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Saunders, Corinne. "Christianity and Middle English Romance." In Medieval Literature, 60–70. London: Routledge, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003416791-7.

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Feuerbach, Ludwig. "The Essence of Christianity." In Literature and Philosophy in Nineteenth Century British Culture, 87–91. London: Routledge, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003427865-14.

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Gounelle, Rémi. "Christian apocryphal literature: An overview." In The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Latin Christianity, 7–30. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1484/m.iscal-eo.5.102711.

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Gounelle, Rémi. "Christian apocryphal literature: A bibliography." In The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Latin Christianity, 127–36. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1484/m.iscal-eo.5.102718.

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"Index of Ancient Literature." In Pauline Christianity, 197–207. BRILL, 2002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789047401377_008.

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"Christianity and literature I." In Religion and Public Doctrine in Modern England, 24–44. Cambridge University Press, 2001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511598517.004.

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"Christianity and literature II." In Religion and Public Doctrine in Modern England, 104–29. Cambridge University Press, 2001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511598517.007.

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"JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY." In Review of Biblical Literature, 2021, 240–49. SBL Press, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2fwfz5j.19.

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Fiensy, David. "JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY." In Review of Biblical Literature, 2023, 271–74. SBL Press, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/jj.11660145.19.

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Romano, Monica. "The Reception of Christianity in China:." In Talking Literature, 85–100. Harrassowitz, O, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvc16rxs.12.

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Conference papers on the topic "Christianity in literature"

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Zeng, Haijin. "INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY ON THE CREATIVITY OF THE GUANGDONG POET HUANG LIHAI." In 9th International Conference ISSUES OF FAR EASTERN LITERATURES. St. Petersburg State University, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.21638/11701/9785288062049.25.

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Huang Lihai is one of the most active contemporary Chinese poets in the past two decades. His poems are a return to poetry, language and life. In the era of change and grand discourse dominating the aesthetic interpretation of literature, Huang Lihai’s poetry and spiritual exploration have obvious implications. His vitality in poetry creation and poetry activities has an important connection with his Christian faith and his thought resources. Huang Lihai pays close attention to individual life with heavy religious feelings, and tries to restore the relationship between man and god, the relationship between man and man, and the relationship between man and nature in the post-modern era. Backed by belief, he maintained human dignity and integrity with poetry, and opened up the divine dimension of poetry writing, which opened up a new aesthetic dimension for the Chinese contemporary poetry.
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Valchev, Valeri. "Nietzsche and the search of new values." In 6th International e-Conference on Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences. Center for Open Access in Science, Belgrade, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.32591/coas.e-conf.06.21225v.

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The aim of the present study is to analyze and present Friedrich Nietzsche's ideas about the role of values in philosophy and their reassessment. Over a period of time, Nietzsche's ideas regained popularity and brought back to the fore the topicality they had never lost. Speaking of F. Nietzsche and his ideas, we cannot fail to mention the concepts of revaluation, superman, Christianity and God. The other characteristic of F. Nietzsche is his aphoristic and metaphorical style, which is sometimes condemned and denied, sometimes supported and welcomed. Nietzsche's aspiration is to go beyond the masses, to search for the new and different in the projection of modern man - as a reappraisal of values and a search for new values. The other goal of the study is to show the similarities and differences of Nietzsche's thought with "dissenting" philosophers. There is a huge amount of literature on the subject, but for the present study, the works of F. Nietzsche will be used in the first place.
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Valchev, Valeri. "Nietzsche and the search of new values." In 6th International e-Conference on Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences. Center for Open Access in Science, Belgrade, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.32591/coas.e-conf.06.21225v.

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The aim of the present study is to analyze and present Friedrich Nietzsche's ideas about the role of values in philosophy and their reassessment. Over a period of time, Nietzsche's ideas regained popularity and brought back to the fore the topicality they had never lost. Speaking of F. Nietzsche and his ideas, we cannot fail to mention the concepts of revaluation, superman, Christianity and God. The other characteristic of F. Nietzsche is his aphoristic and metaphorical style, which is sometimes condemned and denied, sometimes supported and welcomed. Nietzsche's aspiration is to go beyond the masses, to search for the new and different in the projection of modern man - as a reappraisal of values and a search for new values. The other goal of the study is to show the similarities and differences of Nietzsche's thought with "dissenting" philosophers. There is a huge amount of literature on the subject, but for the present study, the works of F. Nietzsche will be used in the first place.
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Kayaoglu, Turan. "PREACHERS OF DIALOGUE: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND INTERFAITH THEOLOGY." In Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gülen Movement. Leeds Metropolitan University Press, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.55207/bjxv1018.

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While the appeal of ‘civilisational dialogue’ is on the rise, its sources, functions, and con- sequences arouse controversy within and between faith communities. Some religious lead- ers have attempted to clarify the religious foundations for such dialogue. Among them are Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth, Edward Idris, Cardinal Cassidy of the Catholic Church, and Fethullah Gülen. The paper compares the approach of these three religious leaders from the Abrahamic tra- dition as presented in their scholarly works – Sacks’ The Dignity of Difference, Cardinal Cassidy’s Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue, and Gülen’s Advocate of Dialogue. The discussion attempts to answer the following questions: Can monotheistic traditions accom- modate the dignity of followers of other monotheistic and polytheistic religions as well as non-theistic religions and philosophies? Is a belief in the unity of God compatible with an acceptance of the religious dignity of others? The paper also explores their arguments for why civilisational and interfaith dialogue is necessary, the parameters of such dialogue and its anticipated consequences: how and how far can dialogue bridge the claims of unity of God and diversity of faiths? Islam’s emphasis on diversity and the Quran’s accommodation of ear- lier religious traditions put Islam and Fethullah Gülen in the best position to offer a religious justification for valuing and cherishing the dignity of followers of other religions. The plea for a dialogue of civilizations is on the rise among some policymakers and politi- cians. Many of them believe a dialogue between Islam and the West has become more urgent in the new millennium. For example following the 2005 Cartoon Wars, the United Nations, the Organization of the Islamic Conferences, and the European Union used a joint statement to condemn violent protests and call for respect toward religious traditions. They pled for an exchange of ideas rather than blows: We urge everyone to resist provocation, overreaction and violence, and turn to dialogue. Without dialogue, we cannot hope to appeal to reason, to heal resentment, or to overcome mistrust. Globalization disperses people and ideas throughout the world; it brings families individuals with different beliefs into close contact. Today, more than any period in history, religious di- versity characterizes daily life in many communities. Proponents of interfaith dialogue claim that, in an increasingly global world, interfaith dialogue can facilitate mutual understanding, respect for other religions, and, thus, the peaceful coexistence of people of different faiths. One key factor for the success of the interfaith dialogue is religious leaders’ ability to provide an inclusive interfaith theology in order to reconcile their commitment to their own faith with the reality of religious diversity in their communities. I argue that prominent leaders of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are already offering separate but overlapping theologies to legitimize interfaith dialogue. A balanced analysis of multi-faith interactions is overdue in political science. The discipline characterises religious interactions solely from the perspective of schism and exclusion. The literature asserts that interactions among believers of different faiths will breed conflict, in- cluding terrorism, civil wars, interstate wars, and global wars. According to this conven- tional depiction, interfaith cooperation is especially challenging to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam due to their monotheism; each claims it is “the one true path”. The so-called “monothe- istic exclusion” refers to an all-or-nothing theological view: you are a believer or you are an infidel. Judaism identifies the chosen people, while outsiders are gentiles; Christians believe that no salvation is possible outside of Jesus; Islam seems to call for a perennial jihad against non-Muslims. Each faith would claim ‘religious other’ is a stranger to God. Political “us versus them” thinking evolves from this “believer versus infidel” worldview. This mindset, in turn, initiates the blaming, dehumanizing, and demonization of the believers of other reli- gious traditions. Eventually, it leads to inter-religious violence and conflict. Disputing this grim characterization of religious interactions, scholars of religion offer a tripartite typology of religious attitude towards the ‘religious other.’ They are: exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism. Exclusivism suggests a binary opposition of religious claims: one is truth, the other is falsehood. In this dichotomy, salvation requires affirmation of truths of one’s particular religion. Inclusivism integrates other religious traditions with one’s own. In this integration, one’s own religion represents the complete and pure, while other religions represent the incomplete, the corrupted, or both. Pluralism accepts that no religious tradi- tion has a privileged access to religious truth, and all religions are potentially equally valid paths. This paper examines the theology of interfaith dialogue (or interfaith theology) in the Abrahamic religions by means of analyzing the works of three prominent religious lead- ers, a Rabbi, a Pope, and a Muslim scholar. First, Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth, offers a framework for the dialogue of civilizations in his book Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations. Rather than mere tolerance and multiculturalism, he advocates what he calls the dignity of difference—an active engagement to value and cherish cultural and religious differences. Second, Pope John Paul II’s Crossing the Threshold of Hope argues that holiness and truth might exist in other religions because the Holy Spirit works beyond the for- mal boundaries of Church. Third, the Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s Advocate of Dialogue describes a Muslim approach to interfaith dialogue based on the Muslim belief in prophecy and revelation. I analyze the interfaith theologies of these religious leaders in five sections: First, I explore variations on the definition of ‘interfaith dialogue’ in their works. Second, I examine the structural and strategic reasons for the emergence and development of the interfaith theologies. Third, I respond to four common doubts about the possibility and utility of interfaith di- alogue and theologies. Fourth, I use John Rawls’ overlapping consensus approach to develop a framework with which to analyze religious leaders’ support for interfaith dialogue. Fifth, I discuss the religious rationales of each religious leader as it relates to interfaith dialogue.
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