Brian Hamilton

Lindbeck and Fideism

For Lindbeck there’s a different kind of discussion possible in Christian ecumenical dialogue, discussion about interpretation of particular rules and authorities or else the prioritization of rules we already recognize together. But it’s not that discussion per se is possible within Christianity and not between religious groups, only that dialogue between religions would tend to focus on the categorial level rather than the propositional or experiential ones. It’s the categorial level, after all, where religious groups will find their most basic similarities and differences. However, there could be other points of connection as well; most notably, Lindbeck mentions that “authentic believers, whether Buddhist, Marxist, or biblical, may often be existentially and morally closer to each other than to many adherents of their own faiths” (53), suggesting that the way we relate to our categories (our grammar) may also be of prime importance in inter-religious dialogue.

7 December 2006 |
tags: Ecumenism