Christian Theology and Inter-religious Dialogue

That Professor Wiles has now turned from the field of Christian doctrine and its history, for which he is so well known, to that of inter-faith dialogue is an indication of the importance which that subject is now assuming. This is not a book, he confesses, which he had expected to write, but in recent years he has increasingly felt that the close co-existence of different faith-communities in the modern world is as important a background to Christian theology as the rise of the scientific world-view. In his book, which arises out of lectures at Manchester and Yale universities, Professor Wiles begins by asking whether acceptance of the possibility of open dialogue with other religions is not a desertion of the way in which the church has understood its faith down the ages. He then goes on to argue that pressure to acknowledge other religions is only one of several pressures arising out of changes in contemporary knowledge and experience of the world which Christians face today. A third chapter examines how Karl Rahner tried to incorporate these changes into a coherent theological position, and the last chapter builds on this approach and offers a personal account of a Christian theology for dialogue. At a time of increasing conservatism and opposition to interfaith activity in the churches, here is encouragement to those who believe that narrow christocentricity is not the way forward.