30 August 2019
- RSIS
- Publication
- RSIS Publications
- Interreligious Relations (IRR) Issue 7 – A Near Century of Dialogue by Leonard Swidler
Abstract:
This paper employs a reflection on the author’s life journey being involved in inter-religious dialogue and its academic study to contemplate on the field. Reflecting on his personal endeavour in initiating dialogue efforts, and the psychological human make-up which naturally seeks to love and to be loved, the author argues for dialogue as an essential element of human life. Through dialogue, one is exposed to multiple views of the world; in turn transforming one’s own “home” view from a rigid and self-contented one to a view that is all-embracing and expansive. The author argues that a dialogical imperative is rooted within human nature and the nurture that we have from birth, to seek a robust grounding for understanding the practice and nature of dialogue, especially between and within religious communities.
Abstract:
This paper employs a reflection on the author’s life journey being involved in inter-religious dialogue and its academic study to contemplate on the field. Reflecting on his personal endeavour in initiating dialogue efforts, and the psychological human make-up which naturally seeks to love and to be loved, the author argues for dialogue as an essential element of human life. Through dialogue, one is exposed to multiple views of the world; in turn transforming one’s own “home” view from a rigid and self-contented one to a view that is all-embracing and expansive. The author argues that a dialogical imperative is rooted within human nature and the nurture that we have from birth, to seek a robust grounding for understanding the practice and nature of dialogue, especially between and within religious communities.