Quest For Truth [Paperback]

Robert Traer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2003

There are choices to be made in clarifying the goals of interfaith cooperation, the language used in dialogue, and the strategies undertaken. Quest for Truth defines limits to interfaith cooperation, suggests ways of guarding against religious propaganda, illustrates how dialogue about ethical choices can affirm mutual respect and reject relativism, offers a critique of the global ethic that encourages dialogue among communities of faith, and in distinguishing faith from belief clarifies how the quest for truth might be pursued through interfaith dialogue.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Religions grapple with profound questions of human life such as, the possibility of repentance and forgiveness, of peace and justice, and above all, of truth. Interfaith dialogue, if it is only concerned for a polite consensus, can lead to an evasion of the deeper issues, especially those about truth. Robert Traer, who for the last ten years has played a leading part in interfaith activity across the world, brings a critical and questioning mind to bear on key concerns of interfaith dialogue and challenges, all involved not to avoid the difficult and costly search for real understanding at the deepest level. This is an important and salutary book which all engaged in interfaith dialogue should read, and which should help to convince critics that interfaith dialogue has a vital contribution to make to human welfare and to a fuller understanding of Truth." -- Reverend Marcus Braybrooke, Co-President, World Congress of Faiths

"Religious people must either cooperate better across confessional, national, and ethnic divisions, or prove our faith to have been far too shallow and small. With urgency, humility, and great acuity, Robert Traer here shows us what we need to do to establish new goals, language, initiatives, and approaches to interfaith cooperation. Best of all, he models the critical reflection necessary to find the way forward in faith." -- John Buehrens, President, Unitarian Universalist Association

"Reverend Dr. Robert Traer probes with great clarity the major issues of multi-religious cooperation as humanity prepares to move into the next millennium. Throughout his remarkable book, one is struck by the author's deep intelligence and creativity. In Dr. Traer's view, the required creativity among the religious traditions must respond to the major problems that face the human family as well as the inescapable pluralism of religion itself. Throughout the book one senses the author's remarkable modesty before each religion. One also senses the quiet urgency that animates the author's conviction that religions can and must rise to the new problems that confront the human family. Dr. Traer's reflections are rooted in his long personal experience of religious creativity, be that creativity among the grassroots or creativity among its top leaders." -- Dr. William F. Vendley, Secretary General, World Conference on Religion and Peace

"Whether new to the field or already immersed in interfaith work, you will find very valuable insights in Quest for Truth. Author Robert Traer draws from his considerable experience, and, employing a sharp knife with a supportive and gentle hand, cuts through many false assumptions and romantic notions about interfaith cooperation to help readers uncover its vital core. In these pages you will be provoked, prodded, and propelled beyond the 'interfaith bazaar' and 'religion as resource' approaches to a more honest, critical, and in the end, hopefully more productive engagement in interfaith cooperation-one that respects the integrity of diverse religions as the ground and source for ethical action at both local and global levels." -- Dr. Patricia M. Mische, President, Global Education Associates

From the Publisher

Drawing on experiences gathered during a decade of service in his capacity of General Secretary of the IARF, his many publications on interfaith cooperation and his multiple addresses to international audiences, Dr. Traer has produced a work that will appeal to anyone involved in, or sharing an interest in, interfaith activities - religious professionals, seminarians, members of the Academy, and lay persons.

Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: The Davies Group Publishers (November 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888570520
• ISBN-13: 978-1888570526
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,552,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Traer served as the executive director of the International Association for Religious Freedom from 1990-2000, and in that capacity represented the work of the IARF on religious freedom at the United Nations. Dr. Traer now teaches courses on ethics at the Dominican University of California.

In 2002 he was a Resident Scholar at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies in Israel. In the spring of 2005 he served with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Israel/Palestine, which is sponsored by the World Council of Churches, and in June 2005 he participated in the Critical Moment Conference in Geneva convened by the World Council of Churches and also drafted the conference report. He is a retired minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a retired member of the Bar of the State of Colorado.

His writings on human rights are available at http://religionhumanrights.com, and his writings on environmental ethics are at http://doingethics.com. His work on Christian faith, ethics and interfaith dialogue are at http://christian-bible.com.

He and his wife, Nancy, have been married forty-two years and have five children, including two adopted daughters from Asia, and eight grandchildren.

Education:

Graduate Theological Union, Ph.D. in Comparative Religion (1988)
School of Law of the University of California at Davis, J.D. (1976)
Divinity School of the University of Chicago, D.Min. (1969), M.Th. (1967)
Carleton College, B.A. with Distinction (1965)

Publications Include:

Doing Environmental Ethics (2009)
Doing Ethics in a Diverse World (with H. Stelmach) (2008)
Jerusalem Journal: Finding Hope (2006)
Faith, Belief, and Religion (2001).
Quest for Truth: Critical Reflections on Interfaith Cooperation (1999).
Faith in Human Rights: Support in Religious Traditions for a Global Struggle. (1991).
"U. S. Ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights," in Promises to Keep: Prospects for Human Rights, ed. Charles McCoy (2002).

"Ending Religious Violence," Dharma World, Vol. 31 (Jan./Feb. 2004): 9-13.
"Our Interfaith Challenge at the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century," World Faiths Encounter, No. 29 (July 2001): 13-21.
"Beyond 'Religion and...'," Breakthrough News, Global Education Associates, (Sep.-Dec. 2000): 1-3.
"Faith in Human Rights." Church & Society, 88, no. 4 (March/April 1998): 46-58.
"Beyond Tolerance: Call to Repentance," Faith & Freedom, 49, (Spring/Summer 1996): 47-51.
"Thinking Globally, Acting Locally, Faith & Freedom, vol. 48, no. 141 (Autumn/Winter 1995):152-56.
"A Confessional Approach to Interfaith Cooperation." Visions of an Interfaith Future: Proceedings
of Sarva-Dharma-Sammelana, ed. Celia and David Storey (Oxford: International Interfaith Centre, 1994), 318-330.
"Religious Freedom." A Sourcebook for the Community of Religions, ed. Joel Beversluis (Chicago: The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, 1993), 114-15.
"Religious Freedom at the End of the 20th Century." Church & Society (Sep./Oct. 1992): 38-50.
"Nonadversarial Conflict Resolution." Dharma World, 19 (Jan./Feb. 1992): 29-31, 35.
"Faith in the Buddhist Tradition." Buddhist-Christian Studies, vol. 2 (1991): 85-120.
"Christian Support for Human Rights in Latin America," International Review of Mission, vol. 80, no. 318 (April 1991):245-49.
"Human Rights in Islam," Islamic Studies, vol. 28, no. 2 (Summer 1409/1989):117-29.
"On Human Rights: The U.S. Lives in a Glass House," Human Rights 16, no. 1 (Spring 1989).
"Christian Support in Asia for Human Rights," Asia Journal of Theology, vol. 3, no. 2 (October 1989):670-83.
"Abolishing the Death Penalty, The California Prisoner, (August 1989):8, 10, 12.
"Chinese Views on Human Rights," China Notes, (Autumn 1988):1-3.
"Religious Communities in the Struggle for Human Rights," The Christian Century (September 1988):835-38.