Interreligious Dialogue: A Case Study Approach in Respect to the Vatican and the World Council of Churches

Abstract

Interreligious dialogue and the promotion of interfaith relations is a feature of our times. During the twentieth century, global Christianity—as represented in an ecumenical sense by the Vatican and World Council of Churches (WCC)— reached a position wherein, initially, interreligious dialogue, subsequently also ‘interfaith relations’ to reflect a broader scope and agenda, became affirmed and embraced. This has been in no small measure due to the rising influence of Asian and African Christian leadership and engagement during the 20th century in respect of both the Vatican (e.g. Cardinal Francis Arinze) and the WCC (e.g. M.M. Thomas, Paul Devanandan, Wesley Ariarajah). In recent decades the term ‘World Christianity’ has come into vogue, almost eclipsing the term ‘ecumenical Christianity’ as the referent for world-wide Christianity. Whereas ecumenism—or the ecumenical movement—arose out of early 20th century ecclesial motivations to address questions of Christian mission and unity, the relative innovation of the ‘World Christianity’ appellation tends to transcend even the inclusiveness of ecumenism, at least in terms of institutional expression. It highlights the transcendental character of catholicity—that urgrund inclusivity that is a mark of what it means to be ‘members one of another’. All Christians everywhere, together form one vast global community, at least in some ideal sense. It is more than ecclesia; it finds a parallel in the Islamic notion of Muslims forming a single ummah. Building on Henry van Dusen’s conceptualisation of World Christianity as a quest to promote Christian mission and unity (Robert 2009), this contribution considers World Christianity to indicate this consciousness of belonging to a worldwide Christian oikoumene and sees the World Council of Churches and the Vatican, being “two extensive networks that knit together Christians from various parts of the world” (Cabrita and Maxwell 2017: 31), as key institutions that promote such a consciousness. Within this Christian oikumene there has been an increasing consciousness about ‘the religious other’ and about the