The Postmetaphysics of Religious Difference

Abstract

This article contests the dominant paradigm in the theology of religions which promotes a type of pluralism purporting to recognise a limited form of “otherness” and “difference” but which emerges upon analysis to obviate these by incorporating religions into a single theological or philosophical schema, reducing their concrete plurality and particularity to an abstract unity based on ontotheological presuppositions. It therefore proposes a perspective that draws upon contemporary postmetaphysical thought, particularly the work of Rosenzweig and Levinas. It suggests that the appropriate posture in the face of religious difference is one that valorises otherness and nurtures and sustains religious difference.