The Religious Other

Hostility, Hospitality, and the Hope of Human Flourishing

Edited by Alon Goshen-Gottstein - Contributions by Vincent J. Cornell; Alon Goshen-Gottstein; Richard P. Hayes; Jonathan Sacks; Deepak Sarma; Stephen W. Sykes; Hsin Tao and Ashok Vohra

One of the biggest challenges for relations between religions is the view of the religious Other. The question touches the roots of our theological views. The Religious Other: Hostility, Hospitality, and the Hope of Human Flourishing explores the views of multiple religious traditions on how to regard otherness. How does one move from hostility to hospitality? How can hospitality be understood not simply as social hospitality but as theological hospitality, making room for the religious Other on theological grounds? What is our vision for the flourishing of the Other, while respecting his otherness? This volume is an exercise in constructive interreligious theology. By including perspectives of Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic traditions, it approaches these challenges from multiple perspectives, highlighting commonalities in approach and ways in which one tradition might inspire another.

Lexington Books

Pages: 196 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-0-7391-9256-6 • Hardback • August 2014 • $120.00 • (£92.00)

Series: Interreligious Reflections

Subjects: Religion / Comparative Religion, Religion / General, Social Science / Sociology of Religion, Religion / Ethics

The Religious Other

Hostility, Hospitality, and the Hope of Human Flourishing

Hardback

Summary

One of the biggest challenges for relations between religions is the view of the religious Other. The question touches the roots of our theological views. The Religious Other: Hostility, Hospitality, and the Hope of Human Flourishing explores the views of multiple religious traditions on how to regard otherness. How does one move from hostility to hospitality? How can hospitality be understood not simply as social hospitality but as theological hospitality, making room for the religious Other on theological grounds? What is our vision for the flourishing of the Other, while respecting his otherness? This volume is an exercise in constructive interreligious theology. By including perspectives of Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic traditions, it approaches these challenges from multiple perspectives, highlighting commonalities in approach and ways in which one tradition might inspire another.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 196 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-0-7391-9256-6 • Hardback • August 2014 • $120.00 • (£92.00)

Series: Interreligious Reflections

Subjects: Religion / Comparative Religion, Religion / General, Social Science / Sociology of Religion, Religion / Ethics

Author

Alon Goshen-Gottstein is founder and director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute. A noted scholar of Jewish studies, he has held academic posts at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University and has served as director of the Center for the Study of Rabbinic Thought, Beit Morasha College, Jerusalem.

Table of Contents

Foreword, Alon Goshen-Gottstein
Chapter 1: Overview: Themes and Problematics, Alon Goshen-Gottstein
Chapter 2: Judaism: The Battle for Survival, the Struggle for Compassion, Alon Goshen-Gottstein
Chapter 3: Making Room for the Other: Hostility and Hospitality from a Christian Perspective, Stephen W. Sykes
Chapter 4: Islam: Epistemological Crisis, Theological Hostility, and the Problem of Difference, Vincent J. Cornell
Chapter 5: Hinduism
Part 1: Metaphysical Unity, Phenomenological Diversity, and the Approach to the Other: An Advaita Vedanta Position, Ashok Vohra
Part 2: Hinduism and the Other: A Madhava Position, Deepak Sarma
Chapter 6: Buddhism, Richard P. Hayes
Addendum: More on the Mahāyāna Perspective, Dharma Master Hsin Tao
Chapter 7: Conclusion: Comparative Perspectives, Collective Tasks, Alon Goshen-Gottstein
Afterword, Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Reviews

Religion has been and continues to be a factor that breeds conflict leading to violence among human beings. Can religion also provide human beings with a capacity to work creatively together toward a more humane, peaceful, and ecologically sustainable world? This book offers critical and constructive essays by scholars of five major religious traditions that examine the seeds of hostility toward religious Others and seek to highlight those elements that ground attitudes of hospitality and loving kindness toward Others in a way that would lead to harmonious coexistence and cooperation in our world today.
— Ruben L.F. Habito, Southern Methodist University

Alon Goshen-Gottstein has put together a beautiful and useful volume. The essays here offer an appreciative view into the rooms of different religious traditions and illuminate the corridors that connect them. Highly recommended for anyone seeking the theological resources to be an interfaith leader.
— Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith America, author of We Need To Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy