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Interreligious Discourse: Hermeneutics and Fundamentalism

Kearney, Richard
June 4, 2015

Source: (2007) In Emmanuel Clapsis, ed., Violence and Christian Spirituality An Ecumenical Conversation. Geneva, Switzerland: World Council of Churches. Pp. 47-55.

“…Is religion inevitably and invariably a force for fundamentalism, intolerance and division? Are the very notions of spiritual purity and absolutism not condemned to sacrifical dramas of Us versus Them, the Elect versus the Damned, Angels versus Demons? I do not think so. In fact, it will be my wager here that a certain kind of religious hermeneutics can help lead us in the opposite direction, out of war towards peace and justice. To support this claim I will sketch some steps towards a hermeneutics of religious toleration, including narrative wisdom, exchange of readings and pardon.” (Abstract)

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