Interreligious dialogue as an anthropological and theological necessity

Abstract

The starting points of Secretariat for Non-Christians (SNC)/ Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue (PCID) fostered inter-religious dialogue are that all human beings are naturally religious and that their dignity is not violable. Dialogue can even purify and deepen one's faith, and it opens the door to mutual enrichment. A person has a value as a subject who has entered into a dialogic relationship, whose experiences can be an enrichment for the other as well, and who, theologically speaking, is a participant in the history of salvation and belongs to the sphere of general revelation. One of the aims in dialogue is, according to one SNC/PCID document, to help all partners to become better people. The SNC/PCID sees in the Trinitarian mystery the theological foundation of Christian-Muslim relations. The Trinity is not only the basis for inter-religious dialogue, it is also the principle of all Christian spirituality expressed in inter-religious encounters.Keywords: Christian spirituality; Christian-Muslim relations; interreligious dialogue; pontifical council for interreligious dialogue (PCID); revelation; salvation; secretariat for non-Christians (SNC); theological necessity; Trinity