The Fruit of Incommensurability

Abstract

As important as the questions of the incommensurability and commensurability of religions among themselves are, perhaps more important questions lie in the area of how one's views of incommensurability affect the way one interacts with other religious groups. Incommensurability can lead to arrogance and triumphalism, or it can lead to mutual respect and two-way conversations. When I was first asked to respond to John Cobb and his thoughts on incommensurability, I thought for sure I would find a great deal with which I would disagree. I thought for two reasons. First, I describe myself as a theologically conservative Christian, and I don't think John would describe himself using those terms, at least as they are popularly understood. Second, I looked up the word incommensurable in the dictionary and discovered it means that which cannot be compared by the same standard or measure. Aha, I thought, I as a conservative Christian will be strongly in favor of the incommensurability of Christianity with other religions, and John will fight it tooth and nail, looking for ways to find reconciliations and harmonies among the religions. So, since John is my good friend, I prepared myself to disagree agreeably. Now I have heard and read John's paper, and I am not so sure I disagree with much of what he has to say at all. His position is much more nuanced than my simple dualism of the first paragraph, of course. If I understand him correctly, he would say religious systems are incommensurable on the human level, but not absolutely so. They are not linguistic islands unto themselves, incapable of meaningful conversation. They are incommensurable insofar as one is seeking to harmonize and homogenize their systems and terms, but they are commensurable insofar as they are able to converse with, learn from, and join hands with one another, particularly regarding common ethical problems, but even to a certain extent regarding truth claims and doctrines. With this all, I agree. Where I think a conservative Christian like me and John might disagree is in the area of where all this leads. John sees all humans and all religions on a truth search, trying through their different religious traditions to uncover what is real. Each religious tradition, and each religious person, reveals certain facets of truth and obscures others. Interaction with other religious groups transforms each side in the interaction by helping make the obscure in one's own tradition more visible by coming at it through a new, Buddhist-Christian Studies 16 (1996). ? by University of Hawai'i Press. All rights reserved. 52 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.112 on Wed, 07 Sep 2016 04:59:31 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms