Theología latinoamericana y pluralism religioso by Patricio Merino Beas, and: Interreligiöse Empathie lernen: Impulse für den trialogisch orientierten Religionsunterricht by Herbert Stettberger, Max Bernlochner (review)

Abstract

Patricio Merino Beas, Theologia latinoamericana y religioso. Bibliotheca Salmanticensis Estudios 340. Salamanca: Publicaciones Universidad Pontificia, 2012. Pp. 286. Paper. Herbert Stettberger and Max Bernlochner, Interreligiose Empathie lernen: Impulse fur den trialogisch orientierten Religionsunterricht. Religionspadagogik und Empathie 1. Munster: Lit Verlag, 2013. Pp. 200. 19.90 [euro], paper. What is future of interfaith dialogue? The two works reviewed here explore core issues shaping that future. Secularism (interpreting human experience exclusively in terms of this world) and pluralism (mutually exclusive truth claims co-existing within same society) have shaped interfaith exchanges over last century. The human inclination to divide our social world into and them has fascinated scholars from a variety of disciplines, from evolutionary biology through social sciences to history and literature. Some suggest primary function of religions is to mediate boundaries between us and them. In pre-modern societies, religious/ethnic identities were geographically determined. Most folks were born, married, raised families, and died within same ethnic/religious community. When different identities came into contact, result was usually violent conflict aiming at conquest and/or conversion. Talk might seek to avoid violence, but still aimed at conquest or conversion. In European societies, revulsion at incessant religious wars helped promote an emerging trust in power of enlightened reason. Intellectual elites decried conflicts associated with religious faith as they sought new means of promoting peace and progress. Western democracies have largely embraced a secular model for civil government and coexistence. Events over last year make it clear that some groups still feel that violence is only way they can assert their own group's identity and truth-claims. Both of works reviewed here attempt to provide constructive alternatives to such conflict. Both share conviction that how we think about the other shapes how we treat him or her. Stettberger and Bernlochner have edited a collection of twelve essays exploring possibility of learning for religious other, specifically among Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Germany. They propose empathy as a basic category for comparative theology and explore practical issues involved in promoting more positive understanding, perception, and appreciation of religious other. …