Vatican Il’s Gaudium et spes sees the church-world relationship in dialogical terms. This article argues that conceiving the church-world relationship as a dialogue is an important element in the council’s recognition of what Charles Taylor calls the “modern social imaginary.” The article defends the council’s view of dialogue against the argument that contemporary Western views of dialogue are inherently relativist. It concludes by investigating the rich implications of this dialogical view for the church’s primary task of proclamation.