A Christian Imperative

by Mark A. Noll

The barriers to serious and effective interfaith dialogue have become mountainous. Antagonism between and among Christians, Muslims, Hindus, secularists, and animists is a prominent feature of the contemporary world. Especially when that antagonism overlaps ethnic tension, the potential for violence is all too familiar.

In the recent past, a number of distinctly modern circumstances have exacerbated age-old possibilities for sectarian strife. Nation-building, as in Iraq, Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, and Lebanon, is sabotaged by conflict stoked by religious difference. Instant electronic communications favor impressionistic extremism over analytical moderation, as witnessed by the furor over Pope Benedict's recent comments about Islam. Great wealth tied to great corruption, as in Nigeria, undermines a society already divided by escalating religious competition. The potential for nuclear war is heightened when, as in the Middle East, religious passions fuel diplomatic standoffs.

Yet speaking as both a historian and a Christian, there is every reason to insist on the necessity of conscientious interfaith exchange. The history of Christianity itself offers a wealth of examples for how things go wrong without it. So long as Catholics and Orthodox existed in self-enclosed isolation, so long as Catholics and Protestants could not imagine the possibility of insight from the other, so long as establishmentarians and dissenters sniped away from a distance -- under these conditions, simmering conflict could easily burst into flame. But when hereditary antagonists met, spoke, and finally prayed with each other, fear and loathing dissipated, to at least some degree, and trust, however fragile, began to grow.

Such meetings have happened increasingly over the last half century. When Pope Paul VI met Athenagoras I, head of the Orthodox Church, in Jerusalem in 1964, the result was a rescinding of excommunications that had been in place for more than 900 years. On a different scale, the Second Vatican Council set in motion a number of consequential dialogues between Catholics and Protestants. Some have been formal engagements between learned theologians; more have been informal gatherings in neighborhoods to study the Bible or provide shelter for the homeless. But whether in high places or low, these interchanges have transformed the once acid relationship between Catholics and Protestants.

Especially at this time of year, Christian believers have every reason to view the challenge of dialogue as essential. Christian faith urges a strong note of realism first of all on believers themselves: Just as the message of salvation features God's mercy, rather than the superiority of the redeemed, so too does the universal scope of the Gospel imply respect for all people, whether inside or out of the household of faith.

At Christmas, Christians are reminded that Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God, took on human flesh--not just the flesh of the Christian subset of humanity, but the flesh of humanity as a whole. At their best, Christians realize that the narrative begun in Bethlehem encompasses the story of the whole world.

Despite very real difficulties, such Christmas realities make respectful dialogue with all humans--of whatever faith, and none--a Christian imperative.