Maintaining Christian Character Within Plurality

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-160-9_3How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Christianity; interreligious relations; konvivenz plurality; theology of religions

Abstract

Plurality is a reality. It is no longer possible in a globalized society to avoid those who are different than oneself. Christians need to re-evaluate the ways of interacting and the response to encounters with other religions in order to maintain a Christian character. To identify a Christian character is complex. There are several factors that may problematize the effort of defining a Christian character. Elements such as theology of religions informing the models on which Christians base their interactions and relations with others. There are several possible theologies of religions. Henning Wrogemann suggests that a theory of interreligious relations accounting for insights from cultural studies is also necessary to construct a model of interaction. There are different ways of engaging with others. Relations with other religions vary on a spectrum from recognition to rejection. The models of Accommodation, Opposition, Isolation and Collaboration are discussed here. Theo Sundermeier suggests that the concept of Konvivenz is useful in constructing interreligious relations. Konvivenz implies reciprocal assisting and supporting one another in need, learning reciprocally from others and celebrating together. Konvivenz can be a model how Christian character amidst plurality is expressed. Religions can share knowledge and resources with one another, address social and ethical mattes of shared concern and celebrate life together. In this way differences are not ignored but reconciled. With these suggestions a guideline as to how maintaining Christian character within plurality becomes possible.

Copyright

© 2023 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Jaco Beyers
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/12/14
TI  - Maintaining Christian Character Within Plurality
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Theology, Humanities and Christian Education 2022 (ICONTHCE 2022)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 11
EP  - 19
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-160-9_3
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-160-9_3
ID  - Beyers2023
ER  -