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Inter-religious Dialogue: A Short Introduction (Oneworld Short Guides)

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As the Executive Director of Aurora University's Wackerlin Center for Faith and Action and the Helena Wackerlin Professor of Religious Studies, Martin Forward is not a new visitor in the arena of inter-religious dialog. He has spent many years as an ordained Methodist minister in India and has traveled around the world to meet people from different religious backgrounds. Some of his books, Muhammad: A Short Biography, Oxford: Oneworld (1997); Jesus: A Short Biography, Oxford: Oneworld (1998); and Religion: A Beginner's Guide, Oxford: Oneworld (2001), show that he has a deep concern for the study of religion. However, genius does not always come in a perfect package. After elaborating on the theoretical reasons that dialog is desirable and quoting popular pluralist theologians such as John Hick and prophetic scholars like Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Martin Forward takes globalization of the new millennium as the starting point of dialog. He seems unaware of the imbalance in discourse between highly modernized Westerners and other believers in the under developing countries. This point is very significant, because it will direct what sort of understanding can be accomplished. One must be aware that the dialog between a Methodist and a Hindu in India, for example, is not only a dialog between two different religious believers, but may also become an encounter between the highly educated and the less educated, between the rich and the poor, or between the liberal and the fundamentalist. It also may be true that the Methodist may have a body of knowledge about Hinduism, while on the contrary, the Hindu may have no knowledge of Christianity, specifically the Methodist church. All these complexities require us to deepen and sharpen our understanding of the reality of where we live and of with whom we interact. Not only do we carry information about other believers based on our own perspective, but we also share and let others talk to their own experience and perspective. Failure to do this may cause dialog to be impractical, and the will to build understanding among faith communities will become an illusion.

One example of how dialog may become impractical because of the lack of understanding others' perspective is the problem of the role of women in society. In this book, Forward explains how religions treat women and explores some ideas from contemporary feminists. As an ordained Methodist minister, it is astonishing that Forward is more interested in commenting on how Jewish and Muslim traditions treat women, rather than on his own tradition about the same issue. In his lecture of the Islamic role of women, he puts himself at the center of the discussion among Muslims by quoting feminist Muslims like Fatima Mernissi and Indian intellectual Ameer Ali. From his explanation of women, it is obvious what agenda he is promoting and what he wants to accomplish. Far from being balanced in his position of exploring the controversial issue of women in Islam, Forward chose to be the advocate of liberal Islam, as did Fatima Mernissi. Consequently, his main goal to include women in inter-religious dialog may become impractical, given the fact that liberal Islam is still considered heretical in some traditional Muslim societies. It is a fact that a figure like Fatima Mernissi is, to a certain extent, more known in academic discussion rather than in the public market of ideas in Muslim societies. In this case, Forward has inaccurately equated Muslim communities with his fellow faith communities in the West where feminist ideas are widely discussed in the public sphere.

Another example of how Forward is unwise in imposing his agenda in dialog is the problem of human diversity of sexuality. One of the most problematic topics in human sexuality is homosexuality. Forward found a positive assessment toward sexuality after reexamining the traditional views on the same topic. "Some justifications, or at least tolerance of homosexuality," he argues, "are located even in religions that are usually regarded as hostile to it" (140). Referring to Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273), he convincingly argues with an inaccurate generalization that medieval Muslim attitude toward homosexuality was sometimes more relaxed than is admitted today. Quoting a story from the Secret Gospel of Mark, which is considered as the early version of Mark's Gospel by controversial scholars like Marcus Borg or John Crossan, Forward even speculates that Jesus had practiced an `unusual ceremony' with a young man he raised from death (142-143). Since Jesus himself never mentioned homosexuality, by condemnation or affirmation, and he was always dealing with wounded, frail, imperfect humans in deep need, perhaps there is still room for the homosexual to be accepted without discrimination and condemnation by outdated assumptions. Forward, in this sense, seems to want to include the issue of homosexuality in inter-religious dialog, even though there are many other important issues to begin with.

The two examples above mirror Forward's unfinished reflection in conceptualizing dialog and his inability to put himself into the world of difference. For him, dialog is the arena of compromising the `old' uncompromised value and attitude, or giving up the faith, rather than strengthening a faith within a diversity of religious adherents. Forward seems to be generous in accommodating controversial issues that are still problematic even in his own traditions. He is also not responsive to the implication of his own assumptions when he says that tolerance is not enough, so that dialog is necessary, he forgets to consider the other reality that for some communities, even tolerance has its limits, and therefore, there are some points on which people cannot compromise in whatsoever forms of dialog. Homosexuality and gay-lesbian marriage is the best example of this limitation. Therefore, rather than setting and imposing his own agenda, it would be more wise for a person like Forward to engage with others with a sense of respect toward others' perspectives.

It is clear in this book that Forward is unsure to whom this book is addressed. For some people, this book may be a good introduction to inter-religious dialog, but for some others this book is merely a hidden campaign of liberalism. Although this book is still worth reading as a theoretical or conceptual basis of doing dialog, the fact that there are limitations on what issues people can have dialog about need to be recognized as well. Forward should be aware that the agenda and the issues he picked in his book are more representative of the experience of people in the West, rather than of humanity as a whole. He should not hasten to entail the issue of feminism and homosexuality in the discussion of religion and globalization. Instead of tackling the controversial issues, it may be useful for all of us if people like Forward focused primarily on theological exchange, so that more people could know closer to one another.

Above all, it is no doubt that inter-religious dialog, as a new idea, challenges our contemporary discussion of religion. However, it is also true that more intellectuals like Martin Forward are needed to enrich and to broaden our perspective on this issue.