Beyond tolerance: Interfaith education and spiritual transformation

A. Bagus Laksana Yogyakarta

At a time when religious freedom, pluralism and tolerance become problematic for us, world leaders and religious scholars from Europe and Asia in their gathering in Bali recently put yet another huge challenge before us. In their declaration, they propose interfaith education with a view to building better mutual understanding and tolerance between peoples of different faith traditions.

Given our current religio-political situation, the future of such an initiative looks terribly bleak. However, this does not mean that such proposal is irrelevant to our context today. On the contrary, recent developments in our interfaith situation undeniably show the need for a long term and gradual transformation of people's attitude with regard to the various problems related to religious pluralism.

This long-term transformation can only be achieved through education in which the reality of religious pluralism, more specifically the various faith traditions, can be engaged in a manner that displays a sense of respect for the other and willingness to learn from other faith traditions for the sake of the deepening and maturation of one's religious commitment, understanding and practice.

Speaking from a global perspective, the interfaith method is really the future of religious studies or theology in general. If we take a birds-eye view of what happens currently in many theological centers in the world, we should not fail to notice the emerging spirit of "learning together" in an explicitly interreligious atmosphere. In North America, for example, it seems that this atmosphere has become a sign of credibility for theological centers.

In many places, any particular theology is studied together and in comparison with other theologies of other faith traditions. For many years prominent universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Chicago have been homes to a whole bunch of world-class experts in various religious traditions other than Christianity, to such a degree that it is extremely difficult to say that those universities are denominationally "Christian."

In such a setting, theology and religion are discussed and studied in a lively manner in which pluralism of traditions are not only welcome but nurtured. Scholars, leaders and practitioners of different faith traditions are invited and are free to speak from their own perspective.

Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religion (CSWR), for instance, has been known for its commitment in fostering this interfaith atmosphere by regularly inviting scholars and fellows of different religious affiliations and expertise, to come, to do research and to present their findings. Such spirit is also cultivated more and more in many other universities that only recently have begun to set up interfaith settings for theological studies.

The interfaith element in this kind of setting not only entails the presence of various scholars of different faith traditions, but more importantly, the creation of a method of theological studies that makes possible deep and dynamic encounters among different faith traditions; encounters that in turn help peoples of faith to come to a better grasp of their own religious traditions.

What is at stake here in the process of studies is one's own spiritual transformation. In some circles, this new method has been called "comparative theology." This term has been in use since the 19th century.

But in the old days, and in the Christian circle, this term was understood roughly as the "theology of religions" in which the place, role and significance of non-Christian religions are discussed in a highly abstract and prejudiced manner that leaves no room for real and transforming encounters between peoples of different faith traditions. In reaction to this "old" theology of religions, the new practice of comparative theology precisely seeks to facilitate this kind of encounter.

How does comparative theology operate? It should be noted that the method of comparative theology is by no means monolithic. As it is a practice rather than a theory, comparative theology constructs its various methods as it makes progress through practice.

In engaging the texts of other religious traditions, comparativists are learning new religious grammars, learning to think and experience God from different perspectives.

This interfaith learning process goes forth from one's own religious tradition in order to come home again, this time with a renewed and enriched perspective. Thus, the goal of this practice is not apologetic. It is not an effort to defend the truths of one's own tradition by refuting other traditions.

The engagement with other texts is serious and sincere, that is, in order to learn about and from other faith traditions. There is no question of conversion here because the ultimate horizon of this practice is to come to a deeper understanding of God (fides quaerens intellectum) through one's own religious tradition after engaging with other faith traditions.

If we learn that other faith traditions can really help us to come to a better understanding of our own faith, there will be no choice for us other than cherishing the richness of other religious traditions and celebrating religious diversity and pluralism with a sense of gratitude to God, the ultimate author of this richness and diversity.

This deeper understanding which results from serious learning is what we need at present. The many recent shameful incidents only make us aware that our religious tolerance, which we boast too often to foreigners, is an empty, cheap and thus, fragile, tolerance.

It is empty because it is not filled with knowledge of other faith traditions; cheap because we never make any sacrifice to the laborious and unsettling effort of getting to know other peoples of different faith traditions through meaningful encounters. In short, the fragility of this tolerance stems from the fact that our tolerance has no foundation other than slogans and political correctness. So, when it is politically correct not to be tolerant, this fragile tolerance falls apart.

Comparative theology seems to be the best candidate for an interfaith education which fosters the study of other faith traditions and which enables students to experience deep transformation in their spiritual lives through encounters with other traditions.

This theology carries with it the interfaith spirit of our time and could help us in many different ways to give credence to our slogan of tolerance. Interfaith curricula at the level of primary and secondary education can be a good start in preparing students for a dynamic and close reading of texts of other traditions at post-secondary level.

Before this kind of curricula can be implemented at secondary education level, we need some concrete examples from the part of these scholars and lecturers. The logic is that if interfaith methods like comparative theology does not work among these erudite men and women, then there is a serious doubt that it will work among our high school students.

The writer is a lecturer at Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. He is a graduate of Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., and is now pursuing a PhD in comparative theology at Boston College, U.S. He can be reached at bagus.laksana@gmail.com.