A Religious Solution for Living in the Modern World: An Analysis of the Dialogue of Religions

Muhammad Haghani Fazl / Ph.D. Student of Comparative Studies of Religions, University of Religions and Denominations                                                                                                            mohamadhaghani@gmail.com

Mehrab Sadegh-Nia / Assistant Professor of the Department of Abrahamic Religions, University of Religions and Denominations

Received: 2019/04/15 - Accepted: 2019/07/27

Abstract

In the history of Abrahamic religions, many examples of peaceful interactions can be seen, but many believe that the dialogue of religions is a modern matter and fundamentally different from those in the pre-modern world. The question here is what separates the dialogue of religions from the peaceful interactions of religions in the past and gives it a distinct identity. To answer this question, this article analyzes the components of religious dialogue. The analysis of these components highlights three characteristics: the mastery of modern values, the promotion of another religious position, and a pragmatic approach. Pragmatism has transformed the dialogue of religions into a meta-theological matter which can be adapted to diverse and different theological foundations. Promoting another religious position is also a feature that separates the dialogue of religions from the history of peaceful interactions between religions. These two features and other modern values that guide the dialogue of religions are the same distinction that distinguishes the dialogue of religions and make it a way of reconstructing the interactions of religions in the modern world.

Keywords: The Dialogue of Religions, Religion in the Modern World, Relations between Islam and Christianity, Nostra Aetate, Equitable Word.