Scriptural Reasoning: A method for interreligious dialogue after Nostra Aetate

Abstract

© 2022, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana. All rights reserved.Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has joined various initiatives that promote, on the one hand, knowledge about non-Christian traditions and, on the other, the way in which they interact with them. This article presents the method of interreligious dialogue called Scriptural Reasoning. This method, which emerged in the Anglo-Saxon world in the early 1990s, is presented as a current methodology that promotes dialogue between members–especially, but not exclusively–of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions. The starting point of this text is the Christian experience that opens up to dialogue with believers of other religions through the practical and theoretical tools offered by this method. To understand this method, experience and practice are prioritized, and then space is given to theory. The journey of this text begins with a first section dedicated to the way in which interreligious dialogue is carried out according to the principles of Scriptural Reasoning. Subsequently, a brief review of the history of the method is offered. The last two sections examine the theoretical background that currently supports this methodology of interreligious dialogue. Even though the strengths of the method are recognized in this text, the possibilities of this method that have not yet been explored and that can expand its horizons of action, especially considering the characteristics of the Latin American context, do not fail to be mentioned.