01 November 2021
Interreligious Relations (IRR) Issue 27 – The Epistemic, the Hermeneutic, the Ethic, and the Aesthetic in Christian-Muslim Dialogue by Angus Slater
Abstract:
This article addresses contemporary practical and comparative theological forms of interreligious dialogue, aiming to highlight the difficulties of maintaining distinctions in this way. It does this specifically in the context of Christian-Muslim dialogue where, although great strides have been made in the academic study, there are broader political and social considerations which often play a role in the formation of well-meaning, but shallow, forms of interreligious consideration. The difficulty of parsing aspects of practice from other considerations is considered here in the context of the use of aesthetics within ethical consideration in both religious traditions – an area that has been repeatedly identified as a site of potential dialogical interaction. However, in doing so, the use of beauty as an ethical marker involves and includes significant hermeneutic, epistemic, and ethical considerations stemming from the specificity and particularity of both the Christian and Islamic traditions.
The argument considers the inter-connections of hermeneutics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics in the Christian and Islamic traditions in order to outline the extent to which each of these considerations and their inter-connection influence and structure aspects of ethical reflection. Without an awareness of both the content of these considerations and their function within the overall structure of each tradition, our ability to coherently understand points of connection and comparison between them are compromised.
Abstract:
This article addresses contemporary practical and comparative theological forms of interreligious dialogue, aiming to highlight the difficulties of maintaining distinctions in this way. It does this specifically in the context of Christian-Muslim dialogue where, although great strides have been made in the academic study, there are broader political and social considerations which often play a role in the formation of well-meaning, but shallow, forms of interreligious consideration. The difficulty of parsing aspects of practice from other considerations is considered here in the context of the use of aesthetics within ethical consideration in both religious traditions – an area that has been repeatedly identified as a site of potential dialogical interaction. However, in doing so, the use of beauty as an ethical marker involves and includes significant hermeneutic, epistemic, and ethical considerations stemming from the specificity and particularity of both the Christian and Islamic traditions.
The argument considers the inter-connections of hermeneutics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics in the Christian and Islamic traditions in order to outline the extent to which each of these considerations and their inter-connection influence and structure aspects of ethical reflection. Without an awareness of both the content of these considerations and their function within the overall structure of each tradition, our ability to coherently understand points of connection and comparison between them are compromised.
