Hermeneutics of Dialogue: Discourses on The Self and The Other

INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME vi

Dialogue is essentially about opening oneself to the other so as to find my ‘self’ in the ‘other’ and the ‘other’ in my ‘self’. For humans are essentially nodes in a network of conversations with each other. However, to be authentic, dialogue must endeavour to be free from prejudice, i.e.., pre-judgements or at least earnestly strive to be aware of them and struggle to overcome them. CLICK TO READ MORE…

Hence dialogue must be transparent and open, finding, or making equals of dialogic partners, as Aristotle would have done with genuine friendships. Agreement is neither the definitive beginning nor end point of this conversation. Rather it is a search for common ground from which to move together to higher ground. Dialogue, then, is a continuing, never-ending process of discovery of oneself and celebration of the other. The collection of articles in this volume focuses the hermeneutics of dialogue in multiple contexts and complements each other.

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Hermeneutics of Dialogue: Discourses on The Self and The Other

LIST OF ARTICLES WITH ABSTRACTS IN VOLUME Vi

1. OPENING THE DOOR: THE JESUIT MISSIONARY CONTRIBUTION TO DIALOGUE

Abstract: In their encounter with the cultures and peoples of the mission lands,   the Jesuits made their best contribution to a deeper dialogue.  This study will try to set the context in which this encounter took place, describe the vision which set the dialogue going, and outline the debate which led to its untimely suppression. The approach here will be sociological rather than historical, in that it will not focus on the ‘chronological inter-relationships between particular events with a view to determining their causality’, but rather on ‘the relationship between the fundamental elements of the social organism existing at the given time’.

 2. BETWEEN RELIGION AND POLITICS: DIALOGUE AND DIALECTICS

Abstract: Book review article of Between Marx and Christ: The Dialogue in German-Speaking Europe.

3. Tolerance and Dialogue as Responses to Pluralism and Ethnicity: The Relevance of a Gandhian Discourse 

Abstract: This study attempts to outline an area of concern and is a beginning rather than a conclusive statement. The inspiration for this venture has come from Gandhi, who by acting locally has challenged us to think globally, even when we think differently from him. This is not merely an intellectual ‘search’, but a spiritual ‘quest’ as well. The attempt here is to orient and focus our response to the increasing ethnification in our plural society.

 4. THE RECENT ATROCITIES AGAINST CHRISTIANS: SUGGESTION FOR AN INTRA-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

Abstract: Rather than a confrontationalist attitude, we need to take a firm stand of resistance by using all the official means, the media and especially the courts to protest and pursue the culprits when atrocities against our people are committed.

5.  CREATIVE DIALOGUE FOSTERED THROUGH ART

Abstract:  The conscious and constant aim of religious art has been to suggest the divine and make it palpable. In its most important manifestations, the art is the echo of a supernatural world full of mystery and exaltation, expressed in palpable forms, understandable to the human mind. Often Indian art is suggestive of something beyond human forms, which do not correspond to the known physiological laws. The conventions adopted by artists are not only appropriate to express spiritual forms but they also contribute a treasure of aesthetic life

6. NEIGHBOURS IN A PLURALIST WORLD: THE CLASH OF CIVILISATIONS VERSUS A DIALOGUE OF RELIGIONS

Abstract: In a globalising world, neighbours are no longer so much defined by geography, as by interaction and interdependence. This can bring about shared interests and common concerns that make good and lasting neighbours. Moreover, as sparks of the one divinity, sharing in the one Ultimate Reality, we are all children of the same Utterly Other God; our common concern is faith, which makes us brothers and sisters and neighbours, sharing a common humanity.

7. JUSTICE IN THE DIALOGUE OF RELIGIONS: WOMEN, DALITS AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN HINDU AND CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA

Abstract: This presentation begins by defining the terms ‘plurality’ and ‘pluralism’ and describing the difference between them, sketching the condition for an equal dialogue and indicating the several levels of tolerance and the various domains of dialogue involved; and finally locating an understanding of justice within a liberationist discourse. It then examines three areas in the light of the above, and in the context of the Hindu and Christian traditions in contemporary India. The Dalits, as illustrating the contradiction of poverty and oppression; women, as exemplifying the contradictions of gender and patriarchy in our society; and the environment and our relationship to it as typifying the multi-dimensional ecological crisis that is overtaking our planet.

8. THE DIALOGUE OF CULTURES: FROM PARANOIA TO METANOIA

Abstract: The politics of exclusion has now precipitated a politics of hate that is tearing apart the social fabric.  There is no denying the historic violence precipitated by cultural and religious differences. But there have also been exemplary harmony and creative synergies between different peoples as well, a real dialogue of cultures. 

9. MY INTER-FAITH JOURNEY ─MULTIPLE IDENTITIES, MULTIPLE BELONGINGS: COMMON GROUND FOR EQUAL DIALOGUE

Abstract: This is an account of my inter-faith journey.

10. DIALOGUE IN A MULTICULTURAL, PLURI-RELIGIOUS SOCIETY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE FOR A HOLISTIC APPROACH

Abstract: A viable and sustainable perspective on dialogue must be premised not on a walled-in consciousness of a colonised mind, nor on the rootless wonderings of the uncommitted spirit, rather it must be a serious quest for a mutually enriching encounter. The challenges we face today demand a critical interrogation of our multicultural and pluri-religious society before there can be any constructive dialogue between our diverse people and varied traditions.  

11. PLURALISM AND THE PEDAGOGY OF TOLERANCE

Abstract: Education for pluralism would seem to be the only viable alternative for the scale and depth of the diversity in a society such as ours. Yet the relationships between a national education system and local educational institutions become extremely problematic in a structurally segmented and culturally diverse multi-ethnic society. In the Indian context, with education in the ‘Concurrent List’, i.e. it is both a central and state government subject how must educational policy reflect this Centre-State balance?

12. DIALOGUE AS PEDAGOGY: LEARNING TOGETHER WITH THE OTHER

Abstract: Dialogue is readily described as communicative exchange. However, it is more comprehensive than the “communicative rationality” of Habermas, The nature of dialogic communication focuses less on rational meaning than on hermeneutical meaningfulness. Moreover, to be credible, dialogue must be sensitive to the differences of local situations, and to be effective it must consider their commonalities as well differences and thus develop an overall architecture for a more universally sustainable dialogue.

13. SCIENCE, RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY: TRIPLE DIALECTIC TO TRIPLE DIALOGUE

Abstract: Both science and religion are quests for truth, though with different methodologies each with its own limitations: science more experimental, religion more experiential. Scientific experiments are objective, validated by their replicability. Religious experience is subjective, authenticated by its meaningfulness. Spirituality seeks to appropriate this truth in a vision and express it in a way of life. It is in a quest for human fulfilment. The relationships between these are essentially compatible and complementary, though they can become opposed and antagonistic.