Research Article

Jewish Understandings of the Religious Other

[That Judaism is specifically the religion of one people, Israel, shapes its entire discourse about the religious other. Halakhah (Jewish law) defines permitted interactions between Jews and non-Jews, thus setting the parameters for the traditional Jewish theology of the “other.” Applying biblical concerns, Jews are absolutely prohibited from any activity that might generate idolatrous behavior

Knowledge of Allah and the Islamic View of Other Religions

[One way to submit oneself to the will of the divine is to contemplate the revelations of the Qur’ân. For Muslims, it is God manifested in human speech and for centuries Muslims have attempted to study the surface and hidden meanings of the Qur’ân in order to know more of Allâh’s presence. The author explores

Hindu Views of Religious Others: Implications for Christian Theology

[Classical Hindu thinkers perfected their orthodoxy and orthopraxis in part by critiquing alternatives. Relying on hierarchies in knowledge, education, morality, and even human nature, they judged other positions defective versions of their own. Theists additionally found God implicitly present in other incomplete, misguided beliefs providentially permitted by God for a time. Likewise, Hindu theorists of

Buddhist Perspectives on Truth in Other Religions: Past and Present

[Recent Vatican documents affirm a unique salvific efficacy for the Catholic Church by establishing its representations of the Absolute as uniquely close to the Absolute. But what is the human problem necessitating salvation? Buddhist traditions have defined that problem as the human tendency to absolutize and cling to representations, in daily life and in religious

Japanse Buddhist Perspectives and Comparative Theology: Supreme Ways in Intersection

[Adherents of a particular religion consider their own tradition as absolutely authoritative for them in regard to ultimate destiny and norms for human living. The author here examines three views of the Supreme Way in Japanese Buddhism, namely, of Kūkai, Dōgen, and Nichiren. He then sets these views in conversation with Catholic perspectives on key

Jacques Dupuis’s Contributions to Interreligious Dialogue

[The author summarizes the content of Jacques Dupuis’s latest work, Christianity and the Religions: From Confrontation to Dialogue (Orbis, 2002) and indicates some of the points where it differs from his earlier, longer book, Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism (Orbis, 1997). He then reflects on the terminological and substantial issues that Dupuis has

The Broken Wings of Eros: Christian Ethics and the Denial of Desire

[In this segment of the Notes on Moral Theology, the author argues that overcoming one’s suspicion of eros in Christian ethics would lead to a more integrated vision of the human person, moving beyond the dichotomies between rational knowledge and emotional cognition, spirituality and sexuality, agape and self-love. At the same time, positive recognition of

The Open Debate: Moral Theology and the Lives of Gay and Lesbian Persons

[In this final section of the Notes on Moral Theology the author explores the extensive work of Catholic moral theologians reflecting on morality and the lives of gay and lesbian persons. He demonstrates that moral theologians not only critically engage a variety of statements by the different offices of the magisterium, but also investigate the

Sacrifice Unveiled or Sacrifice Revisited: Trinitarian and Liturgical Perspectives

[Recognizing that the Christ event has done away with sacrifice in the history-of-religions sense of the word, this article attempts to unveil the true meaning of Christian sacrifice from trinitarian and liturgical perspectives which enable us to see that sacrifice is, first, the self-offering of the Father in the gift of the Son, and then

Revisiting the Franciscan Doctrine of Christ

[Franciscan theologians posit an integral relation between Incarnation and Creation whereby the Incarnation is grounded in the Trinity of love. The primacy of Christ as the fundamental reason for the Incarnation underscores a theocentric understanding of Incarnation that widens the meaning of salvation and places it in a cosmic content. The author explores the primacy

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