Ecumenism and Religious Encounter in a Secular World
By Konrad Raiser
At the end of this 20th century, many assumptions and certainties about ecumenism, religion and secularization are being questioned and have to be reconsidered. Like modernization, internationalism and secularization, ecumenism among the Christian churches has been one of the particular characteristics of this century. In fact, ecumenism and the dynamics of the ecumenical movement cannot fully be understood apart from the characteristics of the modern word which emerged in the course of this century. In many ways, one can interpret ecumenism as an effort by churches of the Protestant and Orthodox traditions to come to terms with the challenges of modernization and its effects on human society. It is therefore no coincidence that the Roman Catholic Church, under the impact of an anti-modernist orientation, rejected the emerging ecumenical movement at first, before changing its position as part of the general aggiornamento taking place through the Second Vatican Council.
Now that we are approaching the end of this century, we seem to be witnessing a fundamental process of change and transformation. The basic assumptions of modernity -- the faith in unlimited progress, the dominance of scientific rationality, the seeming inevitability of secularization and the confidence that the Western social and political system would be universally adopted -- are being called into question. Postmodernism tends to challenge all universal truth claims, whether philosophical or religious, social or political, cultural or moral. In this changed context, ecumenism, with its affirmation of a "Christocentric universalism" and its emphasis on the unity of the church for the sake of the unity of humankind, is finding it more and more difficult to articulate its vision and vocation.
At the same time, the commitment of ecumenism to establishing a just and peaceful international order is apparently being overtaken by the process of rapid globalization which is revealing the inner contradictions and destructive potential of the project of modernity. These become manifest in the form of ecological threats, the erosion of the structures of governance on the national and international levels, and the fragmentation of social order accompanied by the marginalization and exclusion of growing sectors of humanity. The "unity" projected by globalization seems to discredit all ecumenical affirmations of unity as yet another attempt to eliminate the diversity of inherited identities, which are being embraced and defended as a source of certainty and meaning in a situation of fundamental change.
Thus we see the emergence of various forms of Evangelical and Pentecostal -- but also Roman Catholic and Orthodox -- fundamentalism and traditionalism, which militate against the ecumenical commitment to overcoming negative and exclusive ecclesial identities through dialogue and the search for a fuller manifestation of communion among the churches. Fundamentalism is itself a product of the process of modernization. Its adherents often make full use of the technological tools provided in the modern world and accept the global perspective which is the fruit of modernity. However, they reject the explicit or implicit values which have guided the project of modernity -- especially with regard to secularization and to the role of religions.
Fundamentalism reclaims the absolute authority of a sacred tradition of belief and moral teaching. It rejects the specifically modern distinction of the secular and the sacred and seeks to bring religion back into the centre of the life of society. Fundamentalism should not be equated with a reactionary traditionalism. It rejects the seeming inevitability of the present dynamic of change and is determined to shape the world in a way that is different from the forces of modernity.
As an emerging phenomenon in all Christian traditions, fundamentalism is a crucial challenge to the ecumenical movement even where it does not present itself as militantly anti-ecumenical. In its pre-institutional phase, before the second world war, the ecumenical movement struggled with the emerging secular culture and its scientific rationalism and materialism, calling for a "spiritual conquest of the world" and even considering the possibility of forming an alliance of all religions against the forces of secularization. Since the beginning of the "golden age" of unprecedented economic growth, successive technological revolutions and increasing prosperity -- at least in the Western world -- the ecumenical movement has accepted and sometimes even embraced secularization as an expression of the "world come of age", liberating the Christian community from defending static concepts of a "Christian order" or Christian culture and enabling it to become an active participant and constructive force in the processes of historical change.
The ecumenical movement thus became an advocate of the secular conception of the state, of religious freedom and the principles of human rights, of the rule of law (including the fundamental distinction between law and morality), and of respect for the plurality of cultures and religions. The affirmation of these basic features of the secular world as the context for the life and witness of the Christian community has guided the ecumenical movement during much of the second half of this century. It is this affirmation which is now being questioned and challenged.
The challenge does not only come from within the Christian community in the form of the various expressions of Christian fundamentalism. It is linked even more strongly with the process of a resurgence of religion throughout the world. The Islamic revival in the predominantly Muslim countries, the emergence of a militant movement defending Hindu identity in India , Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka and the aspirations of orthodox Jewish groups in Israel are among the more obvious manifestations of this resurgence. But also in the traditionally Christian, now secularized Western world, many emerging new religious movements have begun to influence public life and the cultural consciousness. The rapid process of globalization, with its effects on the social, cultural and moral fabric of societies, seems to have created a renewed search for ultimate meaning and for the spiritual roots of Personal and communal identity. Optimism about unlimited progress and trust that science and technology are able to provide solutions to any conceivable problem have been seriously eroded. There is growing awareness of the risks inherent in ordering society in a way that depends on science-based technology. More and more people are searching for a deeper foundation, for the meaning of life, for a reassuring sense of community that transcends the closed global system and its absolute pretensions which seem to leave no room for alternatives. Harvey Cox, who through his book The Secular City (1965) became one of the noted advocates of a positive response to secularization, declared twenty years later that we now seem to be living in an era of "religious revival and the return of the sacred".
Thus it is not only ecumenism that is being challenged but the very assumption that we are living in a "secular world". In fact, the return of religion into the public sphere as the main source for shaping not only individual but also communal identities has become dramatically evident in some recent violent conflicts, especially in the Balkan and Caucasus regions. Developments such as these and the impact of militant Muslim fundamentalism in the Arab world, North Africa, Iran and Afghanistan prompted Samuel Huntington to develop his controversial thesis that the global interactions in the future will no longer be characterized by the confrontations between political, military and ideological alliances or blocs as during the decades of the cold war, but rather by a "clash of civilizations", that is of large cultural groupings which usually have a religious tradition as their integrating centre. Huntington understands his sobering analysis of the forces shaping the future world order as an appeal to people, particularly in the West, to learn how to live in a multi-cultural, complex and plural world.
II This initial survey leads to the central focus of the theme: the encounter of religions and its relationship with ecumenism. Against the background of the previous analysis, I have no doubt that the dynamics of religious plurality and of the relationships between different religious communities will be one of the decisive challenges to which the ecumenical movement will have to respond in the 21st century.
Despite more than thirty years of efforts in the field of interfaith and inter-religious dialogue and encounter, we are in many ways still at the beginning of responding to this challenge. In fact, there is a wide spectrum of positions within the Christian community worldwide regarding the encounter of religions. At one end are those who would defend the truth claim of the Christian faith as absolute and suspect inter-religious encounter as opening the door to "syncretism and relativism" or even as aiming to create a unified global religion to accompany the ambitions of economic, social and cultural globalization. At the other extreme are those, especially in Asia but increasingly also in the Americas , who regard Christian ecumenism as outdated or even obsolete and advocate a "wider" or "macro-ecumenism", aiming at a world community of religious communities.
In its 1997 policy document "Towards a Common Understanding and Vision of the World Council of Churches", the central committee of the WCC offered some basic distinctions and marks of identification to clarify the meaning of ecumenism. The document affirms that the ecumenical movement, while it shares in other efforts at international, intercultural and inter-religious cooperation and dialogue, is rooted in the life of the Christian churches. Yet it is not limited to the concern for interchurch relationships and is wider than the various organizations in which it has found expression (para. 2.8.3 .).
Recognizing the tension between those "who advocate the primacy of the social dimension of ecumenism and those who advocate the primacy of spiritual and ecclesial ecumenism" (para. 2.5 ), the document affirms that the ecumenical movement has a worldwide scope -- "in line with the original use of the word oikoumene for `the whole inhabited earth'" (para. 2.8.5 ). More specifically, the ecumenical movement aims at manifesting the catholicity of the church, that is the essential relatedness of churches and Christian communities locally, nationally, regionally and globally. In each place and in all places, the ecumenical movement is concerned with the true being and life of the church as an inclusive community (para. 2.8.5 ).
Certainly the understanding of ecumenism is more than a question of definition and terminology. Nevertheless, it would seem important to reserve the terms "ecumenism" and "ecumenical" for the specific efforts to deepen the fellowship among Christian churches and their capacities for common witness and service. Little is gained by extending the meaning of the terms to embrace equally the whole spectrum of inter-religious encounter. But this does not exclude a recognition by ecumenical organizations in setting their agenda of the importance of furthering inter-religious encounter. Along these lines, one of the important elements of the constitutional formulation of the purposes and functions of the WCC, as amended by the eighth assembly in Harare in December 1998, is that through the WCC the churches will "assist each other in their relationships to and with people of other faith communities". This is the first time that this particular dimension of the ecumenical agenda has been explicitly recognized in the constitution of the WCC.
"Religious encounter" is a comprehensive term covering a variety of different models and organizational expressions which have developed over more than three decades and reflect the diversity of contexts in which such encounter takes place. Without here describing or analyzing these differences in detail, it is useful to distinguish three particular types of inter-religious encounter: (1) the dialogue of specialists, aiming at mutual clarification and understanding of concepts, traditions and structures; (2) initiatives aimed at sharing in each other's spiritual traditions; and (3) specific efforts at cooperation for the sake of the life of the wider community.
Among the organizations which have made inter-religious encounter their specific focus, we may single out as particularly significant the World Conference on Religion and Peace, with its national chapters. During its thirty years of its existence it has become one of the important instruments on the world level to bring together leaders of the world religions. One of the earliest such initiatives was the World Parliament of Religions which convened for the first time in Chicago in 1893, on the occasion of the world exhibition there. A hundred years later, another meeting of the World Parliament was called in the same place.
Both the Vatican and the World Council of Churches have special secretariats for inter-religious relations. To a lesser degree, similar structures exist on the world level among the Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh communities. They have been instrumental in facilitating numerous encounters over the last decades. Particularly notable has been the inter-religious encounter for peace at Assisi called by Pope John Paul II, which is being continued on an annual basis by the Community St Egidio. Similar national and regional organizations are supported by a wide variety of study centres and inter-religious centres for spiritual encounter. Many of these initiatives have their roots in Asia, but with the increasing presence of at least minority communities of the different faiths in all parts of the world, the issue of religious encounter has become a dominant concern everywhere.
The approaches of the WCC to the challenge of inter-religious encounter are well known, and there is no need here to review them in detail. As a worldwide fellowship of Christian churches, the Council has been hesitant to associate itself organizationally with efforts to establish networks or structures for interfaith dialogue on the world level. It has acknowledged and encouraged the efforts of the various specialized organizations, but has concentrated its own activities on assisting its member churches to engage in encounter and dialogue with other faith communities in their own contexts. Twenty years ago the WCC central committee adopted guidelines, published under the title "Dialogue in Community", which captures well the thrust of the Council's initiatives. Subsequently, these guidelines have been further developed with specific reference to Christian-Jewish and Christian-Muslim dialogue; at the same time, encounters have been held with Buddhists, Hindus, and with participants in traditional African religions.
Among the member churches of the WCC, the ecumenical significance of inter-religious encounter is still a subject of controversial debate. A large part of the WCC's constituency -- both Protestant and Orthodox -- would maintain the traditional exclusivist claim of the universal truth of the Christian faith and would share the fear of "syncretism" articulated by the Council's first general secretary, W. A. Visser `t Hooft, in his book No Other Name. Prior to the WCC's seventh assembly (Canberra 1991), the WCC organized a small study conference on "Religious Plurality: Theological Perspectives and Affirmations". While the report of this meeting tried to offer a new theological interpretation of religious plurality, its perspectives have not directly influenced the continuing work of the WCC. In fact, the question of the theological significance of other religions from the perspective of the Christian faith has remained somewhat in the background during most of the 1990s and will have to be taken up again. It has become clear that traditional Christian positions over against other religions have been as much part of the problem as they have contributed to finding solutions.
We should refer briefly here to the particular question of the place of Jewish-Christian dialogue within religious encounter as a whole. Obviously, Jews and Christians are linked by very special ties and a very painful history. However, the significance and value of this relationship are quite different for the two partners -- in the sense that Jews do not need the Christian partner for affirming their identity, whereas Christians have begun to understand again, not least as a consequence of the encounter, that their identity is inseparably bound up with the Jewish people and tradition. Especially in Europe and North America , many would clearly distinguish Jewish-Christian dialogue from religious encounter in general. Others, particularly in the southern hemisphere, would see relationships between Jews and Christians as one particular instance of inter-religious encounter. The WCC has acknowledged the special character of Jewish-Christian dialogue by maintaining a Commission on the Church and the Jewish People which has functioned organizationally within the work of its office for inter-religious relations.
Earlier I noted the wide spectrum of positions regarding inter-religious encounter within the Christian community worldwide. It is obvious, against the background of these brief indications, that ecumenism and religious encounter represent two different though inter-related agendas. Ecumenism has its distinctive mark in the effort to reach convergence, consensus and ultimately communion among the separated Christian churches. Religious encounter, on the other hand, aims at understanding and cooperation between different faith communities, furthering viable relationships within human community while respecting differences of tradition and identity. While in both cases the achievement of uniformity would not be considered a desirable or viable goal, ecumenism is clearly committed to the search for visible unity, whereas religious encounter cannot but accept the challenge of pluralism.
However, the vision and practice of ecumenism is clearly affected by the experiences of religious encounter. After more than thirty years of intensive bilateral theological dialogues between the major Christian churches and traditions, it is becoming clear that Christian division is not simply the consequence of differences on the level of doctrine or church order, but that the major Christian traditions represent different cultures, worldviews and spiritualities which cannot easily be reconciled with each other by way of disciplined dialogue aiming at convergence and consensus. The search for an intercultural hermeneutics is beginning to influence the ecumenical agenda and may lead to a reformulation of the goal of Christian unity, acknowledging the continuing existence of differences and plurality even within the worldwide Christian community.
Moreover, Christian unity has never been understood as an end in itself, but seen in its relationship to the task of a common Christian witness and the contribution to building a viable human community. What form can Christian witness take in a situation of pluralism if it is the task of Christian witness to promote the inculturation of the Christian faith in the various cultural contexts? Such witness will have to acknowledge that there is no culture without an explicit or hidden religious dimension. Christian witness, therefore, can no longer bypass the experiences of inter-religious encounter and of considering the theological significance of other faiths.
III What issues will inter-religious encounter have to address at the beginning of the 21st century? Here I must come back to the admittedly very general analysis in the first part. I have tried to show that the assumptions regarding the secularized character of our contemporary world need to be reassessed and reviewed. In particular, the Christian partners in inter-religious encounter must find ways of coming to terms with the legacy of the secularization thesis. The religious situation has undergone profound changes, and the Christian churches have to rethink their own place within the worldwide context of faith communities.
The phenomenon of secularization has been associated with the process of modernization, and most of the reflection and study carried out has focused on the situation in the Western world. The processes of modernization in Asia and other parts of the world have not led to the same inevitable consequence of secularization, but have rather contributed to a religious resurgence. This obliges all partners in religious encounter to reconsider their assumptions about the place of religion in the life of the human community. Let me single out five areas in which it seems to me that such reconsideration is urgent.
1. The search for peace and reconciliation in situations of conflict. Some years ago, the Catholic theologian and ecumenist Hans Kung formulated the thesis "no world peace without peace among the religions". Many recent conflicts, particularly those involving Christians and Muslims, have shown how easily religious loyalties can be mobilized to sharpen and legitimate violent confrontation. Yet the faithful adherents of both faiths agree that using religion for nationalist or communalist policies aimed at confrontation is a perversion of the truth of their faith commitment. All religions have at their core a commitment to peace and justice. How can inter-religious encounter contribute towards reaffirming religious commitment to peace and reconciliation and strengthen the ability to resist political manipulation?
2. The relationship between religion and public governance. The ecumenical movement has been committed to the secular understanding of the state and to distinguishing, if not separating, the realms of religion and public governance. This position does not correspond to the traditions of other faith communities and is increasingly being challenged, also from within the Christian community, by more fundamentalist orientations. No efforts to build viable community among people of different faith traditions will succeed unless ways are found to address the fundamental issue of how religion and public governance should be related.
3. The affirmation of human rights and in particular of religious liberty. There is no doubt that the understanding of human rights, as expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is one of the fruits of the secular understanding of the structures of human community. Human rights are affirmed as universally valid, irrespective of the specific religious traditions which prevail in a particular context. However, recent debates have shown that many cultures view basic human rights as inseparable from a religious understanding of the community as a whole, which leads to scepticism about if not resistance against the universal claims of the Human Rights Declaration. In particular, religious liberty as a right of the individual is being questioned by religious traditions which place the emphasis not so much on individual faith convictions, but on the community as a whole. How and how far are the rights to religious liberty of minority faith communities to be acknowledged, and how is the question of proselytism -- that is, a change of religious affiliation as a consequence of witness and proclamation -- to be assessed?
4. The relationship between religion, morality and law. A central criticism which traditional faith communities have levelled against the process of modernization is that it contributes to immorality and weakens the inherited moral order. This has become particularly acute in the area of moral norms governing human sexuality and the relationship between women and men, including the questions of contraception and abortion. In recent United Nations conferences, new alliances have emerged between different religious communities defending a traditional moral order over against the liberal interpretations which have been prominent under the impact of secularization. The very distinction between law and a morality based on religious convictions is being challenged, not only in the encounter between different religious traditions, but also from within the Christian community. The WCC has taken an initiative in this regard with a series of Christian-Muslim consultations on the issues of "religion, law and society" as well as "religion and human rights". These consultations demonstrate the urgency, but also the validity of addressing these issues in the context of inter-religious encounter.
5. The contribution of different religions to the urgent task of rebuilding viable human communities. The process of globalization has led to an erosion of the inherited moral fabric which has provided the basis of cohesion for human communities. Recent studies within the World Council of Churches on the issue of "ecclesiology and ethics" have concluded that "moral formation" and the character of the church as a "moral community" should be recognized as important items on the ecumenical agenda for the period ahead. Even more generally, the Parliament of the World's Religions, under the inspiration of Hans Kung, has accepted a declaration "Towards a Global Ethic" which is based on the fundamental assumption that there will be "no new global order without a new global ethic". The declaration is built around four irrevocable directives: the commitment to (1) a culture of nonviolence and respect for life, (2) a culture of solidarity and a just economic order, (3) a culture of tolerance and a life of truthfulness, and (4) a culture of equal rights and partnership between men and women. The assumption behind this declaration is that these directives are at the core of all religious traditions and that a basic agreement can be obtained to construct human community around these principles.
Whether continuing inter-religious encounter will bear out the confidence expressed on the occasion of the Parliament of the World's Religions remains to be seen. But there is no question that the different faith communities have an indispensable contribution to make to the shaping of a new world order. Irrespective of the questions of conflicting truth claims, it would therefore seem that religious encounter in the period ahead will have to address itself particularly to these issues of being able to live together in community while recognizing the continuing situation of religious plurality. Even though it has its own specific agenda, ecumenism cannot bypass this task without losing its vocation to contribute to the unity of the church for the sake of the wholeness of the human community.
Konrad Raiser (Evangelical Church in Germany Erlbach , Germany
Source: The Ecumenical Review, July 1999.
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