Inter-religious Dialogue in EG, TTL, and CTC

Abstract

Abstract This article explores how theme of inter-religious dialogue is addressed in Evangelii Gaudium, in comparison with Together towards life and also The Cape Town Commitment. Its thesis is that these mission documents of three main global Christian denominations, drafted within three years of each other, address almost similar contextual concerns in contemporary era. In particular, reality and challenge of religious and cultural pluralism leave churches with little choice but to attend to them, especially given that Christianity has become post- Western religion while at same time West is also becoming post-Christian. Francis and Evangelii Gaudium While Francis' first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (EG), is focused on joy of proclaiming gospel, it can also be regarded as his very own proclamation of how gospel is to be preached in contemporary culture. (1) It is, as it were, pope's personal manifesto for Catholicism today. This was alluded to at press conference in Vatican for document's presentation when Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of Pontifical Council for New Evangelization, surmised that Pope Francis offers this document to Church as map and guide to her pastoral mission in near future. (2) The document became best- seller, with spokesperson for The Catholic Truth Society publisher in Britain attributing it to pope's presentation of the mercy and charity of gospel in very straightforward way, reaching hearts of people struggling with day to day issues and giving simple examples of how to live Christian life. (3) Commentators have had field day in employing document to assess Francis; for instance, George Weigel classifies him as revolutionary and regards EG as a revolution in self-understanding of Catholic Church. (4) We could, of course, compare pronouncements of Francis with those of his predecessors. We might observe differences between them, such as their theology and ecclesiology and especially their thrusts and language style. The uniqueness of pronouncement from first Latin American pope is in his taking perspective of those whom liberation theologians consider are on underside of history. When EG makes reference to experiences of Lent without Easter (EG [paragraph] 6), challenges evangelizers to take on smell of sheep (EG [paragraph] 24), describes church as makeshift hospitals (EG [paragraph] 76), and reprimands pastoral workers for making decisions as if poor did not exist (EG [paragraph] 80), it is speaking in language familiar to and in favour of those on margins of society, especially those who have to endure perpetual suffering and subjugation. But are themes and issues addressed by EG truly unique to Francis, or could there be other factors shaping them? The present article sets out to respond to this by comparing EG with mission and evangelization documents produced by other Christian communities encountering similar contextual realities in present era. The presupposition here is that perhaps lot of what is new and addressed in EG is response to post-modern challenges confronting churches in 21st century. The article's main task will be to bring Together towards Life (TTL) (5) document of World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Cape Town Commitment (CTC) (6) document of Lausanne Movement into conversation with EG in view of discerning areas of convergences and/or divergences. Specifically, attention will be given to how these documents articulate church's commitment to ministry of inter-religious dialogue and post-modern challenge of cultural and religious pluralism. But before engaging in this compare-and-contrast analysis it would be necessary to provide some context to three documents. Nature of Three Documents While EG is Francis' first official pronouncement, coming little more than nine months after his papal inauguration, it was not altogether his idea. …