Assoc. Prof. Frieder Ludwig

Office: Bockman 122, Office phone 641-3290; fludwig@luthersem.edu

 

 

CM4415 Faiths in Dialogue

Fall 2007


Room: GH 306   Day: M   Time: 1:10PM-4:00PM

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

 

The contemporary problematic of the Christian faith in relation to other faiths is examined in terms of the nature of dialogue, the understanding of other faiths, the examination of selected issues in light of contemporary efforts in dialogue and a consideration of directions for the future.

Half course

 

REQUIRED READINGS

Küng, Hans, et al.  Christianity and the World Religions: paths of dialogue with Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, New York 1980

Peter C. Phan, Being religious interreligiously, Orbis 2004

Richard J. Plantinga (ed.) Christianity and Plurality. Classic and Contemporary Readings

S. von Sicard, I. Wulfhorst, Dialogue and Beyond: Christians and Muslims Together on the Way, LWF 2003

 

CLASS SCHEDULE:

 

09/10

Introduction

Enlightenment and Religion

 

19th Century Concept

G.E.W. Lessing, Nathan the Wise (in: Plantinga, 183-187)

F. Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith

(Extracts in: Plantinga, 188-208)

Swami Vivekananda at the World Parliament of Religions (Extracts in Barrows, 102, 170, 968-978)  Listen to the speech

Ernst Troeltsch, The Absoluteness of Christianity and the History of Religions (Extracts)

J.N. Farquhar, The Crown of Hinduism, London 1913 (Extracts)

Asia

09/17

Protestant Discussions since Tambaram

Prelude:

The Barth vs. Brunner Debate

The Kraemer vs. Rethinking Christianity in India Debate

D.T. Niles

 

H. Kraemer, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World, New York 1938

(Extracts)

Devasahayam, D.M. & Sudarisanam, Rethinking Christianity in India, 1939 (Extracts)

D. T. Niles, Upon the Earth

D.T. Niles, Buddhism and the Claims of Christ, 1967 (Extracts)

 

 

09/24

Catholic Discussions and Positions since Vatican II

Nostra Aetate, 1965 (Excerpts)

Karl Rahner, Christianity and the Non-Christian Religions, in: Plantinga, 288-308

R. Panikkar, The Unknown Christ of

Hinduism, 1964

Küng, Hans, Christianity & World Religions (Extracts)

 

10/01

Christianity and Plurality-

John Hick, “Whatever Path Men Choose is Mine” and “A Philosophy of Religious Pluralism” (in Plantinga, 322- 346

Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel and the Religions (in: Plantinga, 347)

Newbigin, Selected Readings

 

10/08

Frontiers of Encounter Today

Kosuke Koyama, Water Buffalo Theology , 53-63, 93-95

Johnson Mbillah,

Peter C. Phan, Being Religious Interreligiously

Lamin Sanneh, The Crown and the Turban

Africa

 

 

Asia

 

10/15

Frontiers of Encounter Today

D. Eck,  “The Meeting of East and West in America since the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions”, in: Eck, 22-44

D. Eck. The Names of God, in: Eck, 45- 80

Mark S. Heim, Salvations, Depth of the Riches

 

 

USA

 

 

 

Europe

 

REQUIREMENTS & EVALUATION: The seminar will follow the tradition of the German seminar style (as the instructor learned it in Heidelberg and Munich).  Each session will include substantial presentations by seminar participants. Each seminar participant is required to complete the following requirements with the relative values demonstrated (100 points).  .

 

1.       Seminar Participation (25 points)

2.       Presentations (25 points)

3.       Paper (50 points)

 

Seminar Paper

 

            Students will write a seminar research paper on a topic of their choice.  They will choose this topic with the approval of the instructor. In the paper they will critically examine a subject, scholarly work, figure, or line of argument of their choice related to the problems and issues related to their work as a doctoral student and teacher of the church.  The final draft of the paper is due by 5:00 p.m. in the instructors’ faculty box in Gullixson Hall, on October 19th, 2007.  Students will be expected to carefully exposit a major subject, scholarly work, or figure from those surveyed in the course.  This exposition should evidence ample attending and listening to the source materials before engaging in overt critique and integration into a line of argument.  Papers shall be typed, single-spaced of 10-12 pages in length.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

1. The Religions in the Bible

Danielou, J., Holy Pagans in the Old Testament, 1957

Danielou, J., The Salvation of the Nations, 1962

Dupuis, J.,  Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism, Orbis, Mary Knoll, New York, 1997

Dupont, J, The Salvation of the Gentiles, New York 1979

Jeremias, Joachim, Jesus Promise to the Nations, 1958

Legrand, Lucien, Mission in the Bible. Unity and Plurality, New York 1992

Senior, D. &  Stuhlmueller, C., The Biblical Foundations for Mission, New York 1983

 

2. Martin Luther

Althaus, Paul, The Theology of Martin Luther, Philadelphia, 1966

Bobzin, Hartmut,  Der Koran im Zeitalter der Reformation, Beirut 1995

Brosseder, Johannes, Luthers Stellung zu den Juden im Spiegel seiner Interpreten, Muenchen 1972

Grislis, Egil, “Martin Luther and the World Religions”, Word & World, Volume XVIII/2, 1998,143-154

Grislis, Egil, “Luther and the Turks”, The Muslim World 64/3-4 (1974), 180-193

Hillerbrand, H.J. “Martin Luther and the Jews”, in: J.H. Charleswort (Ed.), Jews and Christians: Exploring the Past, Present and Future, New York 1990, 127-150.

Haile, H.G. Luther: An Experiment in Biography, New York 1980

Holsten, Walter, Christentum und nichtchristliche Religion nach der Auffassung Luthers, Guetersloh 1932

Lampater, H. Luthers Stellung zum Tuerkenkrieg, Munich 1940

Obermann, Heiko A., The Roots of Anti-Semitism, Philadelphia, 1984

Stolle, Volker (ed.), The Church Comes from all Nations. Luther Texts on Mission, Saint Louis 2003

Schwarz, Reinhard, “Martin Luther on the European Discovery of America”, Word and World 14/1 (1994) 82-86

 

Mission,  Dialogue & THEOLOGY OF RELIGIONS

Ariarajah, W., The Bible and People of other Faiths, 1985

Barnes, M. Christian identity and Religious Pluralism, Nashville 1989

Bernhardt, R., Christianity without Absolutes, London 1994

Bonner, A. (ed.), Selected Works of Raymond Lull, Princeton 1985

Barrows, John Henry, The World’s Parliament of Religions, 2 Vols., Chicago 1893

Braaten, Carl, No Other Gospel! Christianity among the World Religions, Minneapolis 1992

Braaten,Carl.: “Lutheran Theology and religious pluralism”, in J. Paul Rajashekar (ed.), Religious Pluralism and Lutheran Theology, Genf 1988 (LWF Report 23/24), 105-128

Brueck, Michael von, The Unity of Reality: God, God-Experience and Meditation in the Hindu-Christian Dialogue, New York 1991

Camps, A., Partners in Dialogue: Christianity and other World Religions, Maryknoll, 1983

Clarke, AS.D. & Winter, B.M. (eds.), One God, one Lord. Christianity in a World of Religious Pluralism, 1992

Clooney, Francis.  “Comparative Theology: A Review of Recent Books,” Theological Studies 56 (S 1995): 521-550.

Clooney, Francis X.  Hindu God, Christian God: How Reason Helps Break Down the Boundaries Between Religions (Oxford University Press, 2001).

Cobb, John and Paul F. Knitter.  Transforming Christianity and the World: A Way beyond Absolutism and Relativism (Orbis, 1999).

D’Costa, Gavin and Paul F. Knitter.  Christian Uniqueness Reconsidered: Myth of Pluralistic Theology of Religions (Orbis, 1990).

D’Costa, Gavin and Paul Knitter, eds. Meeting of the Religions and the Trinity (Orbis, 2000).

Griffiths, Paul.  Christianity Through Non-Christian Eyes (Orbis, 1990)

Cragg, Kenneth, The Christian and the other Religions, London 1977

Devasahayam, D.M. & Sudarisanam, A.N. (eds.), “Rethinking Christianity in India”, Madras 1939

Eck, Diane L., Encountering God. A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banares , Boston 1993

Fries, Heinrich, et al., Heil in den Religionen und im Christentum, St Ottilien, 1982

ELCA, Honoring Our Neighbor’s Faith, Minneapolis 1999

Hallencreutz, C.F.: “A Long-standing concern: Dialogue in Ecumenical History 1910-1971”, in: S.J. Samartha (ed.), Living faiths and the ecumenical movement, Geneva 1971, 57-71

Heim, S. Mark.  The Depths of the Riches: A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Ends (Eerdmans, 2000).

Heim, S. Mark.  Ground for Understanding: Ecumenical Resources for Responses to Religious Pluralism (Eerdmans, 1998).

Heim, S. Mark, “Salvations: A More Pluralistic Hypthesis”:, in: Modern Theology 10:4, 1994, 341-360

Heim, S. Mark, “The Depth of the Riches: Trinity and Religious Ends”, in: Modern Theology 107:1, 2001, 21-55

Hick, John and Brian Hebblethwaithe, eds. Christianity and Other Religions (OneWorld Publications, 2001).

Hick, John.  A Christian Theology of Religions: The Rainbow of Faiths (Westminster John Knox, 1995).

Jathana, O.V., The Decisiveness of the Christ-Event and the Universality of Christianity in a World of Religious Plurality, Bern 1981

Knitter, Paul F.  Jesus and the Other Names: Christian Mission and Global Responsibility (Orbis, 1996).

Knitter, Paul F. No other name?: a critical survey of Christian attitudes toward the world religions, New York, 1985

Knitter, Paul.  Introducing Theologies of Religion (Orbis, 2001).

Koyama, K. Water Buffalo Theology, New York, 1974, 1999

Kraemer, Hendrik, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World, London 1938

Kueng, H., Christianity and the World Religions: Paths, 1986

Ludwig, F. “Christian-Muslin Relations in Northern Nigeria since the introduction of Shari’ah in 1999”, forthcoming, 2008

Ludwig, T.: “Some Lutheran Theological Reflections on Religious Pluralism”, in: J. Paul Rajashekar (ed.), Religious Pluralism and Lutheran Theology, Genf 1988 (LWF Report 23/24), 129-158

Martinson, Paul. Families of Faith: an introduction to world religions for Christians, 1999

Mbillah, Johnson A., African churches and interfaith relations, in: J. Mbillah, J. Chesworth, From the Cross to the Crescent, Nairobi 2004

Mortensen, Viggo (ed.) Theology and the Religions. A dialogue, Grand Rapids, 2003

Mwakabana, Hance, Multifaith Challenges Facing the Americas … and Beyond, LWF Geneva, 2002

Newbigin, L. The Gospel in a Pluralist  Society, Grand Rapids/Geneva, 1989

Pannenberg, Wolfhart,  “Religious Pluralism and Conflicting Truth Claims”, in: G. D’Costa, Gavin (ed.) Christian Uniqueness Reconsidered: The Myth of a Pluralistic Theology of Religions, New York 1990

Pope, Stephen and Charles Hefling, eds.  Sic et  Non: Encountering Dominus Iesus (Orbis, 2001).

Rahner, Karl, “Anonymous Christians”, in: Theological Investigations, 6, 1969, 390-398

Robinson, John A.T., Truth is Two-Eyed, London 1979

Seager, R.H., The World Parliament of Religions. The East/West Encounter, Chicago, 1893, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1993

Schlette, H.R., Towards a Theology of Religions, New York 1966

Sharpe, Eric J., Faith meets Faith: Some Christian Attitudes to Hinduism in the 19th and 20th centuries, London 1977

Troeltsch, Ernst, The Absoluteness of Christianity and the History of Religions, 1971

Yong, Amos, “As the Spirit gives Utterance: Pentecost, Intra-Christian Ecumenism and the wider Oikumene”, in: International Review of Mission, Vol. XCII, No. 366, 2003, 299-314.

Yong, Amos, Discerning the Spirit (s). A Pentecostal-Charismatic Contribution to Christian Theology of Religions, Sheffield 2000