Beyond "Holy Wars": Forging Sustainable Peace Through Interreligious Dialogue--A Christian Perspective - Paperback

by Christoffer H. Grundmann (Author)

The 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks on the U.S. in 2001 shocked the world, not only because of their viciousness but also because of the disillusionment that "holy wars" are a phenomenon of the past. "Holy wars," rather, are a reality in today's world too, threatening global peace like never before. In this volume Christoffer Grundmann pleads for the cultivation of religious literacy and interreglious dialogue. First, he attempts to regain an adequate understanding of religion by showing the incompatibility of abstract concepts of religion with religions actually lived. So Grundmann suggests perceiving religion as the lived relationship toward an Ultimate. Given that interreligious dialogue is communication about diverse ways of relating to the Ultimate, the religiously embedded, primarily Jewish philosophy of encounter and dialogical thinking--with its personalistic nature--comes into focus here as uniquely suited for such communication. Even though interreligious encounter implies risk, Christians cannot but engage in it fearlessly, says Grundmann, because they trust that the risen Christ will reveal himself anew as the one he really is, wherever and whenever Christians take part in dialogue with people of other faiths.

Author Biography

Christoffer H. Grundmann is Professor of Theology and John R. Eckrich University Chair Professor in Religion and the Healing Arts at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. His study of the history of medical missions, Sent to Heal! (2005), was listed as one of the "fifteen outstanding books of 2005 for mission studies" by the International Bulletin of Missionary Research.