The Interfaith Imperative

Globally we seem torn between local, exclusive forms of religion, which can cause immense spiritual and physical damage to people, and a bland secularism that confines the religions to safe havens, each offering its own private options for ""spirituality"" within a secularized global politic. In this context the religions tolerate one another but cannot engage in mutually challenging and transforming dialogue.

Thompson argues that it is only through dialogue that the distinctive truths of the faiths emerge. Moving beyond the threefold paradigm that has limited dialogue, and challenging modern secularism and postmodern relativism alike, he argues for a dialogue-based realism that is rooted in the Christian doctrines of creation and Trinity.

Turning to recent theological approaches, Thompson both affirms and criticizes narrative and postliberal theologies, liberation theology, and the revival of negative theology. The transfiguration of Jesus provides a model for the way theology proceeds in dialogue, from an initial naivety, through metaphysical construction and deconstruction, to a new metaphorical ""interillumination."" Thompson sets forth a utopian hope for ""the interreligious city of God, shining with the divine, interilluminative rainbow light reflected from the many faiths, including the secular faith.""

""Ross Thompson critically scrutinizes the current debate in all its complexity and diversity. Thompson develops his own engaging and challenging path that will not leave the reader unmoved, whatever their own approach. His commitment to carrying on conversations from within traditions that become transformed by those conversations shows a fine sensibility that is both interdisciplinary and also profoundly theological."" 
--Gavin D'Costa, Professor of Catholic Theology, Bristol

""Ross Thompson sets himself a challenging task: to respond to the secularists who deem the religions to be meaningless and to the postmodernists who see them all imprisoned in their exclusivistic claims. Thomas creatively fashions both a philosophical and theological case that religious believers and scholars can respond adequately to both critiques only if they embrace the imperative of interfaith dialogue. Anyone engaged in the ongoing conversation on religious diversity will have to dialogue with Thompson's proposal.""
--Paul F. Knitter, Paul Tillich Professor Emeritus of Theology, World Religions, and Culture, Union Theological Seminary


Ross Thompson is an Anglican priest and freelance author. He is the author of the SCM Studyguides to The Sacraments (2006) and Christian Spirituality (2008), and Buddhist Christianity (2010).