20/05/2024 14:15 - 16:30

HALL: FONDAZIONE SICILIA - SALA DEI 99

Proponent: Schmidt-Leukel P., Schneider M.

Chair: Rüsch M., Schneider M.

Speaker: Lange M., Race A., Rüsch M., Schmidt-Leukel P., Schneider M., Sugirtharajah S.

Religious diversity, with its challenges and promises, is increasingly raising public awareness. Religious communities around the world need to make up their mind about religious "others", both practically and doctrinally. Within Christianity, the latter is now discussed under headings such as "theology of religions", "comparative" or "interreligious theology". These indicate a highly dynamic field taking prominence in global theological and interreligious discourse. The two sessions of the panel offer some fresh insights into recent research and debates.
The first session addresses the question of how constructive impulses from the work of John Hick can be developed further. It is opened by two students of Hick, Alan Race and Sharada Sugirtharajah. While Race will focus on contemporary criticism of Hick raised by post-liberal theology, Sugirtharajah discusses, from a Hindu background, the spiritual implications of Hick's pluralism with an emphasis on the sonic dimension of religious experience. Schmidt-Leukel and Schneider explore how Hick paves the way for inter-faith learning and constructive interreligious theologies.
The second session offers new perspectives emerging from the specific field of inter-faith encounter in Japan. Wamae Muriuki and Markus Rüsch explore different aspects of Shin-Buddhist interpretations of religious "others". Mirja Lange analyses how Western liberal Protestants related to the religious world of Japan during the 19th and early 20th century.